article on the interrupter gear

[rjw 47]

This is probably old news to most of you but I'm thinking some will gain from it. The article explains the history of the interrupter gear with photos to support it's operation. Hope it is useful and if anyone notes discrepancies in the info please respond with your knowledge.

 

http://en.wikipedia....nterrupter_gear

[JFM 18]

Seems pretty good. They got in the Schneider and LVG information, which most omit--they usually go with that "Fokker invented it in two days" baloney.

 

One thing I'll add is from what I've researched, Garros' plane wasn't outfitted with wedges instead of an interrupter, it was outfitted with wedges AND an interrupter. The wedges had been fitted on as extra protection ("back up device") because they were having trouble with a consistent firing rates that caused prop strikes. Thus, on Garros' plane when lost, it was installed but not connected.

[Hauksbee 103]

Thus, on Garros' plane when lost, it was installed but not connected.

This is why I love history: all the obscure, hidden facts that change the narrative. Everybody knew that a through-the-prop solution had to be found, and like the triplane craze of 1917, everyone was either worrying about it, or working on a solution. The Austrians had cracked the code on it with the Schwarzlose MG, but it was too big, too heavy and water-cooled to boot. And the solution wouldn't work on air-cooled MG's. (there was a thread on it here, a while back) As for Fokker, I read one account where he works out the whole solution on the train trip home from seeing Garros's plane.

[rjw 47]

What I found fascinating was the information which indicated that with the interrupter gear your firing rate dropped significantly when you throttled back. Imagine overtaking an enemy, throttling back hard and discovering your rate of fire drops so drastically that you are ineffective!

 

The following link is a You Tube vid of how the interrupter gear works:

 

Best Regards;

[Olham 164]

rjw, the rate of fire would be better/faster, if you throttled down a bit, because more shots

could go inbetween the rotating two blades. The MG had to be interrupted only at two

points of the complete prop rotation. While the prop turned slower, the MG was firing with

the same frequency.

To shoot at an opponent, they actually did throttle down a bit to become more effective.

 

German tests had been made with similar steel deflectors as the French used.

But the German steel mantle rounds proved to be too destructive for this method.

The interrupter gear was possibly invented by several people.

Fokker's product was not developed by himself, but by one of his engineers, Heinrich Lübbe.

Swiss inventor Franz Schneider had a patent for an interrupter gear.

He sued Fokker after the war for stealing his patent idea.

But it was proved, that Schneider's idea would not have worked.

Edited March 1, 2013 by Olham

[Hasse Wind 46]

Fokker was good at taking credit for other peoples' work, that can't be denied. In reality, he wasn't the big genius making all the important inventions, but he was great at choosing the right people to work for his company, and he knew how to make and uphold the crucial connections to powerful people who made the decisions of what kind of aircraft to put into production, and he was also in close contact with many of the aces who actually had to flew his company's designs, thus giving his opinions even more weight with the brass hats, especially later in the war. These were all important skills for a successful businessman, and that's what Fokker was.

[Hauksbee 103]

Fokker was good at taking credit for other peoples' work, that can't be denied. In reality, he wasn't the big genius making all the important inventions, but he was great at choosing the right people to work for his company...

I remember, back in the 60's, when Rheinholz Platz was just emerging from the shadows, and the facade of Fokker designing all his own planes was starting to crumble. I think Fokker and Howard Hughes would have got on well. Hughes was another person with no engineering skills, but he knew what he wanted to see.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Hauksbee