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#1
20-12-06, 06:37
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Quote:
__________________
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? 
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#2
20-12-06, 08:20
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Derek,
I still think the unit is an oxygen generator. There does not appear to be sufficient pumping and particularly storage capacity for a simple air compressor. I do not know what the Italian aircraft had in them but I think you will find not a lot of allied aircraft had actuating air bottles in them. The most common system was an accumulator (a sophisticated beach ball principle) which was compressed by the hydraulic oil and retained the line pressure for instantaneous use to save delays in pump operation in normal service. Some aircraft might have been lucky enough to retain sufficient pressure in the accumulator for an emergency extension (no good if the lines were shot away) but I think most were just gravity free-fall drop down. Of course aircraft with screw-jack operation don't come into this. Caravan and boat water pumps have this same accumulator deal for instant pressure. For an aircraft with an emergency air bottle I think the water traps in a normal compressor system would be more than sufficient for drying purposes. An aircraft with an all-air system (normally just flaps and brakes - a number of aircraft had air starters as well - unusually undercarriage) is continuously pumping air and would have water traps built in. If all the air bottle was used for was one emergency extension I don't think it would matter if it was pure water. Black steel is not used for hydraulic rams, they are either chromed or stainless and water is not a big deal for short periods. A system flush just takes a couple of cycles. You might be right but I vote breathing oxygen generator. Lang
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#3
21-12-06, 03:43
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Air Intake
Hi Lang et al.
My bet is that the bit you are referring to as an exhaust is actually the intake with a filter vice a spark arrestor on the end. You need it flexible so you can station it upwind of the exhaust and up above road dust etc. This would point to the air compressor being for breathing air as an actuator cylinder wouldn't care if the air was contaminated with a bit of hydrocarbon contaminated gas... human lungs get most upset at hydrocarbons under pressure and develop lipoid pneumonia... treatable but not curable. Perhaps the big cylinders are for oxygen and the operator(s) would mix the breathing air into the smaller aircraft cylinders much the way we mix nitrox today; so I'm with Lang, sort of... a breathing air compressor with onboard oxygen to do the mixing. Cheers! Mike (Professional Association of Diving Instructors 202,398) 
__________________
Mike Calnan Ubique! ("Everywhere", the sole Battle Honour of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery) www.calnan.com/swords
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#4
21-12-06, 04:26
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Mike,
Aircraft don't have "breathing air" they carry pure oxygen which is distributed either by a demand system or constant flow. The demand system allows oxygen to enter the mask at a predetermined rate (according to altitude) when the crewman breathes in. This system has a lot of similarities to a scuba regulator. As you would know from your SCUBA it is the partial pressure of oxygen in the lungs that matters. Unlike under the sea when oxygen becomes toxic if the partial pressure of O2 increases too much (frogmen with pure oxygen rebreathers will die if they go too deep) - airmen have the opposite problem - not enough. Over 40,000' in an unpressurised aircraft the pilot must use a pressure mask to keep his lungs pressurised enough to pass O2 through the lung walls into the blood. Breathing is very difficult as you relax to breathe in (forced by the pressure system) and force to breathe out - the opposite to what you do on the ground. Thats why you often hear fighter pilots on the radio labouring to talk. Your reference to mixed gasses has to do with replacing slow dissipating nitrogen with more human friendly gasses such as helium at depth - pilots don't have enough not too much like divers. Constant flow is a cheap wasteful system for emergency use (drop down masks in airlines) normally found in small general aviation aircraft and not military. Usually a flimsy, ill-fitting, mask or a couple of tubes (cannula) stuffed up your nose with oxygen flowing direct from the bottle. Got off the track. Yes the flexible tube is either an exhaust with a spark arrester (used around aircraft) or an intake with an air cleaner. Either way, as you said, it is to use the wind to stop carbon monoxide getting in the system. I think after all this erudite discussion someone will come up with absolute proof that the trailer is an Italian Army Mark IIIa Pasta Maker. Lang Last edited by Lang; 21-12-06 at 04:53.
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#5
22-12-06, 07:27
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Italian Pasta Trailer
Hi Lang:
Makes sense... I wasn't sure what mixture pilots breathe hence my guess at mixed breathing gas. A little follow up research led to this table (http://www.ww2wings.com/wings/italy/italymain.shtml) where I learned that IT fighters of WWII could reach an average ceiling of 35,000 feet so pure O2 would definitely be needed! As for pasta making, I saw a science film in grade school that showed the annual spaghetti harvest and spaghetti, for one, defintely grows on bushes... other pasta may need a large trailer mounted compressor to squish out those odd wiggly shapes  Cheers! Mike
__________________
Mike Calnan Ubique! ("Everywhere", the sole Battle Honour of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery) www.calnan.com/swords
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#16
25-12-06, 04:59
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Quote:
Cheers Cliff 
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#17
26-12-06, 08:56
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This is the next flock of trailers. Once again if someone wants to "rethread" them - go ahead. All this stuff is Australian War Memorial library stock.
This photo although not showing a trailer says that these two trucks plus a trailer mounted generator form a complete radio unit. Thought the combination of the two truck types in one compact unit was interesting. Last edited by Lang; 26-12-06 at 10:36.
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#21
26-12-06, 10:20
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Lae New Guinea. I find this interesting because the trailer is backed down a ramp where the Lae Yacht Club now stands and the ramp is in exactly the same position (except beautifully concreted with a nice bar just off to the side!)
Last edited by Lang; 26-12-06 at 10:41.
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#29
26-12-06, 13:26
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Quote:
The right hand truck being a British Bedford QL, rather an unusual body for that truck. The postwar census number on it plus the Allied star points to the picture being taken in Korea. Richard
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#30
26-12-06, 13:59
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Comments
The Rogers trailer to S/M 2060 I am sure has been posed on that village green not far from Kidbrooke...you know its location don't you Les?
The QL may have been a post-war rebuild by Marshall's of Cambridge who did work for the Ministry of Supply on behalf of Vauxhall Motors. Fords used their subsidiary Lincoln Cars in Brentford for rebuilds of carriers and engines for further use, but I believe Vauxhalls did not do any work directly. If anyone has any information on post-war CMP use by the British I should be interested: we know that the Southampton Plant worked on air cleaners for the M of S but I have no evidence that they rebuilt any vehicles for military service (all being for civilian sales). There are I hope numerous trailer photos in our new book, unless the Boss edits them out!
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