Manifold vacuum can be used to drive accessories on automobiles. The best-known application is the vacuum servo, used to provide power assistance for the brakes. Obsolete applications include vacuum-driven windscreen wipers and Autovac fuel pumps. Some aircraft instruments (Attitude Indicator (AI) and the Heading Indicator (HI)) are typically vacuum-powered, as protection against loss of all (electrically powered) instruments, since early aircraft often did not have electrical systems, and since there are two readily available sources of vacuum on a moving aircraft—the engine and an external venturi. Vacuum induction melting uses electromagnetic induction within a vacuum.
Why are the AI and the HI usually powered by autovac fuel pumps?
{'text': 'as protection against loss of all (electrically powered) instruments', 'answer_start': 361}