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Aviation History
1942
1942 - 0449.PDF
FLIGHT, February 26th, 1942. A BRITISH MASTERPIECE ••#. IMPRESSIONS OF A VISIT VARIOUS ROLLS - ROYCE FACTORIES. DETAILS OF THE NEW MERLIN XX WITH TWO- SPEED SUPERCHARGER By G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. ' IN the world of aircraft engineering, no engine has acquired greater fame than the Rolls-Royce twelve-cylinder V-type liquid-cooled Merlin. Lucky it was that this country possessed at the out break of war an engine so powerful and so wonderfulfy developed that it has remained in its basic form to this day, the unchallenged leader of the world in the liquid- cooled class. The reminder is deserved rather than needed that we largely owe to the existence of the Rolls- Royce Merlin the wonderful success of the R.A.F. in the Battle of Britain in the autumn of 1940. The im portance of that victory at a critical juncture of the war will be appreciated the more as time rolls on. Some ten years ago the company realised that it would be necessary to produce a new engine to take the place of the Rolls-Royce Kestrel which was in production at that time, and they decided in November, 1932, to go ahead with the design of an engine of about 27-litres capacity. This engine materialised in the form of the world-famous Rolls-Royce Merlin, and ever since the process of develop ment by research, experiment and concentration upon details has continued and resulted in a continuous increase of power available. So far-seeing and gifted were the Merlin XX engine—threequarter front view from the port side. Three quarter rear view of the Merlin XX from the port side, showing the improved super charger. designers in evolving the original design that the successive types up to the latest and far more powerful Merlin XX to which these notes .primarily refer, remain substantially the same. Even the crankshaft and bearings, the pistons, cylinder blocks, crankcases, are basically the same as in the original conception, though naturally innumerable detail improvements have been effected as constant study and experiment and metallurgical improvements have made possible. Benefits of Concentration The effect of such amazing foresight in planning the entire engine with such a reserve to provide for future developments and power increases will not be lost upon the engineering world. Not only has it meant that progress could be concentrated upon this single design, and main tained as a continuous progressive policy but, equally im portant, that the Royal Air Force maintenance service has been simplified beyond all measure. For example, rocker gear as well as the general mechanism of the later types are dimensionally the same and, therefore, interchangeable with the original Merlin II, so that the problem of stores and spares in scattered establishments, SaM—Ma—M always a major consideration in the field, has been appreciably eased. One may go further in instancing the benefits accruing from the reten tion of a given type over a long period. Not only is it possible for the develop ment and experimental staffs to centre upon their task of extracting greater power and enhanced qualities of en durance from a type the whims and idiosyncrasies of which are familiar xnd well understood, but also in the workshops the benefits arising from concentration upon a standardised basic design are incalculably great. Thus, components which originally entailed 100 man-hours in production for example, can be, and indeed have been, reduced to a fifth of that figure by expert study of production tech nique and the introduction of special ised plant which is*facilitated by a big demand for particular parts. Quite obviously, repetition work is of enor mous help to the production engineer since it makes possible the installation of special equipment for a given part entailing intricate operations, and the planning of a production technique
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