Bensen's first

[C. Beaty]

Here’s Bensen’s first Gyrocopter patent, which I’ve left at a fairly large size to permit blowups.

Made from threaded waterpipe and fittings; everything screwed together.

Even the brightest people sometimes make mistakes. The undersling is inverted; apparently with the intent to locate the teeter hinge at the apex of the rotor cone.

[Xavier AVERSO]

C'est celui la
It is that?

[DennisFetters]

I got to see this and many of the Bensen contraptions hidden away up stares in the Bensen factory attic.

The one you are showing was called "the plumber's nightmare".

I had free access to everything there for the 3 months I stayed working for Bensen approval of the Rotax 532 conversion onto the Bensen airframe.

Sometimes I would go upstairs for hours at a time looking through his old inventions. Once in a while Dr. Bensen would ask where I was, and then he would come up and find me looking, and we would spend hours as he pointed to old experiments and told me the history behind it.

Very memorable times.

[Scary Gary]

I found a gyro made from pipe like this back in the late 70's early 80's at a grass strip down the road from the Lansing Air Port . I was there to set up banners to be picked up from a tow plane . I had some time on my hands between a drop off and a pick up and I started getting nosey . I was checking out the side of this old barn when I came across this old iron pipe gyro totally overgrown with blackberry bushes . But by God I knew a gyro when I seen one . I was so ecstatic that I couldn't wait to show Tom what I had found .
Tommy Milton know's more of the story and history of this gyro then that , but I'm the one who found it .
Hopefully Tom will see this and add what he know's of this gyro . It's a good story .

[RotoPlane]

Now that is simple....don't like the cut threads though. Hey....let's see....1-1/2" PVC, SCH40...that's an area of .799 sq.in. X a tensile strength of......never mind......

[kss1000e]

The ability give the size diagram of my BENSENGyroplane, the YOUNGHAO@HOTMAIL.COM thanks

[gyroplanes]

Gary,
The gyroglider you remember was actually made from automobile driveshafts. It had a rotorhead made from a auto front axle assy and the blades were mounted to the brake drum.

A former employer's father in law built it after seeing a Pitcairn land at Lansing in the 30's.

They built wood blades and towed the glider down their runway. The 4 blades had no teeter or flapping hinges. The glider would roll after liftoff.

They got tired of building blades and tried it with two. He said it lifted off just as good as with four blades, but still rolled over. They gave up and bought a Taylorcraft or Aeronca (I can't remember)

The gyro glider only had an elevator for lift and the spindle (steering axle) for roll. It featured a sheet aluminum body and looked like a silver boot (Goodyear logo with rotors?)

I had him convinced to donate it to the PRA museum.... but I don't recall what happened after that.

[DaveDawg]

Gary,
The gyroglider you remember was actually made from automobile driveshafts. It had a rotorhead made from a auto front axle assy and the blades were mounted to the brake drum.

A former employer's father in law built it after seeing a Pitcairn land at Lansing in the 30's.

They built wood blades and towed the glider down their runway. The 4 blades had no teeter or flapping hinges. The glider would roll after liftoff.

They got tired of building blades and tried it with two. He said it lifted off just as good as with four blades, but still rolled over. They gave up and bought a Taylorcraft or Aeronca (I can't remember)

The gyro glider only had an elevator for lift and the spindle (steering axle) for roll. It featured a sheet aluminum body and looked like a silver boot (Goodyear logo with rotors?)

I had him convinced to donate it to the PRA museum.... but I don't recall what happened after that.

Thanks for this. Fascinating. I love the idea of taking an old car apart to make a flying machine.

What's the theory behind why they couldn't get it to stop rolling over?

[brett s]

No flapping or teeter hinge = rollover as soon as you get any airspeed at all, because the blades can't flap & the amount of lift is different on the advancing vs retreating blade.

[DaveDawg]

Thanks for that brett
I'm learning.

[AFEE nut]

Didn't Benson have the job of evaluating the Hafner Rotachute that was sent stateside from the UK during WW2? His early gyroglider is certainly very similar.
I help out at the UK museum that holds the last remaining Rotachute and I'm quite happy to tell the visitors that the Rotachute is the 'Grandmother' to James Bond's Little Nellie.
The thinking goes like this: The UK sent a Rotachute to the US for evaluation, this was done by (amongst others) Mr Benson who went on to develop and produce a range of gyrogliders; one of which (G-APUD) was acquired by Ken Wallis who put a motor on it along with a seat from a Spitfire and an ASI made from a car speedometer. Ken went on to develop his own range of autogyros one of which he bought back from the British Army to be used in a film (You Only Live Twice).
PUD has also been propelled by steam - but that's another story ;)

[C. Beaty]

Bensen was an engineer at General Electric’s Schenectady, NY research center at the time.

GE had received a Rotachute on bailment from the US Army. I don’t know the full story but have seen photos of Bensen in the seat of the Rotachute, wearing a leather “aviator’s” helmet. Some of the experimentation led to patents on the use of servo controlled “feet” for landing gear, the intent being to mimic a bird’s landing gear.

I recall there was a single skid for landing gear and the pilot had to keep it from tipping by the use of his own feet.