Engines....... how do they work

[Junkman]

If this question ever interested you, then this site will help you to understand everything from Locomotive engines to WW 1 rotary airplane engines and ever thing inbetween.... except diesel.. Fun to watch everything go around, but the rotary engine will make you dizzy....... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

engine web page

 

[BB_TX]

Thanks junkman. That is a terrific site!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[gsganzer]

Here's another cool site. Everything you ever wanted to know about everything.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/

 

[Taylortractornut]

I liked that site but I think hes mistaken on the Wankel engine and the Rotary. The rotary one is a Radial engine like alot of Pratt and Whitney aircraft engines, The Wankel engine is a rotary like Mazda produces. I bet the ww1 engine had more stuf to go wrong trying to get fuel from the tank to the carbs with a rotary fitting. It also seems that it would be hard to balance it to. When I was 16 I hung around the local airport and got to be friends with a crop duster. I fell in love with the big 600 horse Pratt and Whitney radials. I learned alot ot that you have to manuallyy spin the prop over before flight to keep the oil that seeped down into the lower pistons from damaging the rods or cranks when the inertial starter engaged. THey were expensive to rebuild but fun to taxi and dump the clorox we used to wash the tanks out with. Wed get out on the lot over a greasy spot or on the runway and lock the brakes and crack open the bottom hopper/emergency dump and power up then let it go.
We had a Polish built duster called a Dromedier that was 1200 HP and was the biggest single engine duster made. It was hoss to operate it on the ground and it was also used to fight small wild fires.

 

[GaryM]

No, the site is correct. The rotary he illustrates is a special type of "radial" in that the crankshaft is fixed to the framework and the cylinders rotate around the crankshaft. And you're correct, feeding fuel and ignition was a big issue.

 

[MossRoad]

Taylortractornut,
Like Gary said, the one that he shows, the cylinders bank actually rotates areound a fixed crankshaft! Yeow!

The engines that you are referring to are radial engines. The cylinder bank is fixed and doesn't move.

Here's a link to a site with some information about the Pratt and Whitney.

 

[TresCrows]

Yes, he is correct, many early aircraft engines had a fixed crankshaft and the engine case rotated around it with the propeller affixed to the engine case. I know it is common vernacular to call a Wankel engine a rotary but the nomenclature is strictly incorrect. Now, if the crank of a Wankel engine were fixed and the outer case rotated around the rotar then it would be a Rotary Wankel engine. J