I know there are some of you here into aviation. I came across this site from another forum and thought some of you might get a kick out of seeing this.

I've never seen an engine such as this. There is a certain beauty in some of the old designs.

http://thevintageaviator.co.nz...l-engine/urii-action

That's neat!

The site has a lot of good info.

I was part of a team that finished the rebuilding of a LeRhone rotary, and test ran it. For the initial fire up, there was a bevy of Important People to observe. I think there might have even been a speech or something.

Anyway, the suits all stood off to one side. Those few of us who knew of the propensity of them to throw oil did not warn them, and it was a wet start, since none of us had rotary experience. They all got spattered with castor oil.

The rotary-equipped airplanes all ended up with a 270 degree cowl to contain the castor oil. Needless to say, it did not stop it all, and the pilots, um, shall we say, were never constipated.

In fact, most were careful to eat very little in the hours before a sortie.

Little-known (and quite useless) factoid: Castor oil is the gold standard against which other lubricants are measured.

I remember sending a gullible co-workers to the maintence dept to ask for some castER oil for our squeaky office chairs.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Little-known (and quite useless) factoid: Castor oil is the gold standard against which other lubricants are measured.

There was a time in my life when a woman who smelled like castor oil might have been more attractive to me than one who smelled like Chanel #5.

There is even a Facebook page for people who like the smell of Castrol R. Over 6000 people.

I didn't like R in ringdings, though.

I still absolutely revel in the smell of castor oil, hot metal and hot rubber. My old favorite, Blendzall, is still used in ringding racers.

Interestingly enough, whale oil was another standard that has only recently gone away. It was used in ATF, but the decline in whaling caused it to be replaced with some kind of bean, but not the castor bean. The name escapes me, but it actually turned out to be better than whale oil.

Visited the USAF musem here in dayton a few month ago. They have an engine like this on display in the WW1 section. Neat seeing this one run.
Doorman

I've seen a car with this type of engine in it. In 1977, we toured the Harrah's Auto Collection. The car I still remember the most was called either a "Joliet" or "Julian". It was built around 1930. It was a 2 passenger coupe with a small boat-tail trunk. Under the boat tail, was a rotary engine. BUT.....the cylinders rotated around the crankshaft! I saw another story about this car about 10 years ago in another car magazine called, "Skinned Knuckles". This is the first time I've ever heard of this type of engine since I saw that car in 1977.

K&E

quote:

Interestingly enough, whale oil was another standard that has only recently gone away. It was used in ATF, but the decline in whaling caused it to be replaced with some kind of bean, but not the castor bean. The name escapes me, but it actually turned out to be better than whale oil.

Oil from the sperm whale...it wasn't superior to castor oil, but it had excellent adhesion properties. It was used widely as an additive in industrial gearboxes.

Whale oil was also used to make a soap base for a certain brand of deer repellant back in the 50's and 60's. When whaling became unpopular, seal oil was used but was not quite as good.

quote:

smelled like castor oil

castor oil and alcohol, great smell around the track. midgets, formula III etc.

quote:

Originally posted by K&E:
I've seen a car with this type of engine in it. In 1977, we toured the Harrah's Auto Collection. The car I still remember the most was called either a "Joliet" or "Julian". It was built around 1930. It was a 2 passenger coupe with a small boat-tail trunk. Under the boat tail, was a rotary engine. BUT.....the cylinders rotated around the crankshaft! I saw another story about this car about 10 years ago in another car magazine called, "Skinned Knuckles". This is the first time I've ever heard of this type of engine since I saw that car in 1977.

K&E

It was a Julian. That's pretty obscure. I think Bill Harrah had the only one ever made. I have an acquaintance who used to work on his cars. I'll see if I can get in touch with him and see if he knows anything.

They must have been a bear to shift, with such a massive flywheel effect. And it was pre-synchromesh. Double clutching, heel-and-toe, whoopeeeeee!

That gives new meaning to the term crash box.

There were a bunch of rotary engine cars around the '20s. Motorcycles, too. I never thought about it, but I wonder if they had something to do with surplus LeRhone engines or parts.

A half-century ago I was in the Colorado Air National Guard. The officer's club had a chandelier made from a WW I LeRhone rotary that I believe was the "monosoupape" (single valve) model. Is was a thing of polished, machined beauty.

The "monosoupape" engines had no throttles. Engine power was regulated by a "blip" button that interrupted the ignition. The engine was either running full-bore or not at all with ignition off. For a demonstration of how this sounded, watch the 1935 Errol Flynn movie, "Dawn Patrol." I believe the Nieuport fighters featured there were the genuine article, not replicas, or other biplanes disguised as WW I fighters.

For a simple, non-technical discussion of how these engines operated, check Wikipedia.

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
A half-century ago I was in the Colorado Air National Guard. The officer's club had a chandelier made from a WW I LeRhone rotary that I believe was the "monosoupape" (single valve) model. Is was a thing of polished, machined beauty.

The "monosoupape" engines had no throttles. Engine power was regulated by a "blip" button that interrupted the ignition. The engine was either running full-bore or not at all with ignition off.

The one I worked on had, I believe, three attempts at throttling down. Air, fuel and ignition. The ignition cut out cylinders one or two at a time, so it ran on all cylinders, some cylinders, a few cylinders or no cylinders. It was pretty fussy, and only the most senior instructor there knew how to do it right without fouling it or cooking it. As a minor player, I did not get to operate the controls, but I did help rig them.

I suspect there was more than one version of the monosoupape. It was a beautiful piece of machinery. even small external parts were things of beauty, in both design and finish. It was hard to believe that the same country that produced the wretched Cheauchat could make such a jewel.

quote:

For a demonstration of how this sounded, watch the 1935 Errol Flynn movie, "Dawn Patrol." I believe the Nieuport fighters featured there were the genuine article, not replicas, or other biplanes disguised as WW I fighters.

For a simple, non-technical discussion of how these engines operated, check Wikipedia.

Yeah, it's pretty nifty. I believe most of the flying shots for that Dawn Patrol were recycled from an earlier version of the same movie.

Not to take away from the topic at all, but look at the engine my brother Craig developed. Pretty interesting Jones Engine

Wow, that Jones engine is cool. I don't quite understand how it works from the animation but I can see one in a motorcycle frame real nice.