OT 1910 Russian Engine - anyone in Russia near Monino?

[Billtodd]

Seasons greeting All,

A couple of months ago I spotted an engine in a Russian YouTube (@~29:38) video about the Russian Federation Air-force museum in Monino . It caught my attention because it seemed to be a unique oscillating cylinder two-stroke radial

It is designated as:

ΑДΥ-4 (ADI-4)


It is labelled as 1910 but the horsepower and production(?) figures seem - how can I put this? 'unlikely'

I've build a model based on the 30 second clip in the video , but I can't figure out a few details without better pictures,
hence this long-shot request...

a) I think the exhaust valve (in the top centre of the head) is operated by a pull-rod from the rear , but evidence for this is missing in the views I have

b) I cannot make out how the conrods connect to the crank .

c) I'm fairly sure the piston must have an embedded transfer valve (Like the Gnome [correction LeRhone] radial) but unless there is more info at the museum , it remains speculation.

d) the inlet is a 'disk' or cylinder type valves with ports that transfer charge to the bottom of the cylinders via telescoping tubes (close-up picture could confirm this)

Animation of the basic motion here: [correction] ADY-4 1910 - b.gif - Google Drive
So anyone in Russia ATM?

TIA Bill

 

[jz79]

I'm not in Russia, but maybe this helps - copy/paste this exact text here - аду-4 (letters are actually ADU-4, not ADI-4), and use this text to search in google, you'll get better matches, your translation wasn't in Cyrillic, so google was slightly confused as to what you were looking for, here is a link to page that google listed as 1st result when I did a search using "аду-4" - Поршневые биротативные авиационные двигатели АДУ-3 и АДУ-4. - Российская авиация

 

[rustyironism]

Interesting stuff, Bill.
But your google drive link didn't work.

I have an interest in mechanical aircraft engines.

And the translated page provided by jz79 leads to my interest
in wind engines.

"The first wind-power plant in the world, with a capacity of 8 kilowatts (kW) and with an inertial accumulator, was built in 1929-30 in the USSR (in the city of Kursk) according to the design of the Soviet inventor A. G.Ufimtsev and Professor V. P. Vetchinkin. "

While that claim may be a bit broad, there is no doubt that A.G. Ufimtsey was a talented and important inventor.

Mike

 

[Asquith]

Bill,

There's a bit of information on Anatoly Georgievich Ufimtsev's aero engines in a book I have, 'Russian Piston Aero Engines' by Vladimir Kotelnikov. It doesn't answer most of your questions, but I'll provide some extracts, although the information is confusing.

Ufimtsev designed his first engine in 1908 for his Sferoplan circular wing plane. It was a rotary 2-cylinder 2-stroke.

In 1910-11 he built 4- and 6-cylinder contra-rotating rotary engines. It seems that these were patented in 1913. 'A prototype of Ufimtsev's 6-cylinder engine was also built and bench tested. His engines did not have valves and solid crankcases, but had a load-bearing truss structure. In 1917 a group of enthusiasts at the Locomotive Factory in Bryansk built a 40 HP engine of Ufimtsev's design, but none of these 'birotary' engines was installed in an aircraft.'

Another source (Bill Gunston, 'The Development of Piston Aero Engines') says that the con-rods were fixed to the pistons, which always remained aligned with the crankpin. (i.e. the cylinders did the swivelling, not the pistons).

There's a reasonable photo of the engine near the end of this link:-

http://авиару.рф/aviamuseum/dvigateli-i-vooruzhenie/aviamotorostroenie/aviamotory-rossijskoj-imperii/statya-rotativnyj-dvigatel/

 

[Billtodd]

Thanks Hot Rolled , [Correction jz79 Sorry ]

Not being as Russian reader/speaker , I was having to match the cyrilic by eye :-) Thanks for the correction and great link

Bill

New link to gif (forgot share the thing!) ADY-4 1910 - b.gif - Google Drive

 

[Billtodd]

Hi Asquith,

Thanks.

'The Development of Piston Aero Engines') says that the con-rods were fixed to the pistons, which always remained aligned with the crankpin. (i.e. the cylinders did the swivelling, not the pistons).

Yes, This is what I though , it's an oscillator like those little Mammod steam engines we had as kids :-)

Looking at the pictures in the link , It seem his early versions were piston ported more like conventional two strokes but the ADU-4 has a spring loaded exhaust valve (whose operation has confounded me)

I'll have to see If I can make head or tail of a google translation of the page .

T

 

[Billtodd]

Interesting,

Ufimtsev's first attempt at a radial , was a diesel with compressed air starter.

That was abandoned in favour of a piston ported spark ignition radial that used a differential and two props so tha the crank revolved oneway and the cylinders the other.

The 4th engine , for which he mortgaged his house, and the one I've been modelling, was also a spark ignition, but had a poppet valve for the exhaust. This was built by the Bryansk steam locomotive factory, but never fully tested and tuned . This might be why the valve operating mechanism is missing (did it ever run?) . The design did win The Big Silver Medal at the second international aeronautical exhibition in Moscow for an interesting idea :-)

Research continues....