Additional fuselage struts must be provided at the front end of the fuselage to take the place of the struts and beams of the Bleriot running gear. The two vertical struts at the extreme front end may be of the same 1 1/4- by 2 1/2-inch ash used in the running gear, planed down to 1 3/16 inches thick to match the thickness of the fuselage beams. The horizontal struts should be 1 3/16 by 1 3/4 inches.
The wheels run on the ends of an axle tube, and usually have plain bearings. The standard size bore of the hub is 15/16 inch, and the axle tube should be 15/16 inch diameter by 11 gauge. The tube also has loosely mounted on it two spools to carry the rubber band springs. These are made of 2 1/4-inch lengths of 1 3/8-inch tubing, with walls of sufficient thickness to make an easy sliding fit on the axle tube. To the ends of each length of tube are brazed 2 1/2-inch washers of 3/16 inch steel, completing the spool.
The ends of the rubber bands are carried on rollers of 3/4-inch, 16-gauge tubing, fastened to the skids by fittings bent up from 3/16-inch sheet steel. Each fitting is bolted to the skid with two 3/8-inch bolts.
Some arrangement must now be made to keep the axle centered under the machine, as the rubber bands will not take any sidewise strain. A clamp of heavy sheet steel should be made to fit over the axle at its center, and from this heavy wires or cables run to the bottom ends of the forward struts. These wires may be provided with stiff coil springs, if it is desired to allow a little sidewise movement.
Fig. 36. Details of Bleriot Inverse Curve Tail
New Bleriot Inverse Curve Tail. Some of the latest Bleriot machines have a new tall which seems to add considerable to their speed. It consists of a fixed tail, Fig. 36, nearly as large as the old-style tail and elevators combined, with two elevator flaps hinged to its rear edge. The peculiarity of these elevators, from which the tail gets its name, is that the curve is concave above and convex below—at first glance seeming to have been attached upside down. In this construction, the 1-inch, 20-gauge tube, which formerly passed through the center of the tail, now runs along the rear edge, being held on by strips of 1/2- by 1/16-inch steel bent into U-shape and fastened with screws or bolts to the ribs. Similar strips attach the elevators to the tube, but these strips are bolted to the tube. The construction is otherwise like that previously described. It is said that fitting this tail to a Bleriot in place of the old-style tail adds 5 miles an hour to the speed, without any other changes being made.
Another slight change which distinguishes the newer Bleriots is in the overhead frame, which now consists of a single inverted V instead of two V's connected by a horizontal tube. The single V is set slightly back of the main wing beam, and is higher and, of course, of heavier tubing than in the previous construction. Its top should stand 2 feet 6 inches above the fuselage, and the tubing should be 1 inch 18 gauge. It also requires four truss wires, two running to the front end of the fuselage and two to the struts to which the rear wing beams are attached. All of the wires on the upper side of the wings converge to one point at the top of this V, the wires from the wing beams, of course, passing over pulleys.
These variations from the form already described may be of interest to those who wish to have their machines up-to-date in every detail, but they are by no means essential. Hundreds of the old-style Bleriots are flying every day and giving perfect satisfaction.