Here was the antithesis of the Wolseley type in the matter of bore in
relation to stroke; from about 1907 up to the beginning of the war, and
even later, there was controversy as to which type--that in which the
bore exceeded the stroke, or _vice versa_--gave greater efficiency.
The short-stroke enthusiasts pointed to the high piston speed of the
long-stroke type, while those who favoured the latter design contended
that full power could not be obtained from each explosion in the
short-stroke type of cylinder. It is now generally conceded that the
long-stroke engine yields higher efficiency, and in addition to this,
so far as car engines are concerned, the method of rating horse-power
in relation to bore without taking stroke into account has given the
long-stroke engine an advantage, actual horse-power with a long stroke
engine being in excess of the nominal rating. This may have had some
influence on aero engine design, but, however this may have been, the
long-stroke engine has gradually come to favour, and its rival has
taken second place.
For some time pride of place among British Vee type engines was held
by the Sunbeam Company, which, owing to the genius of Louis Coatalen,
together with the very high standard of construction maintained by
the firm, achieved records and fame in the middle and later periods
of the war. Their 225 horse-power twelve-cylinder engine ran at a
normal speed of 2,000 revolutions per minute; the air-screw was driven
through gearing at half this speed, its shaft being separate from the
timing gear and carried in ball-bearings on the nose-piece of the
engine. The cylinders were of cast-iron, entirely water-cooled; a thin
casing formed the water-jacket, and a very light design was obtained,
the weight being only 3·2 lbs. per horse-power. The first engine of
Sunbeam design had eight cylinders and developed 150 horse-power at
2,000 revolutions per minute; the final type of Vee design produced
during the war was twelve-cylindered, and yielded 310 horse-power with
cylinders 4·3 inches bore by 6·4 inches stroke. Evidence in favour of
the long-stroke engine is afforded in this type as regards economy of
working; under full load, working at 2,000 revolutions per minute, the
consumption was 0·55 pints of fuel per brake horse-power per hour,
which seems to indicate that the long stroke permitted of full use
being made of the power resulting from each explosion, in spite of the
high rate of speed of the piston.
Developing from the Vee type, the eighteen-cylinder 475 brake
horse-power engine, designed during the war, represented for a time
the limit of power obtainable from a single plant. It was water-cooled
throughout, and the ignition to each cylinder was duplicated; this
engine proved fully efficient, and economical in fuel consumption. It
was largely used for seaplane work, where reliability was fully as
necessary as high power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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