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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0247.PDF
FLIGHT, 8 February 1951 153 TURBO- SUPERCHARGING : Latest American Variant of Exhaust Turbo-blower : Impressive Performance WING to supersession by the turbojet and turboprop, the aircraft piston engine in this country has been relegated to obsolescence—at least in the higher power ranges. In the United States, however, development of the more powerful reciprocating types is still being vigorously pursued. That this should be so is understand- able in view of the relative backwardness of American engine manufacturers in developing turboprops, and it is obvious that until such tune as turboprops are able to take over the duty performed by the large piston engines, the latter are assured of continued demand. A recent development by the General Electric Company in the exhaust turbo-supercharger used with the Pratt and Whitney R-4360 series Wasp Major engines makes possible a step-up in all-round performance which bids fair to make these excellent piston engines attractive, vis-a-ins compar- able turboprops, for an even longer period than might have otherwise been the case. Considering their background of practical experience with exhaust gas turbines for super- charger drive, it is somewhat astonishing that the U.S. did not rapidly match British technological advance in the gas turbine prime-mover field. It was in 1901 that the late Dr. Sanford Moss, then a graduate student at Cornell Uni- Fig. 2. As may here be seen, the CH 9 turbo-blowtr although neat and compact in design is not small. A B C D E =<fi«user =compressor-casing (rear) =impeller =bearing- and pump-casing =entry nozzles F G H J K »= turbine =oil jet =oil pump =nozzle-box =compressor-casing (front) Fig. I. Design details of the BH 4 turbo-supercharger. The basic ele- ments of this unit are essentially similar to those of the later type CH 9. versity, started to work on a gas turbine. The project aroused the interest of the General Electric Company, and Moss was commissioned by the company to design and develop a gas turbine for them. This he succeeded in doing by 1907, but as the efficiency of the unit was only about 3 per cent, the company abandoned attempts at development. The turbo-supercharger as such was first applied to air- craft engines by August Rateau in 1916; in the following year the American Army became interested in this French design, and persuaded the General Electric Company to develop a turbo-supercharger; naturally enough the work fif. 3. Schematic diagram of &H Alengine installation with internal (mixture distributor) supercharger and intercoo/er. A "exhaust manifoldB —intake manifold C "internal (mixture distributor)supercharger D = carburettorE =intercooler F cram air-intake G =oiltank H ^ boost control J =turbo-blow«r dtffuwr K = regulator L —turbo-supercharger M =» waste-gate
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