Amplifier Fuel Flowmeter

Instruments for the measurement of fuel tank capacity and flow seem to have been made by a number of companies such as Simmonds Aerocessories of London who advertised the product in 1952 and in that year, they acquired Firth Cleveland Instruments and as that became the overall company name from 1953 onwards they are found under the  Firth Cleveland Instruments name. Elliott Bros purchased Firth Cleveland Instruments in 1961 and the Aircraft Engine Instruments Division of Elliotts continued the brand from the Treforest works. This site produced fuel flow equipment such as the ‘Pacitor’ system of Fuel Tank Gauges and Fuel Flow Transmitters. Elliott (Treforest) Ltd also made portable testers for Pacitor capacitance gauging systems and Elliott fuel-flow meters. The former are used with the Beverley, Belvedere, Argosy 660 and long-range Britannia, while the latter are for fuel-flow systems in the refuelling portion of the Valiant tanker and in the Javelin, Buccaneer, Scimitar, Sea Vixen and Sea Venom. The business later transferred to Rochester where new types of fuel measurement and indication equipment was made.

The early Fuel Flow measurement systems comprised a Transmitter, an Amplifier and an Indicator. The Transmitter is a transducer that measures the rate of fuel flowing through it and converts this to an electrical signal to drive a remote Indicator. The signal from the Transmitter required amplification for a long run to the cockpit Indicator but around the 1964 period Elliott Bros were advertising a new combined amplifier/indicator developed to meet the needs of the Trident. The combined unit saved weight and gained ±0.75% in accuracy.