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Why in this case didn't they just do that with the Hyper-Engine and X-4520?wuzak said:The contract with Continental was basically because the Army didn't have its own manufacturing facilities, so they needed a sub-contractor to build their design. . .
But in general, the engine manufacturers would design their own engines, to a design spec (for the military or for commercial aviation) or as a private venture.
From what I recall, the hyper-engine started out of two thing
The engineers at Wright Field felt that was incorrect and planned to show it was wrong by having S.D. Heron modify a Liberty Engine cylinder and running it at increasingly high pressures and achieved the benchmark figures.
- Basically: Basic efforts to improve engine power by decreasing weight and increasing power.
- Immediately: A paper in the 1920's that stated it would not be possible to achieve one horsepower per cubic inch without sleeve valve
They then got Continental Motors to build the engine, with the engineering work being done by the Army. The actual engineering development was Army only.
While I know there weren't pay-as-you-go contracts: Was this how most engines were developed at the time?
I would have figured the buyer (the government) sets the specs, and the designer builds the design with the agreement of the buyer, and budget, but using their own engineers with either government test facilities or their own.
I didn't know the displacement was so little at firstThe Hyper cylinder was to have the same 4 5/8-in. bore as the air-cooled Liberty which had been used in the experiments, but to permit higher speeds of rotation the stroke was to be shortened from 7 in. to 5 in., giving a displacement of 84.0 cu in., or a total of 1008 cu in the 1000-hp 12-cylinder vee-type engine which was to be built around it.
What temperatures were seen in coolant in WWII engines?The Army also decided that in order to operate satisfactorily with ethylene glycol at 300° F
Why did they do that? Why not just dictate the basic principles, and horsepower specs and let the contractor do it's job?In 1932 an agreement for the engineering and development of this cylinder and of the engine employing it was reached between the Army and the Continental Motor Company. Continental had been in the 1920.s the most successful manufacturer of engines for automobiles and trucks built by other makers. It had entered the aviation field in 1928 . . .
Continental's role in the Hyper project was essentially to be nothing but routine engineering and testing. The Army not only had decided upon the basic principles and the size of the Hyper cylinder but also had laid down the main lines of the complete engine in which it was to be used, and the first two years of work were actually done in a special office set up by the company in Dayton to be near Wright Field.
I'm confused about this: The V-1710 wasn't an opposed cylinder...The airplane branch at Wright Field, however, was then absolutely convinced that the engines of virtually all future airplanes, including even fighters, would be buried in the wings for the sake of higher speed, and at their insistence the Army specified that the new cylinder be the basis of a "flat" or opposed engine. This was the origin of the Continental O-1430.
The same problem that other inline manufacturers of the time seemed to run into if I recall.The real difficulty was simply the company's lack of faith, not in the technical soundness of the project, but in the prospect of sales of even a successful product. Even though some engineers at Wright Field believed that engines based on the Hyper cylinder might prove best for all types of combat planes, no one at all foresaw any commercial use
Did this apply to the US Navy as well?The formalities made necessary by the laws governing Army procurement meant that there was considerable delay in negotiating a new contract as each new phase was begun, and work virtually stopped during these intervals.
Why didn't they just double the O-1430 into an H-2860? That was done with the V-1710 in the V-3420...By the time the O-1430 had got through its development test in 1939, if not still earlier, the Army had decided that 1000-hp engines were obsolete for all purposes.
So Continental was the primary decision maker to just build to spec and let the Army do everything?Shortround6 said:Continental didn't seem willing to gamble it's own money on a large/expensive military engine.
OkayContinental was quite definitely on a "pay as you go" basis with the US Army.
I didn't know the displacement was so little at first
What temperatures were seen in coolant in WWII engines?
Why did they do that? Why not just dictate the basic principles, and horsepower specs and let the contractor do it's job?
I'm confused about this: The V-1710 wasn't an opposed cylinder...
Why didn't they just double the O-1430 into an H-2860? That was done with the V-1710 in the V-3420...
What temperatures were seen in coolant in WWII engines?
Because the contractors didn't want to do the job. The Army was looking for 1hp per cubic inch. The last Curtiss Conquerors built did 700hp for 1570 cubic inches and had a turbocharger (even if it didn't do much at sea level.) but no engine supercharger. The Army "concept" was too far in advance of what was actually going on to make it a good gamble for the private companies. Please remember that this was going on in the middle of the Great depression. Not a good time for risking large amounts of money on experimental projects.Why did they do that? Why not just dictate the basic principles, and horsepower specs and let the contractor do it's job?
as mentioned by Wuzak the V-1710 predated the Army hyper project and was started with private funds.I'm confused about this: The V-1710 wasn't an opposed cylinder...
The same problem that other inline manufacturers of the time seemed to run into if I recall.
Timing, if you stack the flat engines they become too fat (high) to stick in the wing anymore and if you flip to vertical they sure won't fit. Lycoming did the stacking and flip to vertical once the army had given up on sticking the engines in the wing. It was also an attempt to salvage some of the money they had poured into the project because the O-1430 was no longer powerful enough to compete. The P & W R-1830 radial had started out as a 750hp engine in the early 30s. it was over 1000hp near the end of the 30s and closing on 1200hp in 1940/41. Same with the Cyclone and the V-1710 not to mention the R-2600 and the R-2180 (which went nowhere but was rated at 1450hp).Why didn't they just double the O-1430 into an H-2860? That was done with the V-1710 in the V-3420...
Had a hunchwuzak said:Less than 300°F
Was the 300F figure based on combat, max continuous, etc?From the de Havilland Mosquito FBVI Pilot's notes (available at wwiiaircraftperformance.org):
Max Climbing (1 hour): 125°C/257°F
Max Continuous: 105°C (115°C)/221°F (239°F)
Combat (5 minutes): 135°C/275°F
Why did they hatch a deal with Continental motors and not just look for another engine contractor if they didn't want to produce the engine?Because the contractor did not want to do that job.
Lycoming joined the fray because they knew that theirLycoming would design its own engine around the Hyper cylinder, but they invested their own money.
I would have honestly thought that the higher temperature would have required a bigger radiator because you're dispelling more heat into the same air-temperature unless you had a very high airflow rate through the system. And the fact that the oil temperature going up required bigger oil-coolers seems to be an example of this.They thought that 300 degree temp would allow for smaller radiators due the greater difference between the temps of the coolant and the air flowing through the radiator.
Was the technology developed on the hyper-engine ever planned to be used for civilian aircraft?Because the contractors didn't want to do the job. The Army was looking for 1hp per cubic inch. The last Curtiss Conquerors built did 700hp for 1570 cubic inches and had a turbocharger (even if it didn't do much at sea level.) but no engine supercharger.
And Lycoming only was interested because Continental was involved right?The Army "concept" was too far in advance of what was actually going on to make it a good gamble for the private companies.
Plus the NACA cowling. That started seeing routine use since 1932 right?Sort of. There were only two inline manufactures, Packard and Curtiss. Both had the same problem, their in-line engines (both had two) dated from the earlier/mid 1920s and were becoming obsolete. They were lightly built and would not stand up to the powers desired without substantial redesign (money). Packard had the additional problem of their chief designer dying in an air crash and Curtiss and Wright had merged, the new corporation was quite happy to sell Wright Cyclones and saw no reason to compete with itself.
That makes more sense, but one also needs to know that the first hyper-concept was V-cylinder too. The flat-cylinder thing seemed to have taken hold around the early 1930's.The Allison was always seen by the Army as the "back-up" plan. The low risk temporary substitute for the hyper engine rather than a true competitor.
Was the 300F figure based on combat, max continuous, etc?
Why did they hatch a deal with Continental motors and not just look for another engine contractor if they didn't want to produce the engine?
Lycoming joined the fray because they knew that their
biggest competitor was working on the hyper-engine. I'm curious if the USAAC knew that Lycoming was Continental's biggest competitor?
I would have honestly thought that the higher temperature would have required a bigger radiator because you're dispelling more heat into the same air-temperature unless you had a very high airflow rate through the system. And the fact that the oil temperature going up required bigger oil-coolers seems to be an example of this.
Was the technology developed on the hyper-engine ever planned to be used for civilian aircraft?
And Lycoming only was interested because Continental was involved right?
Plus the NACA cowling. That started seeing routine use since 1932 right?
That makes more sense, but one also needs to know that the first hyper-concept was V-cylinder too. The flat-cylinder thing seemed to have taken hold around the early 1930's.
Did the RAF have a similar interest in flat cylinders?
Makes senseIt was the maximum temperature, so it would have been at the engine's highest rating.
UnderstoodPerhaps because Continental was scratching around for work and other manufacturers weren't.
I'm confused, I thought when a project was government funded, the government dictates the requirements (specified power/displacement, cylinder design principles, coolant temperature requirements, etc), the corporation designs it and builds it.It wasn't that they didn't want to make the engine, it was that they didn't want to spend their own money on the engine.
OkayThe heat exchange rate increases with the temperature difference.
So it was unable to dump the heat into the airflow, and as a result the radiator had to either be made bigger, or the heat went into the oil and that made the oil hotter and needed a bigger cooler since it would only dispel so much heat?Though the coolant was operating at higher temperatures, it was not rejecting more heat.
I was just curious because there was an entry on Wikipedia (yeah I know they're not necessarily reliable) that statedNo. It was a strictly military engine.
Makes sneseMore likely they could see the potential earnings if their engine was a success and was ordered in large quantities by the Army.
It had to do with the effectiveness of radials which increased their demand over inlinesNot real sure what that has to do with the hyper engine.
I guess they realized it wouldn't do any good. Interestingly they were for H-cylinders.
I'm confused, I thought when a project was government funded, the government dictates the requirements (specified power/displacement, cylinder design principles, coolant temperature requirements, etc), the corporation designs it and builds it.
So it was unable to dump the heat into the airflow, and as a result the radiator had to either be made bigger, or the heat went into the oil and that made the oil hotter and needed a bigger cooler since it would only dispel so much heat?
I was just curious because there was an entry on Wikipedia (yeah I know they're not necessarily reliable) that stated
I guess they realized it wouldn't do any good. Interestingly they were for H-cylinders.
I'm confused, you said they didn't want to spend money to build the engine right? If that's so, why didn't the US Army just give them an outline of what they wanted and let Continental design and build it?The engine was designed by the Army. Continental basically operated as the Army's experimental shop. Factories were built for production of teh engine, but they were all government funded too.
I figure if the coolant was *hotter* there would be more heat transfer until it can't absorb anymore? Still if it got too hot, it'd probably go into the oil since the engine's being lubricated by the stuff.No, you've got it wrong.
The heat of combustion has three ways to exit the chamber. Through the coolant, through the oil and through work done on the piston (ie power).
The higher temperature of the coolant lowers the heat transfer to the coolant, which means the heat difference is transferred elsewhere - and th eeasiest route out was through the oil.
Of course, but I would have figured that the air would only be able to easily absorb so much heat per square foot of surface area...The higher temperature of the coolant made for greater heat transfer rates to the air, which enabled a smaller radiator.
Okay, so it was a mistake for the USAAF to do this?I don't think that the RAF, Air Ministry, or whoever, was dictating the engine layout.
I'm confused, you said they didn't want to spend money to build the engine right? If that's so, why didn't the US Army just give them an outline of what they wanted and let Continental design and build it?
I figure if the coolant was *hotter* there would be more heat transfer until it can't absorb anymore? Still if it got too hot, it'd probably go into the oil since the engine's being lubricated by the stuff.
Of course, but I would have figured that the air would only be able to easily absorb so much heat per square foot of surface area...
Okay, so it was a mistake for the USAAF to do this?
Was the technology developed on the hyper-engine ever planned to be used for civilian aircraft?
And Lycoming only was interested because Continental was involved right?
Plus the NACA cowling. That started seeing routine use since 1932 right?
That wasn't the point, I was simply curious about what the intent was.The Army may have hoped it would be used since more engines sold would lower their own unit costs. I am not sure civilian use ever went past a few fanciful sketches/drawings.
OkayLycoming and Continental were not the big rivals in the late 20s and early 30s that they would later become.
If I recall, I said that they appeared around 1932 and that many engines were fitted with it by that point.The NACA cowling was a big advance but many people tend to think it was a one shot deal, NACA cowling is introduced and presto
I always though that in an effort to keep the airflow moving fast through the back portion of the cowl, they wanted to keep narrowing it down but it wouldn't work at lower speeds so they'd open the cowl up to allow it throughThere was no way to regulate the temperature of the engine. it would be 1935 before the first adjustable flaps on the rear of the cowling would be used to control the airflow for different flight conditions. Cowling and airflow (drag) had to be set up for worst case condition (full power climb on a hot day).