21-09-2008, 09:12 AM
The aircraft propeller looks like a simple mechanism
The aircraft propeller looks like a simple mechanism to the uneducated individual. To the educated, an aircraft propeller represents the highest sophistication in aerodynamics, mechanical engineering and structural design.
The creation of the propeller can be traced back to Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci\'s \"helical screw\" helicopter is believed to be the ancestor of the air propeller and the helicopter rotor.
The basic propeller had evolved from the simple concepts of da Vinci
The first idea of a propulsive airscrew, however, belongs to J.P. Paucton, a French mathematician. Paucton envisioned a flying machine that had two airscrews, one for propulsion and the other for sustaining flight.
The idea of using an airscrew for propulsion was utilized during the late 1700\'s to early 1800\'s. Only after experimentation did the inventors conclude that more propulsive power could be obtained by merely straightening out the surface of the airscrew blades.
