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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 1222.PDF
.568 FLIGHT. MAY 23, 1935. AERO ENGINE DEVELOPMENT The History of Aircraft Poiver Plants Briefly Reviewed : From the " 7 lb. per h.p" Days to the " 1 lb. per h.p" of To-day THE earliest attempts to fly were severely handi capped by the lack of suitable power plants. True, Sir Hiram Maxim had, back in the eighties, pro duced a wonderful steam engine plant which was extremely light for its power, as had Manley later for the Langley "aerodrome," but when the Wright brothers began their experiments they had first of all to design and build their own petrol engine, a four-cylinder in-line water-cooled, which developed something like 25 b.h.p. From the fact that this was the first engine to fly and to be specifically designed as an aero engine it cannot, however, be argued, that all subsequent aero engines have been developed from it. That is far from being the case. Tiie Wright engine of the early days got the famous brothers into the air, but was not perpetuated, and very soon other engines came into being which laid the real foundations for the aero engines in general use to-day. Not until 1908 and 1909 did flying in Great Britain begin to assume serious proportions. Not a great many engine types were then available, a few of the best-known —apart from the low-powered J.A.P. motor cycle engines used by A. V. Roe in his early work—being the Vivinus, the E.N.V., the N.E.C. and the Green. The E.N.V. engine, built by the London and Parisian Motor Co., was an eight-cylinder vee-type rated at 80 b.h.p. It had a bore of 100 mm. and a stroke of 130 mm., and weighed about 3001b.. dry, or nearly 41b. per h.p. A feature of this engine was that it had electrolytically- deposited copper water jackets. A very simple engine which showed considerable promise, but which ultimately proved to be too severely handicapped by its heavy fuel consumption, was the N.E.C., built by the New Engine Company. This was made in three models, with two, four and six cylinders respectively, and was a water-cooled two-stroke. A vee type was introduced later. The engine was used by several of the early pilots, notably in the Short-Wright biplanes. The four-cylinder model was rated at 40 b.h.p. and weighed 290 lb. By far the most reliable British water-cooled aero engines Originally designed in England but first built in France, the E.N.V. engines of 1909-1910 were subsequently con structed in England also. Flight photograph.) of the 1909-1911 period were the Greens, of which two four-cylinder models and one six-cylinder were produced. Most successful were the two former, rated at 30 b.h.p. and 50 b.h.p. respectively, the corresponding weight figures being 160 and 236 lb. respectively. The Green engines were of the water-cooled vertical in-line tvpe, and had copper water jackets, with a sliding joint to allow for expansion. Overhead camshaft:; were used, and the cam rockers were so arranged that they could be tilted back to give access to the valves. Air-cooled aero engines were some what slow in making their appear ance, and, as far as Great Britain was concerned, foreign inspiration had to be relied upon at first. Three French types established lasting successes in the early days of flying—the An- zanis, the Renaults and the Gnomes, The first Anzani aero engine was a part-radial or "fan-shape," with its three cylinders forming, so to speak, the upper half of a six-cylinder air- cooled radial. It was with an engine of this type that Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909. The engine developed about 25 h.p., but overheated badly, and it was fortu nate for Bleriot that, half-way across, a providential rainstorm partly The N.E.C. water-cooled two-stroke was first produced as a vertical engine and later as a vee type. (Flight photograph.)
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