What's new
What's new

Lathework for Gnomes

Beautiful stuff, thank you for taking the
time to photograph that.

I've never seen anyone build scale model
rotary engines. What a cool project that
would be.

Jim
 
There was a 1/4 scale Bentley rotary radial running the the last Aerodrome show held before Frank Ryder's death in 1994. There were also at least two full scale rotaries at that show flying in replica WWI fighters. Amazing sights, sounds and smells (castor oil!) to behold.
 
Good sleuthing skills Asquith! Especially if it involved climbing the Science Museum jungle gym and using a small mirror for that inside-the -cylinder detail!
 
Jim Rosen,

If you have lots of time and much more patience than I do, get a copy of "Bentley BR2 World War 1 Rotary Engine" by L K Blackmore, Camden Publications, ISBN 0 9519367 4 3. This gives a history of the BR rotaries, a copy of the official Air Ministry publication of 1925 describing them, and a description complete with drawings and photographs of the building of a quarter scale working model. I bought the book, looked at the drawings, and decided I probably would not live long enough to complete one. It's an interesting book though.

franco
 
Hi Jim,

Many thanks for the link to Sir Peter Jackson's WW1 aircraft film.

Here is the The Vintage Aviator Ltd (TVAL) website describing some of their engine and aircraft projects:

The Vintage Aviator |

However, in 2017 the Company suspended all sales due to an ongoing investigation - the subject of the investigation not specified:

Sir Peter Jackson'''s replica vintage plane company suspends sales during investigation | Stuff.co.nz

And the sequal:

Peter Jackson and the Airplane Thief | Vanity Fair

Quite a story!

Regards,

Frank.
 
Thanks Franco
I'll take a look at these links in the next day or two.
This film of Sir Peter Jackson's that is somewhat off topic was mentioned in another thread and another board member shared this link to it with me the other day
They Shall Not Grow Old Watch online full movie - Documentary Mania
It is just over 1.5 hours long
These give some back ground to the main They Shall Grow Not Old film. in some ways it might be better to view them after the main film since I looked at them first was distracted trying to recognize what I had seen as the film was in progress.
How Lord of the Rings director brought colour to WW1 - BBC - YouTube
Forensic Lip-Reader Recovers the Words of Those Who Fought at The Somme - YouTube
Jim
 
I had a book once (loaned out) about Gnome engines made by Ford....Ford invented a method of making the cylinders by concertina folding tube ,and then forge welding the result into a solid cylinder with fins.......I dont know if it applied only to Ford motors,but the fins were a modified oval in plan to equalize cooling,and the bores also finished oval so that they became round when hot.
 
The Air Ministry asked Granville Bradshaw to design a 300hp+ radial ,on the basis of his smaller designs......the engine was put into production straight off the drawings,long before a complete engine was available for test......the engine was a complete failure ,the tops of the cylinders ran red hot ,and heavy vibration set in before full revs ....the test flight was a fail as the engine broke away from its mountings ,and the plane crashed......production was stopped when over 1000 engines had been built......the ABC Dragonfly.
 
I had a book once (loaned out) about Gnome engines made by Ford...

John,

Ford came up with a clever method of producing Liberty aero engine cylinders c.1917 with the intention of producing about 1,000 cylinders per day.

They started with open-ended drawn steel tube. See attached pages from Robert Neal's massive book on the Liberty engine.

Unfortunately there is little detail on the various operations - forging, machining and welding, that would make interesting reading.

The drop-forged 'elbows' for the inlet and exhaust valves were welded on with electric welding, later electric butt welding. The water jackets were welded on with oxy-acetylene.


Liberty cylinder production by Ford 02.jpg Liberty cylinder production by Ford 01.jpg Liberty cylinder production by Ford 03.jpg Liberty cylinder production by Ford 04.jpg A Technical & Operational History of the Liberty Engine by Robert Neal cover.jpg
 
John,

Ford came up with a clever method of producing Liberty aero engine cylinders c.1917 with the intention of producing about 1,000 cylinders per day.

They started with open-ended drawn steel tube. See attached pages from Robert Neal's massive book on the Liberty engine.

Unfortunately there is little detail on the various operations - forging, machining and welding, that would make interesting reading.

The drop-forged 'elbows' for the inlet and exhaust valves were welded on with electric welding, later electric butt welding. The water jackets were welded on with oxy-acetylene.


View attachment 335270 View attachment 335271 View attachment 335272 View attachment 335273 View attachment 335274

cool thanks for posting that . makes me think about cartage [ammo] case forming
 








 
Back
Top