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Author Topic: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)  (Read 260534 times)

Jerry Germann

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #90 on: December 10, 2014, 03:22:00 PM »

How does the inner circle diameter measurement compare to the axle size .... trying to estimate and allow for damage,....would the center hole of the artifact be too small/ large enough/ way too large,  positioned, ( as Mr Spink/ Mr Hayton seemingly assume) , over the axle?

In this photo: it looks as if the center hole is about two and one half inches? Though it's condition may alter the actual original diameter.

https://earharttruth.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/spink-donut2.png

In the photo of the hub with tape measure; , it looks as if the axle diameter is three,....three and a half?

http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Research/Bulletins/41_WheelofFortune/rimdiameter.jpg

Does anyone have the actual axle size?




« Last Edit: December 11, 2014, 01:03:37 PM by Jerry Germann »
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John Ousterhout

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #91 on: December 12, 2014, 12:41:16 PM »

This photo from the Luke Field accident shows the inboard side of the collapsed left wheel, and this photo shows the opposite side of the same wheel.  I see no signs of a dust cover being used at that time.  Maybe someone with sharper eyes (and a faster computer) can see something.  Are we to believe she added them later?  That seems contrary to her usual desire to eliminate anything that was unnecessary.

I noticed that the interior surfaces of the engine cowling pieces in the first photo show what appear to be the Alclad indentification stampings, but the resolution isn't quite good enough to make them out in detail, at least not on my pc.
Cheers,
JohnO
 
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pilotart

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #92 on: December 12, 2014, 03:48:09 PM »

Looks just like the "Coaster Brake" did in my new 1949 Columbia Bicycle. ;D


Great find!

I think it also explains how the "multi-disc" braking system worked.

Both the rotating and the fixed elements are free to slide in and out on the keys.

The braking must have been accomplished by pressing all the plates together, making the plates slide on their respective keyed hubs and producing friction between the rotating bronze disks and the fixed steel disks.  When pressure is released, the discs space themselves back out and the wheels turn freely again.

Very elegant!


Art Johnson
 
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pilotart

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #93 on: December 12, 2014, 03:56:29 PM »

Quote
"A ground loop is almost impossible with Airwheels even if you try."  ::)
Now that's a crock....

Maybe as long as you keep it pointed straight down the runway and they're better on Turf for sure.

 They don't mention takeoff, wonder if Amelia read that before her Ground Loop on Takeoff with her Airwheels?
Here is an image of the ones used on lighter craft;

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/1930-Goodyear-Airwheels-Akron-OH-Ad-Safe-Landings-Where-Ships-Never-Dared-Land-/231366373455?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35de82b04f

The article makes mention they are available for larger craft as well, and mentions that the entire hub/brake /assembly, etc is manufactured by Goodyear.

"A ground loop is almost impossible with Airwheels even if you try."  ::)


Art Johnson
 
« Last Edit: December 12, 2014, 03:59:10 PM by pilotart »
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Ricker H Jones

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #94 on: December 12, 2014, 05:46:10 PM »

The dust shield shown in the brake exploded diagram would seem to make a "dust cover" redundant, I would think.
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Ted G Campbell

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #95 on: December 12, 2014, 07:59:32 PM »

All.
From experience:  The multi disc braking system operation is as follows (see M.  Moleski’s post no. 72).

The inner disc assembly – made up of the stationary steel and rotating bronze disc – is housed in a rotating break drum housing.

Thus the rotating bronze discs rotate with the tire.  The stationary steel discs are locked into the outer brake housing which in turn is locked onto the landing gear with retaining bolts/nuts and doesn’t turn.

Picture in your mind a beer can on the axel supported on either end by wheel bearings tied into the main wheel/tire assembly rotating within a stationary “coffee can”  housing the hydraulic system tied securely to the landing gear assembly – the hydraulic lines can’t rotate or they would shear and fail.

When hydraulic pressure from the break peddle is applied this causes a “ballooning” effect on the “wheel piston seal” which in turn compresses the rotating and stationary discs assembly causing friction and thus the breaking action.

The “dust shield” and the asbestos insulator disk are there to protect the rubber piston seal from contamination from the bronze/steel debris during and the heat generated during breaking.  The outer “coffee can” housing keeps runway “dust” out of the mechanism.

As to a “dust cover” on the outboard side of the wheel assembly on a through axel wheel/tire configuration, it would only protect the outboard wheel bearing.  This cover would have to be fixed to a rotating wheel/tire assembly in such a way as to allow the wheel/tire to spin freely with “maybe” a felt seal to rotate about the axel:  Remember the axel ran the full length of the wheel/tire assembly.

This wheel cover would have had to been instilled inside the outer strut and only needed an inside diameter to clear the stationary axel allowing for some type of felt or other material to rotate about the axel.

With regard to the “wheel cover” description in the Luke Field inventor I would guess this refers to some type of cover over pre-greased wheel/wheel bearing assemblies carried aboard; tires could easily be found if something went wrong but the wheel assembly that would be required would not – ship a wheel installed with bearings installed and pre grease and “covered”.

Bottom line – I don’t see where “wheel covers” come into play the L 10E conversation.

Ted Campbell
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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #96 on: December 12, 2014, 08:55:56 PM »

The multi disc braking system operation is as follows (see M.  Moleski’s post no. 72).

Thanks for the commentary from experience, Ted.  It is a very ingenious system!

I think the post with the nice expanded picture of all of the brass and steel disks is #71 in this thread.  #72 has the ad for the Airwheels.

Quote
Bottom line – I don’t see where “wheel covers” come into play the L 10E conversation.

I agree, for what it's worth, at least in terms of what we've been able to turn up so far.

The wheel cover or dust plate found by the other folks certainly seems to be a real artifact.  It must have had a function in SOME system of SOME sort.  It certainly looks like it was damaged in an accident of SOME sort.  Maybe someone will come along and recognize it SOME day. 
LTM,

           Marty
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James Champion

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #97 on: December 13, 2014, 09:28:48 AM »

If you look at the Luke Field inventory that that others have referenced in this thread:

61    . . .
62    1 Ea. Cover Plates for wheels
63       "    Snap Ring
64    . . .

I can just see 1st Lt. D. M. Tites working through the items in the plane that are not labeled, and trying to come up with a descriptive name. Notice that line 62 is 1-each with Plates plural. The next item is a snap ring. It seems to me that he was describing exactly what is shown in the breakdown of the brake assembly, right down to a snap ring. To me this is no more than a spare set of brake parts that could have been swapped-out. If Tites had an electra manual to reference, he probably would have described them as "Nut and discs for wheel brakes"
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Jerry Germann

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #98 on: December 29, 2014, 01:21:38 PM »

Here is an image of a cover on a single yoke gear; It appears it has three attachment points, ....and of course is minus the center hole.

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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #99 on: December 29, 2014, 02:06:34 PM »

Here is an image of a cover on a single yoke gear; It appears it has three attachment points, ....and of course is minus the center hole.

That photo is available from Wikimedia Commons.

Lockheed 12A, 1940.

NACA cowls added a great deal to the performance of radial engines.
LTM,

           Marty
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Thyra Piper

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #100 on: January 10, 2015, 08:10:51 PM »

http://goo.gl/54Cdqa

This is an article posted 12/26/2014 in a local newspaper and also reference on KOMO news in Seattle.  I can find no reference to it on this site.
Thyra Piper
 
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Jeff Lange

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #101 on: January 11, 2015, 05:16:01 AM »

I am amused by some of the quotes from this article, such as:

“Everybody brought back what they found and put it in a pile,”

They seem to use a different archaeological standard than other researchers.


"We brought back a dust cover that matches up pretty good with the Air Wheel.”

I think they will be surprised to find that "pretty good" doesn't make it in fit in the research game.

He is quoted numerous times using the terms "they most likely" or "most likely" which I find leaves his guessing open to a lot of conjecture. Oh well- everyone DOES have a theory!
Jeff Lange

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Monty Fowler

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #102 on: January 13, 2015, 09:42:02 AM »

I dunno, Jeff.

It seems like TIGHAR is the only group that is held to the double-super-secret-gold-standard for everything. Every other "Earhart mystery group" seems to be able to do or say whatever, under the "Throw enough stuff against the wall and some of it's bound to stick" method of mystery solving.

Which is why I have stuck with TIGHAR through the years.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP
Ex-TIGHAR member No. 2189 E C R SP, 1998-2016
 
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Bruce W Badgrow

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #103 on: January 13, 2015, 04:32:20 PM »

There was a lot of military activity at Mili Atoll during World War 2. The Japanese built an airfield there in 1943. Mitsubishi A4M "Betty" bombers were known to have been stationed on Mili. The Betty used big balloon tires very similar to the Goodyear Airwheel. The wheel cover found on Mili was likely from a Betty. Three US military aircraft are known to have crashed on Mili Atoll. 

Bruce W Badgrow
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Monty Fowler

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Re: Dust cover and cover plate (Richard Spink, Mili Atoll)
« Reply #104 on: January 14, 2015, 09:45:39 AM »

Bruce, I agree that there was quite a bit of Japanese air activity at Mili during WWII, including both land aircraft fields and a seaplane base. One reason I think the access plate/whatever it is, is Japanese is the reddish paint residue. That strongly resembles one of the more common anti-corrosion paint colors the Japanese used during WWII. Earhart's plane had International Orange on the leading edges of the wings and the top of the stabilizer. That might, might mind you, have weathered to a reddish color in the ensuing seven decades - but that is an awful stretch and one that would be almost impossible to prove, I feel. Her plane did not have any red paint on it that I am aware of.

Trying to find where on a Japanese Rufe (float fighter), Zero (land fighter) or Betty (land bomber) that this very small piece of metal might have come from is beyond difficult. I've tried to find matches with my limited resources, without success to date. US aircraft that operated in that area include the P-39, P-40, B-24, B-25, SBD and F4E. The only US aircraft lost on Mili was a B-25 that was shot down and ditched in the lagoon. Theoretically the access plate could have come from an undocumented US crash, or the B-25, but the reddish paint is a disqualifier in my view.

To throw their assertions back at the leaders of this effort, I would like them to document where, exactly, on the Lockheed 10-E this cover plate might have come from. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades; this has to be an exact fit for them to garner any real credibility.

Talk is cheap. Answers are expensive. It's time for them to demonstrate exactly what they think they have. Otherwise, it's just more random chunks of aluminum from an area that is covered with random chunks of aluminum.

LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 ECSP
Ex-TIGHAR member No. 2189 E C R SP, 1998-2016
 
« Last Edit: January 14, 2015, 01:33:56 PM by Monty Fowler »
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