Wittgenstein Tip-Jet Propeller.

W

Wingknut

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Before he became a philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) patented an aviation propeller to be powered by exhaust gases from combustion-chambers at the prop's tips. See 'Improvements in Propellers Applicable for Aerial Machines', Patent No. 27.087, registered 22nd November 1910. Text here:
http://sammelpunkt.philo.at:8080/487/1/25-2-95.TXT
Image below from Ian Lemco, 'Wittgenstein's Aeronautical Investigation', 2007,
http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/61/1/39.full
My (strictly amateur) opinion is: the thing didn't have a hope. Any thoughts on feasibility?
Cheers,
'Wingknut'
 

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Fairly (or Fairey?) sound in principle, but probably would not have worked at all as drawn. However, the link between vertical flight and old Ludwig continues at Manchester (see attached).
 

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Ian Lemco (2007)* described the invention more as a jet engine than anything, with its central compressor feeding heated jet nozzles. Burner position varied during development of the design, from central to blade tip. One central compressor was of the centrifugal type. Thus, it foreshadowed the Whittle jet engine.
Wittgenstein made several experiments at Manchetser University and tested some stuff on a railway track. There is no confirmation whether he ever built a complete engine of this type.
It seems to have been fundamentally workable, as compressor-driven tipjet rotors were indeed later flown, but it was probably beyond the technology of Wittgenstein's day. Moreover I suspect that, like tip-jet rotors, circular wings and other technically feasible ideas, it could never have been efficient enough to be successful.
* Ian Lemco; "Wittgenstein's Aeronautical Investigation", Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Jan. 22, 2007), pp. 39-51. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20462605

A follow-up paper in 2009 described the combustion chamber, which featured variable volume:
* John Cater and Ian Lemco; "Wittgenstein's combustion chamber", The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, January 2009. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2008.0031
 
I am reminded of the Doblhoff WNF 342. An example of which was captured by the Americans.
 
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