Radial Engines

[daveangel]

Thanks for putting the clip of the Bristol Hurcules up flymo. The Hurcules was used almost through the war and for about twenty + years after in various uprated forms but was always overshadowed by the RR Merlin & Griffon. War Digs with Harry Harris on Discovery last Sunday evening dug up the remains of 4 Hurcules engines from a WW2 Short Stirling bomber crash site, as expected they were mostly smashed to pieces. Luckily the crew all baled out safely.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

That Bristol is also sleeve valve, which is a complexity all of its own - great VE though.

I hear one similar large capacity sleeve valved engine described as a swiss watch running at 2000hp due to the myriad gears to drive the sleeves


Also worth having a read about turbo-compound engines which used basically half a turbo to recover exhaust energy as motive power. Very interesting.


Also saw a really cool one where one bloke in a shed was making a 5 cylinder radial from VW top ends for a homebuilt aircraft


What next, X-16 layout quad-charged vulture-busa... would be very interesting!

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I hear one similar large capacity sleeve valved engine described as a swiss watch running at 2000hp due to the myriad gears to drive the sleeves

Hercules sleeve gear drive system:

If you want a BIG radial look up P&W 4360. Four rows!!! Bit of a nightmare to cool the cylinders at the back.
http://www.enginehistory.org/r-4360.shtml or http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/qu...0/engine9.html

As used in Boeing Stratocruiser and B-50 superfortress (uprated B-29)

The best thing about big radials is the sound and smell when they start up, they rarely run on all cylinders at first so rattle, pop and belch lots of white smoke. About 15 years ago I managed to stand under the wing of a Lockheed Constellation as it started up (4 x P&W 3350 - 3 row, turbo-compound). Absolutely glorious!

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by jambo

Empty, from this very forum once wasted about 20 minutes trying to get me to understand a Napier Deltic engine while we were sat having a coffee in Soho.

Are these the engines that were used in the Class 55 locomotoive? No wonder they were known as being "very efficient, but a maintenance menace."

[jambo]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

Are these the engines that were used in the Class 55 locomotoive? No wonder they were known as being "very efficient, but a maintenance menace."

That's the one, useful animation here

Jambo

Deltic - more stuff here : http://pigeonsnest.co.uk/stuff/deltic/deltic.html

Including the gearing required to couple the three crankshafts....

I like fire engines

i prefer steam engines.

[Sid Squid]

I had a drive of a 1932 Dennis fire engine a few years ago.

I hope no one was in need of the firemen too soon - it's slooooooowwww.

But huge fun.