Historic Aircraft: Sopwith Camel & Spitfire

The Breakroom > The Water Cooler

<< < (4/5) > >>

John Hill:
I think the commentary of the Auckland flight explained why the engine sounded the way it did and I rather suspect the aircraft in the second film had been fitted with a more modern engine.

The original engine had no throttle and power was adjusted by cutting cylinders in and out via magneto switches, hence the sound.

Pete.:

--- Quote from: andyf on December 24, 2012, 04:32:27 PM ---
PS Pete, I think the rotary engines under discussion have reciprocating pistons and conrods; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_engine. Were you perhaps thinking of the Wankel rotary engines ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wankel_engine ) fitted to some Mazda cars from the late '60s onwards?

--- End quote ---

What I see is they have the effect of a reciprocating piston but the rods and pistons merely rotate around a fixed point (the crank pin).

75Plus:
Here is a video of a 1918 Gnome engine running on a test stand.

[ Invalid YouTube link ]

Joe

DavidA:
Norman,

...For those who perhaps missed their organic chemistry lesson that day, the esterification of fatty acids does create varnish- and worse...

Indeed. It also produces very good bio-Diesel. My car loves it.

Dave.

Pete W.:
Hi there, all,

Thank you for your replies to my question.

Andyf: no, I wasn't referring to the Wankel engine.

BillTodd: I can see that using the cylinder ring in lieu of a flywheel would make sense. I also appreciate your point about the gyroscopic effect - I believe one of the Land speed record attempts failed because the gyroscopic torque from the rapidly rotating wheels rolled the car when the driver tried to steer.

Now some more questions:

Were rotary aero-engines two-stroke or four-stroke?

How was the fuel fed to the cylinders? I can't see that crank-case induction would work, surely the displacement of all the pistons would cancel out?

Best regards,

Pete W.

Navigation

 Message Index

Go to full version