Whenst I was an undergrad at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the aero department
had a LeRhone. We had it mounted to a trailer so we could run it. The crank
is held stationary and the rest of the engine rotates. Now this thing is
just plain scary when running. I think it was a nine cylinder affair and it
was all a blur when turningover. Fuel air mix was handled through the crank
and it attachment and it used a oil gas mix if I am not mistaken (and I
could very well be, this has been pert near 40 years ago!). I belive this
engine was used in the Sopwith Camel ( now there is a name for an
airplane...). I forget the rotation direction but supposedly the aircraft
was hard to turn one direction because of the gyro effect of all that mass
spinning around. So they killed the engine in busts when making a turn for
landings etc..
mayf, out in Pahrump
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Savage" <b.a.savage@earthlink.net>
To: "List Land Speed" <land-speed@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 2:59 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: Crank Balancing ( recip's )
> Keith,
>
> They were called "Rotary" engines. Gnome and LeRohne were the most
> common. The Gnome had one valve per cylinder, a large exhaust valve in
> the top center of the head. The Nine cylinder put out 165 hp. I talked
> to a guy that flew them in WWI and he said they were totally unreliable
> by today's (1968) standards. He was surprised that people were still
> flying them ---- voluntarily. I met him while examining one a The Old
> Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York in 1969.
>
> Bryan
>
>
> Keith Turk wrote:
>
> > One of the engines had a radial spin around the crank... rather then
> > the crank spinning..... think about that one for a second.... hmmm
> > can't remember the name of it... but I've seen it several times in
> > film...
> >
> > Keith
> > -----
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