L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Liore et Olivier
Fernand Liore began his aircraft designing with Witzig and Dutilleul in the Witzig-Liore-Dutilleul (WLD) company; in 1909 Liore designed a monoplane with 2 tractor propellers driven by a single motor. This machine was completed and tested at the end of the summer, shortly before the 1909 Salon where it was shown in the WLD display. In its first form it had 4 wheels on a single axle and a long skid forward, a long uncovered fuselage with fin and rudder set on top of the aft end.
(Span: 9.5 m; length: 8.2 m; wing area: 23 sqm; loaded weight: 380 kg; 30-40 hp Gregoire-Gyp)
The second version, now known as the Liore et Olivier, had the same narrow rectangular uncovered fuselage now mounted on 2 castering front wheels and a castering tailwheel which was steered by foot pedals. The tail unit was cruciform and mounted on a universal joint; the wings were rectangular with rounded tips, and the trailing edges were hinged to the longerons. The nose-mounted engine drove through chains and gears 2 tractor propellers, each on an outrigger on each side, turning in opposite directions. The propellers were pressure-fitted to their shafts, and clutches allowed their disengagement; a special device cut the engine if a shaft or chain should break.
(Span: 8.57 m; length: 9 m; total area: 22 sqm; weight: 350 kg; 30-40 hp Gregoire-Gyp driving 2 2.25 m diameter Liore propellers)
On 4 January 1911 Liore and Henri Olivier formed the first Liore and Olivier company; the LeO firm came much later. With a capital investment of 250,000F of which only 50,000 were in cash, the firm was founded for making models, wooden automobile bodies, plywood, wooden steering wheels, entire aeroplanes, and aeroplane spares - and for selling or purchasing or renting "any kind of aviation machinery."
In 1911 the firm also built (and perhaps also designed) the handsome Balsan monoplane.
Журнал Flight
Flight, November 13, 1909
FLYER SILHOUETTES FROM THE PARIS SALON.
LIORE (W.L.D.).
MONOPLANE, in which the two principal characteristics are the divided wings and the twin tractor screws. Each wing is made in two parts of approximately equal proportions, the front member being rigidly connected to the frame and the trailing portion being hinged to the other half. The object is to obtain a wing of variable camber. No trials have, so far as we are aware, been made to demonstrate the practicability of handling such a device in actual flight. In order to overcome the obvious difficulty of keeping the trailing wings from bending out of shape, they have been enclosed in a kind of cage formed by a series of steel rods, which virtually perform the duty of external ribs. The arrangement of these rods is shown in an accompanying sketch, where it will be observed how they are attached to the hinge, and are the actual members by means of which variations of position are imparted lo the wings.
Another special feature, shown on a larger scale in one of our photographs, is the use of twin screws, driven in opposite directions from duplicate chain-sprockets. This latter is a precaution against the disturbing influence of the gyroscopic force produced by fly-wheel like members such as propellers.
In the same illustration the elastic suspension of the chassis-wheels is shown very clearly. Elastic, either in conjunction with coiled steel or alone, is a favoured material for use in the suspension of flyers, and manufacturers are not hesitating to ask a high price for these new "springs," the material alone we have heard quoted at L5, per yard in the Salon.
The chassis frame is made of tubular steel, and carries extensions which brace the propeller-brackets. These brackets are mounted on the leading spars of the wings, which are themselves stayed by many wires radiating from each extremity of a central mast.
