July 2016

Innovate or Die. - 08/07/16

Firstly, apologies for plagiarising and modifying the post WW2 “export or die” slogan which was generally associated with the motor industry, in the days that we had we actually had one, and the need for foreign money to keep Britain afloat. However, in this fast paced digital age, I can’t help feeling that the principal of the adage applies as strongly now as back then.

Inside a Hydraulic Cylinder - 01/07/16

Hello and welcome back to the drawing board with me, Steven Lloyd. A few months ago I talked to you about the design of hydraulic struts and I mentioned that at the end of the strut there’s always this hydraulic unit now the reason it's there is so you can pump some fluid in and adjust the length of the props so they will always meet the size requirements.

Today we are going to take a look inside the hydraulic cylinder and see how that works. I’m going to start simple talking about single acting cylinder. This basically means that you can pump it out but you can’t pump it back in, strictly speaking.