Propeller, controllable-pitch, two-blade, Hamilton Standard, metal, Ruth Nichols
date: label: Date
content: 1931
name: label: Manufacturer
content: Hamilton Standard Propellers
notes: label: Physical Description
content: Type: Two-Blade, Variable-Pitch, Two Position Counterweight, Metal
label: Physical Description
content: Diameter: 274.3 cm (108 in.)
label: Physical Description
content: Chord: 20.3 cm (8 in.)
label: Physical Description
content: Engine Application: Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340C, 372.5 kw (500 hp)
label: Summary
content: This controllable-pitch propeller, one of the first produced by Hamilton Standard, represented a major advance in aircraft technology in the early 1930s. It allowed a pilot to adjust the propeller blade's pitch to provide the best performance at different air speeds (similar to changing gears in a car or on a bicycle). On takeoff the pilot chose a lower pitch to make the blade spin faster and provide maximum power. In flight the pilot switched to a higher pitch to make the blade spin slower and conserve fuel.
label: Summary
content: This particular propeller was from a Lockheed Vega airplane owned by the Crosley Radio Corporation and flown by Ruth Nichols. Flying in that airplane in 1931-32, Nichols became the only woman to hold simultaneously the women's international speed, altitude, and distance records for flight. She set the distance record in October 1931 when she flew 1,977 miles between Oakland, California and Louisville, Kentucky. Nichols' records proved the effectiveness of the new controllable-pitch propeller.
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
label: Location
content: National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
label: Exhibition
content: Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss Ruth R. Nichols, Col. Clarence Chamberlin and Pester's Propeller Service Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A19400027000
objectType: label: Type
content: PROPULSION-Propellers & Impellers
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Metal
label: Dimensions
content: Rotor/Propeller: 274.3 × 20.3cm (9 ft. × 8 in.)
label: Dimensions
content: 3-D (Propeller): 274.3 × 20.3 × 39.4cm, 58.5kg (9 ft. × 8 in. × 1 ft. 3 1/2 in., 129lb.)