Helicopter blades
Research paper
By: Greg, Abi, Blake
Feb, 5 2015
Greg: Historical part of the science research paper
Paul Cornu, a French scientist invented the first helicopter in 1907 but it
was unsuccessful because it was only in the air for 20 seconds and only
went about 1 metre in the air. However, it was Igor Sikorski who
invented the first successful helicopter, which were early models of the
VS-300 that successfully flew into the air in 1939.
- Paul Cornu’s unsuccessful helicopter in 1907
Igor Sikorsky’s VS-300 from September 1939.
Timeline of the helicopter
From 1907-1922, there were small helicopters being developed by a
few people. From 1923-1933, Juan de la Cierva invented the world’s
first practical rotorcraft called the Autogiros. From 1934-1940, France
and Germany developed helicopters and added more effective
mechanisms for lift, propulsion, stability and control. During World War
II, from 1941-1945, 6 countries used the helicopter like Germany,
United States, Great Britain, Canada, Soviet Union and Japan, revealing
the use of the helicopter to the world. The Germans had 27 models;
Great Britain 8 models, United States 7 models and Canada and Japan
only had 2 models.
After World War II, from 1946-1949 was a period of struggle for
helicopters therefore helicopter manufacturers were getting less
business and they were making less money because many people
started using aeroplanes. From 1950-1954 there were wars in Korea as
well as the British and French colonies, which was a period of success
for helicopters due to the fact that they were very useful for taking off
and landing without runways. This was useful to transport soldiers from
one place to the next, because these countries didn’t have many roads
and almost no runways. From 1955-1961 there was a big improvement
with the turbine engines for helicopters. From 1962-1972 helicopters
were used in the Vietnam War, which forever changed the way people
thought of fighting wars and changed the way the people thought about
the way that the public thought about helicopters.
From 1973-1989, commercial operations became more profitable
because it’s demand and supply, there were a lot of helicopters and
pilots after the Vietnam War, and a demand, much of it from oil
companies because of the oil crisis. Nowadays helicopters are faster,
more reliable and more comfortable because of the advanced
technology that we have, leading to more and more new features like
anti-torque features, better engines etc…
Abi: Social perspective of the research paper
Helicopters have many different purposes like in military
operations for example. They were used in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan
and Ethiopia. They patrolled and rescued people in the air and at sea.
They also evacuated the injured people and transported equipment.
They’re also used to attack. These types of helicopters can have
weapons such as auto cannons, machine-guns, rockets, missiles and
more. Lots of ideas came from this, for example some hospitals now
have landing pads for the helicopter ambulances to land on. People
rescued from catastrophes like earthquakes and floods usually are
evacuated on these helicopters. An advantage of using helicopters
instead of planes is that they can take-off and land vertically instead of
having to drive on a runway.
Helicopters are also used on construction sites to lift heavy
equipment for example steel beams and also sometimes to install
television towers. They are also cheaper than using a crane. And they
are also a safe way of getting up t high floors or places on the
construction site. Transportation by helicopter is getting more popular.
They’re being used as taxis and for sight seeing. Companies also use
them for flying their staff and clients places.
Police now use them to prevent traffic jams and to find criminals
they’re chasing. They’re also beneficial to the United States Forest
Service in fighting forest fires; water is poured from hoses carried in the
craft. Helicopters are also useful for photography and film, to take aerial
action shots, and get different angles, for example in for the News.
Blake: Technological perspective of the research paper
In 1480, Leonardo da Vinci designed a sketch aircraft that held a
vertically mounted screw. He could not figure out how to make the
screws to turn fast enough to allow his aircraft to fly, because he did not
understand the physics of how the torque works. Torque when an
object is pushed or pulled to make it rotate. The torque would make the
aircraft turn while the screw stayed without moving. Despite all of this,
there were no motors at the time to spin the screw. In 1877, due to the
lack of motors, Forlanini created a helicopter powered by steam that
was able to be lifted 15m off the ground for about one minute. In the
20th century, Mumford and Bréguet each created helicopters powered
by a gasoline engine and this engine enabled it to rise above the ground
because of the spinning blades. In their own experiments, they were
never able to lift the helicopter more than 7.5m off the ground. In 1939,
a Russian engineer Igor Sikorsy flew the first single blade helicopter.
Because he flew 70km/h this solved his problem of torque. In 1942, the
US army used Sikorsy‘s helicopters in the second world war.
Greg’s resources:
http://www.helicopter-history.org/
Rotary Wing History. 2002. AHS Helicopter History Committee.
November 24, 2014.
http://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/277062
"Igor Sikorsky." Britannica School. Encyclopedia Britannica,
Inc., 2014. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.
Abi’s resources:
http://school.eb.com/levels/middle/article/274829
“Helicopter” (no author) Britannica school middle 2015
Encyclopedia Britannica, inc.
Blake’s resources:
“AVIATION: REACHING FOR THE SKY”
Author: Don Berliner
The Oliver Press,INC.
Minneapolis