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Aviation History
1934
1934 - 1296.PDF
13°° FLIGHT. DECEMBER 6, 1934. The crankshaft and connecting-rod assembly. THE first description of the '' Meteor'' two-stroke en-gine was published in Flight, of September 2, 1932.Since then a second engine, known as the "Meteor" II, has been designed and built, and a certain number of test runs were made early this year in the engine test-house at Heston. Fundamentally, the "Meteor" II engine is a multi- cylinder air-cooled radial, in which the equivalent of crank case compression has been obtained by closing the bot- tom of each cylinder and using a rigid, non-articu- lated connecting-rod passing through a bush or stuffing- box in the closed lower end of the cylinder. Converting the reciprocating motion of the connecting-rod into a rotary motion of the crank- shaft has been done by a species of '' inclined plane,'' formed by an inner and an outer ring on the crankpin. The thrust of the lower end of the connecting-rod on the face of the inner ring causes a side load on this ring and turns the crankshaft. The purpose of the outer ring is, of course, to hold the con- necting-rod big-ends in con- tact with the face of the inner ring. The objections which may be raised against the arrange- ment are fairly obvious. The AN UNORTHODOX TWO-STROKE Improved Version of the Newman " Meteor " : Individual Charging by Each Piston : Possi- bilities of Direct Fuel Injection fact that there is a side load on the overhanging portion of the connecting-rod must of necessity mean that there is also a certain bending stress on the rod, and a side load on the bush of stuffing box, which must cause a certain amount of wear. It was, however, found in the first en- gine, which ran for a good many hours, that this wear was not heavy enough to cause serious leakage through the stuffing box. Another criticism which might be raised is that the two rings on the crankpin are fairly heavy. Since, however, these rings are the means whereby simple crank-case com- pression is obtained, and do away with the need for any complications in the form of blowers, valve gear, etc., their weight is probably justified. Distribution Difficulties We believe that during the earlier running tests a good deal of trouble was experienced in connection with the distribution. This might have been expected, and is prob- ably really a more serious drawback than either the un- even wear of the stuffing boxes and the extra weight of the crankpin rings. One obvious way of overcoming the dis- tribution difficulty would seem to be to go over to direct fuel injection. That would also have the advantage that air only was compressed, and would probably result in a considerable improvement in fuel consumption. Mr. W. J. Newman, the designer of the engine, is understood already to have considered this conversion. Of course, the fact that the pumps would have to operate at engine speed might present difficulties, and it might be necessary to duplicate the pumps. The '' Meteor'' engine is being handled by Remtor, Ltd., 26, Bush Lane, London, E.C.4. These drawings show the general arrangement of the " Meteor " II.
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