A real rotary engine! Finally a video that mentions a rotary and doesn’t mean a Wankel engine! Thank you, these engines have always interested me, would love to restore one.
@@Smokeybear69420 Agreed, it's getting harder and harder to find rotary engine content when everybody's calling friggin' Wankel engines "rotary engines" when they aren't rotary engines at all.
@@spetsnazGru487 Nope, you’ve got it mixed up. Radial engines have stationary pistons, rotary engines rotating pistons, a Wankel engine has a “rotor” but is not a rotary engine.
Thanks for the great explanation of its operation. In my High-school days I was into WWI aircraft in a big way and when discussing engine types in Autoshop the Instructor berated me for telling him about a rotary engine where the full engine rotated around a fixed shaft as he was only familiar with radials and they made sense to him. Well, I kept my mouth shut after that but I knew he was dead wrong!
You should have gone on to tell him about needing only one valve per cylinder, because it can both expel exhaust gases and suck in fresh air at the same place if you have no carburettor. That would have made him mad and he would have sent you to the principal. Your teacher sounds like a couple of real clots I had in high school, such as the science teacher who told us there are three states of matter in thermal sequence - solid, liquid, and gas. I told him there is a forth state - plasma, at which he flatly declared I had made that one up.
One of the reasons that World War I aviators wore scarves is to keep them from having a severe case of diarrhea after flight: these engines were designed to be lubricated by castor oil. With open rockers, your face got covered with oil by the end of the flight. So caps, goggles and a scarf were important to keep you from injesting large quantities of castor oil 😉
I would love to see some diagrams of that fuel delivery system. I have a good mechanical mind and it feels like some 2 stroke elements going on here. Very interesting.
Induction to the cylinders is similar to that found in two-strokes but relies on suction in the cylinders rather than pressure in the crankcase. The earliest Gnôme engines had suction-operated intake valves in the pistons. Later this design was abandoned in favor of induction ports in the cylinder skirts. Since the crankshaft and crankcase also serve as the induction system, oil was mixed in the fuel and blown from the exhaust, again similar to two-stroke operation. These were four-stroke engines, however.
One of the best antique airshows is at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome north of New York City near Kingston, NY. They fly a variety of authentic aircraft dating as far back as 1909.
Amazing technology for it's day! I'd suppose the fuel gets fed in through a central tube at the back. However the rotating crankcase made it into a gyro, which in turn made the plane very hard to control. It tends to roll to one side very easily, but to roll to other side takes a lot of effort and muscle power. This is coupled with the fact that these engines are either in idle or in full throttle.
Agreed, however a twin with counter rotating Gnomes would be... interesting! Victorian answers to 20th century problems, I love Gnomes. "It's gets too hot, well just spin the whole mill. Righto!"
Note: Further viewing of this engine actually flying demonstrates the cunning newly invented 1/2 speed position... by using modern electronic spark control to cut out every second ignition pulse... allowing a steady state half throttle for cruising....
This type of engine had the best power-to-weight ratio at the start of the war, in addition well balanced, these engines did not vibrate, the only problem was that the rotation speed was limited, therefore ultimately the power
Excellent discussion - thank you very much! Can't say how much I appreciate outfits like this building working replicas of such historic engines. So see, hear (and smell) one running a century after they ceased to be used is just amazing. Gotta hand it to the original designers - the Gnome and Rhone engines and their Oberusel clones powered important aircraft right through World War One.
I’m not sure how true it is but I heard these rotary engines were made because early attempts at radial engines couldn’t keep the cylinders cool effectively enough so they made it so the entire engine rotated to create better air flow over the cylinders. Obviously this problem was solved due to the reemergence of static radial engines but I’ve never found what actually made them dissipate heat better.
I too wondered this for the longest time, so I'll share the answer with you. Notice how relatively small the cooling fins are on this rotary engine vs the much larger fins on a typical radial engine. The cylinders of a radial engine are made of cast metal. However, the casting technology of the early 20th century was not up to the task of reliably casting the large cooling fins that would be needed for a high power radial engine. They could manage small cooling fins, but those cooling fins are not large enough for a 100 hp radial. If you have the cylinders spin, like a rotary does, those small cooling fins are suddenly getting enough airflow through them to keep a 100 hp engine cool. As casting and other manufacturing technology improved, it became possible to make cylinders with large enough fins that radials became viable.
@crosshair84 - Process Engineer here: your explanation is wrong. Those fins are not cast. The cylinders are cast and then the fins are *machined* in a lathe (in the case of air cooled engines with a different geometry the cylinders are machined in a milling machine). I believe that the reason for doing rotary radial engines such as this was because they consume less resources (time, raw materials and tools) and therefore they are cheaper and faster to manufacture than a stationary radial engine.
I believe it was developed for the perpose of allowing long wait times on the field to await the signal to take off, without the problem of overheating.
Oil is pumped into the engine. It has two supplies, one to the master rod and another to the cam pack. It mixes inside the crankcase and then out through the cylinders.
If you've ever been around world war 1 era rotary engined planes they sound weird when they come in for a landing. Remember there's no throttle so either it's on full power or it's off. The pilot will line up with the runway and turn off the engine. They loose speed and the pilot turns the engine back on to gain a little bit more power then cuts it off again. The prop windmills when the power is cut so restarting is easy. Eventually they land and the engine stays off.
Monosoupape literally means one valve. So that explains part of the engine. But I think it also had a butterfly/reed valve, in top of each piston. So it would suck in fuel and air mixture through that butterfly valve in the the piston, and then the exhausts would be released through the single real valve in the top. Real valve, as in being controlled by the cam. But I might be wrong here. I have some vague recollection that the piston valve was not really needed, and it kept jamming, because of the stickiness of the castor oil used for lubrication. So the Monosoupape version, that is the single valve version, might be a later version that did away with the piston butterfly/reed valves. And used ports in the cylinder walls instead, like a two stroke engine. Which would make the name make sense, pointing out that we now only have one valve, the reliable one, and have gotten rid of the troublesome piston top valve. I'll have to google for this info some day in the future... 🙂
There’s a contact and when the cylinder is in position it touches a switch that completes the circuit and fires every other cylinder as I understand it
Electrodes on the back line up with the coil wire electrode as the engine turns. As a cylinder lines up it's electrode to fire, the points in the mag open and that cylinder fires.
Awesome explanation...but how much gyro effect when the plane turns since the whole engine rotates and secondly how does the engine gets spark to the plug while the engine rotates
Hi David, have just put up a short video taken from the side which clearly shows the ignition wires. Its called Short video of Gnome running from the side (short). Gyro did have an effect, turns better one way.
@@CheshireTomcat68 Correct. They claim that the pilot's seat was wicker to save weight, but the truth is that it was woven wicker for drainage. The other main issue/idiosyncrasy of the gnome is that it is either off, or at full power. If you look at the control stick for a rotary powered fighter from WW1 they will all have a small momentary switch on them that interupts spark. They called it "the blip switch." Turning off ignition for a moment was how you would throttle back the engine. You can hear pilots doing this as they come in to land.
So induction is by slip-valves much like a 2-stroke but with exhaust being via the single valve? And the crank carries the fuel-air mixture to their sump, so is it mixed with lube oil like a 2-stroke? Else how is the engine lubricated?
The Millet type Rotary has some unique advantages over conventional layouts at the time, They are lighter and much smoother running (vibration free) with no need for a heavy flywheel. Pilots liked them because they could take off almost imediately after starting without any warm-up. The main reason why they fell out of use was as the engine gets bigger its effects on gyroscope procession became a flight control problem.
@@classicaeromachiningservic262 actually this was an issue even in normal operation since many pilots died during training during phases such as takeoff and even performing basic turns!
@@rahulbhatia7798 You are correct that many died during take off while learning to fly but remember that as well as learning to fly they also had to learn how to run a engine. Its not like today engines when you turn the key and they run. Rich cuts were common and could take 10 to 15 seconds to clear which if you had just taken off that had dire consequences.
An obvious attempt to troll doktorbimmer, who is probably miserable, considering Mazda has confirmed they are bring back their wankel engine as a range extender.
I know this engine tech was short lived, but at some point did they find a way to control engine power? As many on this noted, it either full power or idle
Some manufacturers were developing carburetors with throttles mounted to the hollow crankshaft but Rotary engines were quickly reaching the limits of their potential.
No they had a 'blip switch' that simply grounded out the magneto. So you were flying at full power most of the time, but to come down for landing you would switch the ignition on and off as required to control your speed. Thus made a characteristic buzz... buzz noise as the pilots blipped the engine on and off on approach.
@littleshopofelectrons4014 No The camshaft rotates at half the engine speed opening the valve every second revolution. The valve Opens just before BDC and closing just after TDC producing lower air pressure in the cylinder. The piston travels down and uncovers the transfer ports and sucks in the fuel and oil mixture from the crankcase. The piston travel up compress the mixture the magneto spark fires at just before TDC. Watching video of these engines running sometimes you can hear them firing on one or two cylinders due to some part in the top of the cylinder being red hot from a too lean fuel mixture. Watch this video @ 1:55 to hear this ruclips.net/video/Hq78ZocOAkY/видео.html
they actually did make a six cylinder at one point... with the peculiar firing order one expects... as did lamplough but he chose scavenged two stroke over fourstroke...
I heard that those engines slung oil all over the place, I may be wrong. How was the engine lubricated? Did it have some kind of oil pump or was the oil slung around in the crank case?
Complete loss oil system. Used castor oil and slung oil all over which is why you see them with cowls nearly enclosing them. It also made the planes even more flammable.... Ah WW1, the enemy is trying to kill you, your side is trying to kill you and your own equipment is trying to kill you. Good times.
Here’s another video that answers the question: ruclips.net/video/N2BKbpTmQbw/видео.html look at the side of the cowl at the start of the flight and then again at the end. You will see oil leaking back nearly to the cockpit by the end of the 10min flight.
@@danweyant4909 cylinder ports are used on other types of 4-stroke engines as well, The Knight type sleeve valve engines come to mind... it is not unique to 2-stroke engines.
Hi Tom, its a 4 stroke. It uses transfer ports at the base of the cylinder like a 2 stroke but it is a 4 stroke. In the crankcase it has a very rich mixture of fuel oil and air. The one valve at the end of the cylinder opens on the induction stroke and it sucks in clean air. About 2/3 of the way down the induction stroke the valve closes so as piston gets closer to bottom of stroke there is a vacuum in the cylinder. Piston gets to the bottom of the stroke and exposes a ring of holes and the vacuum sucks in some of the rich mixture in from the crankcase. Piston goes up, mixture compresses and fires as per a normal 4 stroke. The valve on the end of the cylinder opens and allows exhaust gases to escape. This valve stays open right through to the induction stoke. Its a very simple system. Hope that helps.
World War I pilots inhaled and swallowed a considerable amount of castor oil during flight, leading to persistent diarrhea. Perhaps this is why WWI pilot uniforms were brown.
Yes. In practice if a pilot in a Camel wanted to change direction 90 degrees to the left, it was easier and faster to simply do a 270 degree turn to the right.
just stack two of them, gear them oppositely, give them own prop, doubling the HP and eliminating the precession issue. ...no one has the balls to try this????????????
History fact: the man who invented the rotary engine-rather than squat as per convention and common sense- preferred to lay down on his stomach whenever had to take a crap 💩.
Brad Brown I’m not sure, but according to multiple accounts, when people insisted to him that a crankshaft should move and crankcase remain stationary, (not the other way around), he replied “aww shit..”
It was originally mainly a weight issue. At the opening of WW1 a 50 pound increase in carrying capacity for a fighter was seen as major upgrade and up to a certain point a true rotary engine provides a better power to weight ratio than a radial engine. Of course this eventually hit an engineering brick wall when engines got so powerful you'd have to spin the engine at damn near supersonic speeds.
I'm no expert, but I can imagine a couple of potential mechanical benefits. With this configuration, the pistons all spin around a fixed point instead of reciprocating, so the vibration transmitted to the extremely light and flimsy airframe was probably reduced a fair bit, and there was likely no need of a big balance weight on the crankshaft, possibly making the engine lighter at a time when there really was no weight capacity to spare. With the whole engine block whirling around like that, it would also have probably acted as a very good flywheel, which would make the engine less likely to stall and die if there were any hiccups in the fuel supply or anything like that - given that there was no way to restart the engine in the air if it stopped (except, just maybe, going into a steep gravity dive to spin up the propeller in the slipstream and praying the damned thing restarted with enough altitude left to then pull up before you hit the ground!), this probably made the whole rickety thing more reliable during landing and take-off - especially because there was no actual throttle on some of the early planes; to cut thrust enough to actually land safely, you had to "blip" the engine, and a decent flywheel inertia probably improves your odds of the "blip" (or even throttling down) not becoming a dead stop. Whirling those finned cylinder heads around probably increased the air cooling effectiveness, too.
Авто/Мото
A real rotary engine! Finally a video that mentions a rotary and doesn’t mean a Wankel engine! Thank you, these engines have always interested me, would love to restore one.
Ikr, so many videos about fricken Wankel engines. They need to get the terminology straight.
@@Smokeybear69420 Agreed, it's getting harder and harder to find rotary engine content when everybody's calling friggin' Wankel engines "rotary engines" when they aren't rotary engines at all.
this is a radial piston engine, a true rotary engine can only be wankel engine
@@spetsnazGru487 Nope, you’ve got it mixed up. Radial engines have stationary pistons, rotary engines rotating pistons, a Wankel engine has a “rotor” but is not a rotary engine.
@@timehunter9467 ok, got it now...
Thanks for the great explanation of its operation. In my High-school days I was into WWI aircraft in a big way and when discussing engine types in Autoshop the Instructor berated me for telling him about a rotary engine where the full engine rotated around a fixed shaft as he was only familiar with radials and they made sense to him. Well, I kept my mouth shut after that but I knew he was dead wrong!
You should have gone on to tell him about needing only one valve per cylinder, because it can both expel exhaust gases and suck in fresh air at the same place if you have no carburettor. That would have made him mad and he would have sent you to the principal. Your teacher sounds like a couple of real clots I had in high school, such as the science teacher who told us there are three states of matter in thermal sequence - solid, liquid, and gas. I told him there is a forth state - plasma, at which he flatly declared I had made that one up.
You don't have to be smart to be a teacher, sadly.
"Is that an engine or a flywheel?"
"Yes."
That's a hell of a lot of rotating mass.
One of the reasons that World War I aviators wore scarves is to keep them from having a severe case of diarrhea after flight: these engines were designed to be lubricated by castor oil. With open rockers, your face got covered with oil by the end of the flight. So caps, goggles and a scarf were important to keep you from injesting large quantities of castor oil 😉
It's also gets pretty cold and windy up there. They would probably have those regardless
ah bon?! c'était balls castors oil?
Ha , ha , bravo !
The oil was blowing out the exhaust. It would mix with the fuel in the crankcase like in a two-stroke.
I would love to see some diagrams of that fuel delivery system. I have a good mechanical mind and it feels like some 2 stroke elements going on here. Very interesting.
Induction to the cylinders is similar to that found in two-strokes but relies on suction in the cylinders rather than pressure in the crankcase. The earliest Gnôme engines had suction-operated intake valves in the pistons. Later this design was abandoned in favor of induction ports in the cylinder skirts.
Since the crankshaft and crankcase also serve as the induction system, oil was mixed in the fuel and blown from the exhaust, again similar to two-stroke operation. These were four-stroke engines, however.
One of the best antique airshows is at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome north of New York City near Kingston, NY. They fly a variety of authentic aircraft dating as far back as 1909.
I went there as a boy in like 1970. It was fantastic. I keep meaning to go back.
Still a good show. Some of the planes have changed, some have been added, but still a great time.
Many thanks, I've been looking at Sopwith and realised the engine turns and not the crank.
Amazing technology for it's day! I'd suppose the fuel gets fed in through a central tube at the back. However the rotating crankcase made it into a gyro, which in turn made the plane very hard to control. It tends to roll to one side very easily, but to roll to other side takes a lot of effort and muscle power. This is coupled with the fact that these engines are either in idle or in full throttle.
Agreed, however a twin with counter rotating Gnomes would be... interesting! Victorian answers to 20th century problems, I love Gnomes. "It's gets too hot, well just spin the whole mill. Righto!"
It had its advantages in a fight - you can use the torque to turn one way lightening fast. Enough to ruin your opponents aim.
Note: Further viewing of this engine actually flying demonstrates the cunning newly invented 1/2 speed position...
by using modern electronic spark control to cut out every second ignition pulse...
allowing a steady state half throttle for cruising....
Best explanation I’ve heard of these esoteric contraptions
Not only is it ingenious, it's a beautiful work of art! Thank you.
Beautiful machining.
I was just speaking last week with some enthusiasts about the LeRhone and Oberusal licensed rotaries.
Brip, brip, braap.
Orémus.
Beautiful engine and piece of engineering.
Actually, german engineering lol
LeRhone was French. Roller cam followers were used on stationary gas engines. So makes sense this would use them.
That was a great explanation, I never realised how the carburation worked before.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing. Amazing technology in so many ways, especially for 1915.
This type of engine had the best power-to-weight ratio at the start of the war, in addition well balanced, these engines did not vibrate, the only problem was that the rotation speed was limited, therefore ultimately the power
I have this doubt: did the propeller´s sense of rotation go opposite to that of the engine, in order to somehow balance torques?
Prop is attached to engine so spins at engine rpm.
@@javiergilvidal1558final stage of their evolution was use of reductor. So that propeller would spin in other direction. 200hp
Excellent discussion - thank you very much!
Can't say how much I appreciate outfits like this building working replicas of such historic engines. So see, hear (and smell) one running a century after they ceased to be used is just amazing. Gotta hand it to the original designers - the Gnome and Rhone engines and their Oberusel clones powered important aircraft right through World War One.
Just brilliant engineering. My goodness ... like what was that design discussions going on when such things are being conceptuelised !!!
Fascinating... mind blowing engineering really. Especially for 100 years ago
Excellent video ! Very clear instructions and engine views . Good job !
love to see the comparison with
listed pros/cons next to the ww1 rotaries
So it has transfer ports but air flow reverses down the exhaust so it operates as a four stroke.
I’m not sure how true it is but I heard these rotary engines were made because early attempts at radial engines couldn’t keep the cylinders cool effectively enough so they made it so the entire engine rotated to create better air flow over the cylinders. Obviously this problem was solved due to the reemergence of static radial engines but I’ve never found what actually made them dissipate heat better.
I too wondered this for the longest time, so I'll share the answer with you. Notice how relatively small the cooling fins are on this rotary engine vs the much larger fins on a typical radial engine.
The cylinders of a radial engine are made of cast metal. However, the casting technology of the early 20th century was not up to the task of reliably casting the large cooling fins that would be needed for a high power radial engine. They could manage small cooling fins, but those cooling fins are not large enough for a 100 hp radial. If you have the cylinders spin, like a rotary does, those small cooling fins are suddenly getting enough airflow through them to keep a 100 hp engine cool.
As casting and other manufacturing technology improved, it became possible to make cylinders with large enough fins that radials became viable.
@@Crosshair84 Brilliant. Thanks so much for the info.
Rotary engines were also lighter and had less vibration... the Rotary also predates the Radial
@crosshair84 - Process Engineer here: your explanation is wrong. Those fins are not cast. The cylinders are cast and then the fins are *machined* in a lathe (in the case of air cooled engines with a different geometry the cylinders are machined in a milling machine).
I believe that the reason for doing rotary radial engines such as this was because they consume less resources (time, raw materials and tools) and therefore they are cheaper and faster to manufacture than a stationary radial engine.
@@RM6737 _"Rotary Radial engines"_ ???
That's an oxymoron... no such thing exists.
I believe it was developed for the perpose of allowing long wait times on the field to await the signal to take off, without the problem of overheating.
Outstanding achievement. Go CAMS.
Apparently, like a 2 stroke, the oil is premixed with the gasoline.
Oil is pumped into the engine. It has two supplies, one to the master rod and another to the cam pack. It mixes inside the crankcase and then out through the cylinders.
@@classicaeromachiningservic262 - They spewed enough castor oil onto the pilot to cause a little difficulty with the runs. 😬
If you've ever been around world war 1 era rotary engined planes they sound weird when they come in for a landing. Remember there's no throttle so either it's on full power or it's off. The pilot will line up with the runway and turn off the engine. They loose speed and the pilot turns the engine back on to gain a little bit more power then cuts it off again.
The prop windmills when the power is cut so restarting is easy. Eventually they land and the engine stays off.
Monosoupape literally means one valve. So that explains part of the engine. But I think it also had a butterfly/reed valve, in top of each piston. So it would suck in fuel and air mixture through that butterfly valve in the the piston, and then the exhausts would be released through the single real valve in the top. Real valve, as in being controlled by the cam. But I might be wrong here. I have some vague recollection that the piston valve was not really needed, and it kept jamming, because of the stickiness of the castor oil used for lubrication. So the Monosoupape version, that is the single valve version, might be a later version that did away with the piston butterfly/reed valves. And used ports in the cylinder walls instead, like a two stroke engine. Which would make the name make sense, pointing out that we now only have one valve, the reliable one, and have gotten rid of the troublesome piston top valve. I'll have to google for this info some day in the future... 🙂
Intake control was a piston port in the cylinder
Would like to know how the ignition system works
There’s a contact and when the cylinder is in position it touches a switch that completes the circuit and fires every other cylinder as I understand it
Electrodes on the back line up with the coil wire electrode as the engine turns. As a cylinder lines up it's electrode to fire, the points in the mag open and that cylinder fires.
Interesting. It's a 2 stroke, and the engine itself spins, not the crankshaft.
It's 4-stroke
Woops.
It's a four stroke with 2 stroke induction.
@@redtobertshateshandles What is 2-stroke induction?
@@redtobertshateshandles *What is 2-stroke induction????*
No carburetor to gum up or adjust, just run it at 1250 RPM's and blip the ignition to interrupt it.
Yeah, nothing to it! Now go fly and navigate and fight for life with this questionable airframe
Should design two banks, make it contra rotating.
This video is gold
Good video I have often wondered how that engine works 👍
Beautiful job.
Thank you! Cheers!
Very interesting! Thanks for taking you time to make the video.
Lovely work mates!!
Awesome explanation...but how much gyro effect when the plane turns since the whole engine rotates and secondly how does the engine gets spark to the plug while the engine rotates
Hi David, have just put up a short video taken from the side which clearly shows the ignition wires. Its called Short video of Gnome running from the side (short). Gyro did have an effect, turns better one way.
I want to know ho the made the machinery they used to make the fantastic engines back in the early 1900's.
The main fault I believe, was total loss of lubrication, most of which ended up in the Pilots face, or goggles.
Not just that, he breathed in and swallowed Castor Oil which gave all the pilots the runs, it is claimed.
Also thehuge rotating mass made small plane difficult to turn and bank. I think to the left but I could be wrong.
The exhaust exits when cylinder is at open bottom of cowling. Cowl contained oil splatter from valves.
@@CheshireTomcat68
Correct.
They claim that the pilot's seat was wicker to save weight, but the truth is that it was woven wicker for drainage.
The other main issue/idiosyncrasy of the gnome is that it is either off, or at full power. If you look at the control stick for a rotary powered fighter from WW1 they will all have a small momentary switch on them that interupts spark. They called it "the blip switch." Turning off ignition for a moment was how you would throttle back the engine.
You can hear pilots doing this as they come in to land.
For those who don't understand terminology .... SLOW DOWN, and explain what the parts do in simple terms
Very awesome - I hope I find you made a video of it operating.
No the cylinders and the propeller are llink together
1844 to 1929 Felix Theodore Millet France , tricycle.
where did you get the drawings to build that magnifisant engine?
It was reversed engineered from an original engine.
This engine is a masterpiece, true rotary engine I think France used them on their Spads
Not spads, neiuports
So induction is by slip-valves much like a 2-stroke but with exhaust being via the single valve? And the crank carries the fuel-air mixture to their sump, so is it mixed with lube oil like a 2-stroke? Else how is the engine lubricated?
It is mixed. Alcohol and Castor oil, I believe.
Sort sort of like a 2-stroke mix @@jerrylong381
Oil is injected via a injection pump, not pre mix
@@jerrylong381gasoline and castor oil
@@iainhunneybelloil injection
Very cool.
How does the inlet gas reach the cylinder? Via 2-stroke like scavenge ports?
I would have thought, centrifical force would effect the operation but i guess not.
Great video really enjoyed watching, what a interesting engine.
Interesting, good demonstration
How does the oiling work with the centrifugal forces?
Oil is pumped in through the crankshaft to the master rod and cam pack. Centrifugal forces is what help the oil travel outwards. Simple but effective.
@@classicaeromachiningservic262Is that a fuel-oil mix like a 2 stroke, or is there separate engine lubricant?
@@danweyant4909 Castor oil is pumped separately into the engine.
Imagine the rotating mass.
Engineering Marvel! 👍🍻
How to balance the anti rotation against the blade rotation in single engine flight.
steer.
WOW! Thanks for explaining.
so was there wasted fuel to completely exhaust the cylinder ?
Exhaust valve remains open as the piston passes TDC. No wasted fuel to exhaust cylinder.
@@classicaeromachiningservic262 does it have a huge valve?
i guess discovering you could have the cylinders stationary and just turn a crank was a major breakthrough 🤣
The Millet type Rotary has some unique advantages over conventional layouts at the time,
They are lighter and much smoother running (vibration free) with no need for a heavy flywheel.
Pilots liked them because they could take off almost imediately after starting without any warm-up.
The main reason why they fell out of use was as the engine gets bigger its effects on gyroscope procession became a flight control problem.
The spinning cylinders also helped with cooling.
The spinning engine is the fly wheel.
I have a castor oil pump. Monosoupape.
With the rotating mass it must be hard to steer
Yes had some gyroscopic forces going on, flown in normal manner no issues but it was used to help aircraft maneuver in dog fights.
@@classicaeromachiningservic262 actually this was an issue even in normal operation since many pilots died during training during phases such as takeoff and even performing basic turns!
@@rahulbhatia7798 You are correct that many died during take off while learning to fly but remember that as well as learning to fly they also had to learn how to run a engine. Its not like today engines when you turn the key and they run. Rich cuts were common and could take 10 to 15 seconds to clear which if you had just taken off that had dire consequences.
One of the engines has to let go of the Rotary name.
And it propably will be the Spinning Dorito engine, because it already has another name.
An obvious attempt to troll doktorbimmer, who is probably miserable, considering Mazda has confirmed they are bring back their wankel engine as a range extender.
Yeah, the other one is called a Wankel.
Great video; very informative.
I know this engine tech was short lived, but at some point did they find a way to control engine power? As many on this noted, it either full power or idle
Some manufacturers were developing carburetors with throttles mounted to the hollow crankshaft but Rotary engines were quickly reaching the limits of their potential.
Maybe show one that runs…..
@nikaluss5946 ruclips.net/video/Hq78ZocOAkY/видео.html
Very interesting Engine was mainly used on or about first World War.
So you use ignition timing instead of throttle position to control engine RPM? Neat
No they had a 'blip switch' that simply grounded out the magneto. So you were flying at full power most of the time, but to come down for landing you would switch the ignition on and off as required to control your speed. Thus made a characteristic buzz... buzz noise as the pilots blipped the engine on and off on approach.
We build a ignition system that we can switch to 1/2 wit reduces rpm but you are correct a blip switch is used for rpm
🟥 Fascinating engineering but it looks like a lot of reciprocating mass.
Since it uses transfer ports, is it a 2-cycle engine?
It’s still a 4 stroke, it’s getting oil, fuel and air from the crankcase but most of the air comes from the mono valve.
@littleshopofelectrons4014 No The camshaft rotates at half the engine speed opening the valve every second revolution.
The valve Opens just before BDC and closing just after TDC producing lower air pressure in the cylinder.
The piston travels down and uncovers the transfer ports and sucks in the fuel and oil mixture from the crankcase.
The piston travel up compress the mixture the magneto spark fires at just before TDC.
Watching video of these engines running sometimes you can hear them firing on one or two cylinders due to some part in the top of the cylinder being red hot from a too lean fuel mixture.
Watch this video @ 1:55 to hear this ruclips.net/video/Hq78ZocOAkY/видео.html
*New engine for the F-35*
what about the internal crank and con rod arrangement?
That is a beauty
nicely done! thx
A four stroke using two stroke induction and transfer, with valve exhaust.
WHAT IS 2-STROKE INDUCTION?
How is 2-stroke induction different than 4-stroke induction?
It's still a 4 stroke, isn't it?
Yes
Wish I had subtitles.
That fellow is difficult for me to understand.
Also, engineering mystifies me.
Chups means chips. Fush means fish. Sex means six. Easy
Kiwi English, easy as!
they actually did make a six cylinder at one point... with the peculiar firing order one expects...
as did lamplough but he chose scavenged two stroke over fourstroke...
I heard that those engines slung oil all over the place, I may be wrong. How was the engine lubricated? Did it have some kind of oil pump or was the oil slung around in the crank case?
Complete loss oil system. Used castor oil and slung oil all over which is why you see them with cowls nearly enclosing them. It also made the planes even more flammable.... Ah WW1, the enemy is trying to kill you, your side is trying to kill you and your own equipment is trying to kill you. Good times.
Here’s another video that answers the question: ruclips.net/video/N2BKbpTmQbw/видео.html look at the side of the cowl at the start of the flight and then again at the end. You will see oil leaking back nearly to the cockpit by the end of the 10min flight.
So basically it’s a two-stroke, right?
I think Bleriot’s 3 cylinder Anzani engine worked on the very same mechanical principle..
With a timed combo air intake/exhaust valve, so...a hybrid?
It's a 4-stroke.
@@danweyant4909Still uses the basic 4-stroke principle
@@sandervanderkammen9230 the fuel intake charge is introduced in the manner of many two- strokes.
@@danweyant4909 cylinder ports are used on other types of 4-stroke engines as well,
The Knight type sleeve valve engines come to mind... it is not unique to 2-stroke engines.
that 200lbs of rotating mass and it slinging oil out must have been horrible in an open cockpit 1200lb plane
👍👍👍👍👍👍
i wouldnt enjoy that hunk of metal spinning so fast. impressive regardless. and here i am unable to fix my 125cc chinese scooter engine lol
High maintenance ,but did the job
WAIT! the fuel comes from the crank shaft?!?!
Shades of a 2 stroke.
Sounds a bit like 2 stroke
It's a 2stroke then?
Hi Tom, its a 4 stroke. It uses transfer ports at the base of the cylinder like a 2 stroke but it is a 4 stroke. In the crankcase it has a very rich mixture of fuel oil and air. The one valve at the end of the cylinder opens on the induction stroke and it sucks in clean air. About 2/3 of the way down the induction stroke the valve closes so as piston gets closer to bottom of stroke there is a vacuum in the cylinder. Piston gets to the bottom of the stroke and exposes a ring of holes and the vacuum sucks in some of the rich mixture in from the crankcase. Piston goes up, mixture compresses and fires as per a normal 4 stroke. The valve on the end of the cylinder opens and allows exhaust gases to escape. This valve stays open right through to the induction stoke. Its a very simple system. Hope that helps.
No computer chips....... no worries.
...top drawer post, good animator!...be well!..l
Number agreement? "rotary engine works" or"rotary engines work".
9 cylinders, firing order ever other cylinder. 1,3,5,7,9,2,4,6,8,1,…etc
@@classicaeromachiningservic262 I'm advising you about the English language, for in case you should want to use it.
@@b43xoitwhich English language? There are many...
@@WilhelmKarsten The one I heard about since first grade.
@@b43xoit So you don't know about the others?
World War I pilots inhaled and swallowed a considerable amount of castor oil during flight, leading to persistent diarrhea. Perhaps this is why WWI pilot uniforms were brown.
I am having a hard time understanding this, can someone help me understand?
What part do you not understand?
The engine block spins
What’s the point of the entire thing rotating?
Cooling, no heavy flywheel and very smooth, vibration free running
1:20 "Fuck, that's wrong too?" =p
wouldn't all that rotating mass be like a a big gyroscope in the nose?
Yes. In practice if a pilot in a Camel wanted to change direction 90 degrees to the left, it was easier and faster to simply do a 270 degree turn to the right.
and famous cilindritis.
just stack two of them, gear them oppositely, give them own prop, doubling the HP and eliminating the precession issue. ...no one has the balls to try this????????????
I think that would be sooo heavy
I thought you will start the engine.
the crankcase is open
Why cylinders have to be spinned
To get enough airspeed though the cooling fins on the cylinders. It was the only way to keep them cool enough.
It makes it lighter than a Radial engine... no flywheel or counterweights required.
History fact: the man who invented the rotary engine-rather than squat as per convention and common sense- preferred to lay down on his stomach whenever had to take a crap 💩.
LOL
LOL
OK, you have me LOL
😂 Best random fact ever! ...Um. Closed legs or spread?
Aight, Ima go now.
Brad Brown I’m not sure, but according to multiple accounts, when people insisted to him that a crankshaft should move and crankcase remain stationary, (not the other way around), he replied “aww shit..”
Sorry,, lost me. I understand how it works. But why is the question. Even in about 1912
It was originally mainly a weight issue. At the opening of WW1 a 50 pound increase in carrying capacity for a fighter was seen as major upgrade and up to a certain point a true rotary engine provides a better power to weight ratio than a radial engine. Of course this eventually hit an engineering brick wall when engines got so powerful you'd have to spin the engine at damn near supersonic speeds.
I'm no expert, but I can imagine a couple of potential mechanical benefits. With this configuration, the pistons all spin around a fixed point instead of reciprocating, so the vibration transmitted to the extremely light and flimsy airframe was probably reduced a fair bit, and there was likely no need of a big balance weight on the crankshaft, possibly making the engine lighter at a time when there really was no weight capacity to spare. With the whole engine block whirling around like that, it would also have probably acted as a very good flywheel, which would make the engine less likely to stall and die if there were any hiccups in the fuel supply or anything like that - given that there was no way to restart the engine in the air if it stopped (except, just maybe, going into a steep gravity dive to spin up the propeller in the slipstream and praying the damned thing restarted with enough altitude left to then pull up before you hit the ground!), this probably made the whole rickety thing more reliable during landing and take-off - especially because there was no actual throttle on some of the early planes; to cut thrust enough to actually land safely, you had to "blip" the engine, and a decent flywheel inertia probably improves your odds of the "blip" (or even throttling down) not becoming a dead stop. Whirling those finned cylinder heads around probably increased the air cooling effectiveness, too.