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Aviation History
1937
1937 - 1222.PDF
460 FLIGHT. MAY 6, 1937. AERO ENGINE DEVELOPMENT Some 1911 Types Compared with Our Present Power Plants : 25 h.p. to 1,000 h.p. E' ARLY British aviation history was made, in the main, with French aero engines. By 1911 quite a number of J attempts were made by British firms to introduce suit able power plants, but few of these were crowned with any marked success. At the Olympia Aero Show of 1911 ten firms exhibited aero engines, and of these the 60 h.p. E.N.V. and the 50 h.p. N.E.C. did come into use in a few aeroplanes. The E.N.V. was an eight-cylinder vee type with cast-iron cylinders and electrically deposited copper water jackets. It weighed 3iolb. and developed its rated power at 1,120 r.p.m. The N.E.C. was a four-cylinder vee water-cooled two- stroke and developed 50 h.p. at 1,250 r.p.m. Its weight, without radiator, was 1501b. Like the E.N.V. it had cast- iron cylinders and electrically deposited copper jackets. The Green Engine Company exhibited two engines, one of 30-35 h.p. and one of 50-60 h.p. The 30 h.p. engine weighed 1931b. dry, and the 50 h.p. 3iolb. The following year a soh.p. Green won the Patrick Alexander Prize of £1,000 by develop ing 6r.6 b.h.p. for two non-stop runs of twelve hours each. The runs were made at 1,150 r.p.m. The Green engines were four-cylinder in-line water-cooled, and a substantial flywheel was one of the characteristics. Also at the 1911 Show was exhibited the Isaacson radial, a seven-cylinder radial air-cooled. It was rated at 50 h.p. and weighed 1951b. One of the features of this engine, which was really tar ahead of its time, was a 2 : 1 reduction gear for the airscrew The most popular engines in use just before the outbreak of war were the Anzacis, the Gnome rotary, and the Renault. The Anzanis were three and six-cylinder radial air-cooled, with automatic inlet valves. The three-cylinder developed about 25 h.p., and the six-cylinder about 40 h.p. The cylinders were of cast iron. The Gnome was a very interesting engine, the crankshafi being held stationary, and the crankcase and radially disposed steel cylinders rotating around the crankshaft. The exhaust valves were in the cylinder heads, and the inlet valves in the crown of the pistons, being balanced by counter weights, and light springs If a spring broke, the inlet valve would stick in the open position, and flames would shoot out of the car burettor air intake. However, the engine was very light for its time (1671b.) and the seven cylinders rotating at 1,200 r.p.m. provided a very effective flywheel which resulted in extremely smooth running The Renault was an eight-cylinder, air-cooled vee type, in which fan-cooling was employed, as the engine was frequently used in "pushers." The airscrew was mounted on the single camshaft, so that it ran at one-half engine speed. The 70 h.p. type weighed 4001b. 1914—1937 As the war went on British-designed engines found increas ing employment and although vast quantities of power plants foreign in origin were installed into British aircraft, units, both air- and water-cooled, conceived entirely in this country, made a brilliant name for themselves. In the early war days we were using Gnomes, Renaults, and R.A.F engines, the latter of official design, which, with the addition of a few comparatively obscure types, carried us on until the introduction of such units as the Siddeley Puma, Some early aero engines, (i) The 25 h.p. Anzani ; (2) the 7-cyl., 50 h.p. Gnome rotary ; (3) the British Isaacson radial of 50 h.p. ; (4) the 35 h.p. Green, of the most successful early British aero engines ; (5) the 70 h.p. Renault, which was cooled by a fan.
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