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Axial piston diesel on craigslist. What is it?

Never heard of a Rogers.....says its heavy .......300lb is light IMHO.......looks like a fair bit missing.....Sterling series built crankless diesels pre WW2,only major production I know of.
 
A quick Google drew a blank on anything that looks like that.

Torpedo propulsion, "some say". Just not this one.

Was on the East Coast, I'd be on it like stink on s**t, just for the novelty of it.

No match for a conventional recip on longevity, let-alone economics of production, but awesome for compact size and short-term power to mass ratio. Torpedoes tending to be single-use, but high-budget, gadgetry, as they are.
 
Doesnt seem to be listed in the "douglas-self"/MUSEUM OF POWER site,which is pretty comprehensive......Anyone got a copy of "Some Unusual Engines" by LJK Setright.?
 
Doesnt seem to be listed in the "douglas-self"/MUSEUM OF POWER site,which is pretty comprehensive......Anyone got a copy of "Some Unusual Engines" by LJK Setright.?

Yup. Nothing I can see about Rogers in the Setright book. Some detail about the Bristol Tramway Company device and pictures of the Sterling (Sherman design) and Hermann devices of similar layout with extended captions.

[Considering Setright was (supposed to be) a historian trying to nail down specific information in his books is a total PIA as he tends to jump around like a grasshopper on speed mentioning the same thing in several different places. Indexing rarely helps as it varies between desultory and indifferent. Tempted to annotate my copies of his books but the margins are too small.]

Clive
 
Clive mentioned the Bristol Tramway Co. in the context of these unusual engines.

Charles Redrup was a prolific and restless inventor who was fascinated by piston engines of all orientations. He patented an axial piston engine in 1917. In the 1930s he was engaged in developing an axial piston engine for the Bristol Tramway and Carriage Co, who made their own buses and engines. The final development was the RR4, a 9-cylinder petrol (gasoline) engine which developed 145 HP at 2900 rpm. It was a promising engine, but the company's new owners pulled the plug, probably because conventional diesels were the way forward.

An example of the RR4 was on display at the Bristol Museum, but the plug was pulled on that admired institution, too, and after a long absence and much expenditure it re-emerged as the 'M Shed', where the engine now resides in storage.

The RR4's axial pistons acted on a 'wobble plate'. Redrup carried on developing engines into the early 1950s, expanding his axial piston repertoire from wobble plates to pistons acting on cams (the pistons had collars which engaged in sinusoidal grooves machined in a central rotor). Manchester Museum of Science & Industry have a demonstration model and parts of a prototype aircraft engine on display. See:-

Charles Benjamin Redrup - Graces Guide

It would be interesting to know the nature of the innards of the Rogers engine.
 
Cool engine- I agree, if it were closer (and cheaper :D ) I'd pick it up just for the fun factor.

Can't agree on it being a torpedo engine- mainly because it has air cooling fins on it. :D

Also, I'm not sure anyone ever used a diesel engine in a torpedo. Most use exotic fuels, one of which is typically a strong oxidizer- not sure how long you could get a small diesel to run on a tank of compressed air.

Doc.
 
Interestingly Charles Redrup worked with Barnes Wallace on the bouncing bomb. I believe he developed the drive that spun the bombs before they were dropped.
 








 
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