In one matter it would seem that they were quite fortunate. The
records are not complete, but with one exception there is no
indication of any chronic or even occasional crankshaft failure. This
would seem to show that it apparently never happened that any of their
designs came out such that the frequency of a vibrating force of any
magnitude occurred at the natural frequency of the shaft. Much later,
when this type of vibration became understood, it was found virtually
impossible, with power outputs of any magnitude, to design an
undampened shaft, within the space and weight limitations existing in
an ordinary engine, strong enough to withstand the stress generated
when the frequency of the imposed vibration approximated the natural
frequency of the shaft. The vibratory forces were mostly relatively
small in their engines, so that forced vibration probably was not
encountered, and the operating speed range of the engines was so
limited that the natural frequency always fell outside this range.
The flywheel was about the least complex of any of their engine parts
and required little studied consideration, although they did have to
balance its weight against the magnitude of the explosion forces which
would reach the power transmission chains, with their complete lack of
rigidity, a problem about which they were particularly concerned. The
flywheel was made of cast iron and was both keyed to and shrunk on the
shaft.
Some doubt still exists about the exact method of lubricating the
first engine. The unit presently in the airplane has a gear-type oil
pump driven by the crankshaft through a worm gear and cross shaft, and
the Appendix to the _Papers_ states that it was lubricated by a small
pump; nevertheless Baker says, after careful research, that despite
this evidence, it was not. Also, the drawings prepared by Christman
(they were commenced under the supervision of Orville Wright) do not
show the oil pump. In March 1905 Wilbur Wright wrote to Chanute,
"However we have added oiling and feeding devices to the engine ...";
but this could possibly have referred to something other than an oil
pump. But even if a pump was not included originally, its presence in
the present engine is easily explained. Breakage of the crankcase
casting caused the retirement of this engine, which was not rebuilt
until much later, and the pattern for this part had no doubt long
since been altered to incorporate a pump. It was therefore easier in
rebuilding to include than to omit the pump, even though this required
the addition of a cross shaft and worm gear combination. On later
engines, when the pump was used, oil was carried to a small pipe,
running along the inside of the case, which had four small drill holes
so located as to throw the oil in a jet on the higher, thrust-loaded
side of each cylinder. The rods had a sharp scupper on the outside of
the big end so placed as also to throw the oil on this same thrust
face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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