Since the advent of the aircraft gas turbine engine, various ways have been employed for feeding the fuel into the combustion chambers in the most advantageous manner. Perhaps the most commonly employed method has been the use of swirl atomising nozzles, and in this group is the spill type which has been used successfully for many years in industrial oil burning furnace equipment.

Arising from the general review of burner nozzles made for the aircraft gas turbine engine in its early days, spill burners were used experimentally on the W2/700 engine. Among the problems encountered was that of achieving suitable flow matching characteristics between the several burners of a set and also, that of arranging a satisfactory control system. The knowledge gained by this early work has been made available and has proved helpful to those who chose to carry on with this particular type of fuel nozzle.