Word: rotors
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...many optimistic and thoroughly modern citizens, the American Dream of the 1930s included not only a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage, but also an Autogiro in every backyard. Chickens and cars have proliferated, but the Autogiro-a prop-driven aircraft with a freewheeling rotor in place of a wing-has virtually disappeared, a victim of its own inefficiencies and the remarkable success of the helicopter. The dream may yet come true. California's McCulloch Aircraft Corp. has successfully test-flown a contemporary Autogiro that is safer than a conventional plane, less expensive than...
...duplicate the performance of a helicopter. It can make a jump takeoff, cruise at 120 m.p.h., maintain altitude at a forward speed of only 30 m.p.h. and settle gently to a spot landing. Should its engine fail in flight, the gyroplane can float safely to earth under its whirling rotor, much like a Cracker Jack toy. It cannot, however, match the helicopter's unique feat of hovering motionless in midair...
...tapping time to Dixie with both feet, all at once," operating the J-2 is a snap. After starting the engine and the J-2's conventional push prop, the pilot depresses a lever at the side of his seat, temporarily engaging the engine to the overhead rotor. When the overhead ro tor reaches 520 r.p.m., the pilot pushes a button to disengage the rotor and change its blade pitch from flat to 5°. While the kinetic energy in the whirling rotor blades provides lift, the engine delivers full power to the pusher prop. Between the lift...
From the moment it is in the air, the J-2 can be flown like a fixed-wing craft with a joy stick that controls the tilt of the rotor blades and pedals that move the rudders mounted on the rear of its twin booms. Lift is provided by the freewheeling rotor, which also acts as a gyroscope, tending to keep the J-2 extremely stable in flight. Unlike the helicopter, which is subject to constant torque from its powered rotor, the gyroplane experiences no twisting effect and needs no counteracting rotor and extra controls to provide stability...
...World War II, almost everyone knows that the U.S. broke Japan's highest level "Purple Code" before Pearl Harbor. But precious few realize what the breakthrough entailed. The code was based on a rotor system-mazes of wires connecting two or more alphabetic rotors that change ciphers at every punch of a keyboard. The use of two rotors permits 676 different cipher positions; five rotors provide 11,881,376 codes...