Weird Machinery

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

I'll buy a copy and give it to someone I don't like.
Perhaps I should buy a dozen.

My copy hasn't arrived.
Does that mean that I am back in the good books or has it been delayed in the mail ? ..........

[Engine Serang]

Dinny Fret, it's on the way. Bit of a problem with the address, Mundrabilla (haha) Melbourne, near Narvik. It may be the scenic route but eventually it'll make you in Wagga-Wagga. It's not to be used in the Bar-Bee-Queue or the Ball-A-Bong. Cobbler.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

There is security in obscurity.

[YM-Mundrabilla]

Originally Posted by Engine Serang

Dinny Fret, it's on the way. Bit of a problem with the address, Mundrabilla (haha) Melbourne, near Narvik. It may be the scenic route but eventually it'll make you in Wagga-Wagga. It's not to be used in the Bar-Bee-Queue or the Ball-A-Bong. Cobbler.

Glad that you didn't waste money on a stamp.

[Varley]

For the sake of Newton stop that man taking any more Vegemite. Obviously it should not be exported to a country where poteen is readily available.

Bar-bee-Queue. Now we are getting near to what the potions industry was trying to do with the stuff. Spread it on the skin to minimise UV penetration in latitudes to which the honky was not intended. Either that or an attempt at a systemic moderator of skin pigmentation for Better Levels of Melanin, to the same ends.

[E. von Hoegh]

Originally Posted by Dartskipper

Has anybody tried to understand how a rotary engine, such as were used in Sopwith Camels, actually works? That is definitely weird machinery! I have a book with an exploded diagram of a rotary engine and it seems to me to be as easy to understand as some of the popular advanced Soduko puzzles in the morning paper.

All I can extract from the description is that the crankshaft is fixed and the crankcase complete with cylinders rotates around it. I got lost trying to figure out how fuel is delivered to the combustion chambers.

The crankshaft is hollow, feeding into the cranckcase. Induction pipes lead from the 'case to the inlet valves. Castor oil was the lubricant, metered into the hollow shaft. This kept the pilots very regular as it was a total loss system.


Now, if you really want to hurt your brain, http://www.idflieg.com/siemens_shiii.htm


The cylinders rotate one way, the prop the other. Germans....

[Makko]

Originally Posted by E. von Hoegh

The crankshaft is hollow, feeding into the cranckcase. Induction pipes lead from the 'case to the inlet valves. Castor oil was the lubricant, metered into the hollow shaft. This kept the pilots very regular as it was a total loss system.


Now, if you really want to hurt your brain, http://www.idflieg.com/siemens_shiii.htm


The cylinders rotate one way, the prop the other. Germans....

Now, Tim, ES and Varley are invited to join me in making this engine water-cooled! Then again, maybe not a good idea with centrifugal forces and extra weight! I had often wondered about "rotary" engines........Now I know.......enough to STAY AWAY from them! I will stick with herr Doktor Wankel for "rotary cylinders".

Good laugh!

Rgds.
Dave

[E. von Hoegh]

Originally Posted by Makko

Now, Tim, ES and Varley are invited to join me in making this engine water-cooled! Then again, maybe not a good idea with centrifugal forces and extra weight! I had often wondered about "rotary" engines........Now I know.......enough to STAY AWAY from them! I will stick with herr Doktor Wankel for "rotary cylinders".

Good laugh!

Rgds.
Dave

You could arrange the coolant plumbing to circulate the coolant via centrifugal force.
Just sayin'


Somewhere on the net is a 1/4 scale Bentley rotary, a runner.


Regards guys, as has been pointed out I think I've found a good place.

[Makko]

Originally Posted by E. von Hoegh

You could arrange the coolant plumbing to circulate the coolant via centrifugal force.
Just sayin'


Somewhere on the net is a 1/4 scale Bentley rotary, a runner.


Regards guys, as has been pointed out I think I've found a good place.

Good stuff! You go fix the seals!

I had enough with Sulzer 9RD90 rotary exhaust valves, the fins being, probably, more delicate than a butterfly's wing!

Rgds.
Dave

[Varley]

The rotating gubbins could take care of circulating the coolant I agree. It is the weight of that coolant, jackets and coolant cooler that would be the worry.

Wasn't glycol used as coolant in the Merlin? How was that 'pumped'?

[E. von Hoegh]

Originally Posted by Varley

The rotating gubbins could take care of circulating the coolant I agree. It is the weight of that coolant, jackets and coolant cooler that would be the worry.

Wasn't glycol used as coolant in the Merlin? How was that 'pumped'?

The usual way, a centrifugal pump. They used pure glycol & if the Spit stood still too long it would boil. At speed in the air all was well. No fans, you see -

[E. von Hoegh]

Originally Posted by Varley

The rotating gubbins could take care of circulating the coolant I agree. It is the weight of that coolant, jackets and coolant cooler that would be the worry.

Wasn't glycol used as coolant in the Merlin? How was that 'pumped'?

"Coolant Cooler"


Forgive me for pointing out that one of the reasons for whirling finned cylinders was effective albeit asymmetrical cooling.


The rotary engine was a relatively short lived phenomenon, a step to a goal that was not yet clearly in sight.


By far the finest engine to come out of WWI was the Napier Lion. The finest rotarys were designed by none other than W.O. Bentley, however their day was already past.


Wellness.

[E. von Hoegh]

here - a good use of the Lion. https://oldmachinepress.com/2020/03/...durance-racer/


And second only to the Lion was the Hispano Suiza, which also found it's way into four wheeled things - https://velocetoday.com/driving-the-big-ones-delage/


Well, the title is "weird machinery"

[E. von Hoegh]

Bentley Speed Six at Nordschleife. Ettore Bugatti once described Bentleys as "les camions plus vite" after losing to them at Le Mans. I beg to differ with le Patron. They were rubber shod locomotives - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ykz8sT_nb4


And then - 28 litres of four cylinder insanity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnuevzsKTdc


Wellness.

[E. von Hoegh]

That Speed Six is clearly faster and more difficult to handle than any modern driver could cope with.
if you pay attention, the car is mostly in second and third gear. The clue is, no vintage whine in direct drive.


Wellness

[Varley]

Originally Posted by Tim Gibbs

I thought a Scott-Still probably trumps anything else that made it into production. Although maybe a double acting 4-stroke might run it a close second? And there there was the free-piston gasifier ...... !

Tim

(By the by thanks for your recent MP article which I enjoyed. It was always said that failure to licence was Doxford's downfall it is interesting to note that that was a course change from earlier and lucrative licensings).

Willie Monro has posted some of the Denholm Newsletters recently on SN which cover the introduction and progress of Morar. One can plot the initial great enthusiasm, industry wide as well as company. So far all the reports subsequent to her delivery have, if not highlighted then at least mentioned, engine troubles. In the most recent to have reached the site we are informed that the new gasifiers are ready for fitting.

[Duncan112]

Originally Posted by E. von Hoegh

You could arrange the coolant plumbing to circulate the coolant via centrifugal force.
Just sayin'


Somewhere on the net is a 1/4 scale Bentley rotary, a runner.


Regards guys, as has been pointed out I think I've found a good place.

Here you are https://www.agelessengines.com/

Beyond my machining abilities, unfortunately!!

[Makko]

Fantastic! Thanks, Duncan.
Rgds.
Dave