Military engine

“ By this date the development of military flying had made it apparent that engines of such great horsepower could be used advantageously on the smaller planes. However, the engine plants of the allied countries were already taxed to their capacities by their existing contracts, and the demands of these countries for high-powered engines could not be supplied unless we in America could increase our manufacturing facilities even further. ”

“ But even now from the seat of war comes the news of engines that fail and machines that drop into the realm of the enemy. The old proverb of having two strings to one’s bow should apply to aëronautics.
The desideratum, indeed, is the duplication of such a vital part as the motor. Considerations of weight have been the hindrance to engine duplication. ”

“ One of the great inventions of the War was the synchronisation of engine-timing and machine-gun, which rendered it possible to fire through the blades of a propeller without damaging them, though the growing efficiency of the aeroplane as a whole and of its armament is a thing to marvel at on looking back and considering what was actually accomplished. As the efficiency of the aeroplane increased, so anti-aircraft guns and range-finding were improved. ”

“ In the meantime, science is seeking to surpass all its present achievements. The marine steam engine, of whatever type, will give way to the internal combustion engine of a type which will surpass all the existing machinery as surely as the best turbines are ahead of the old compound engines. The battleship of the future will have an armament surpassing in effective range and penetrative power anything at present afloat, and an armour as far in advance of the present steel armour as that is ahead of the compound armour it but lately supplanted. ”

“ In this case I am giving it its narrower sense, taking it to indicate the steam-engines and oil-engines which are employed to drive our battleships, cruisers and destroyers, our submarines and our aircraft. They are inventions of the highest importance, which have played a large part in shaping modern warfare.
The type of engine almost invariably used on ships of war other than submarines is the steam turbine. Great Britain, for the most part, uses that particular kind associated with the name of the Hon. Sir C. A. Parsons, while the United States rather favour the Curtiss machine. ”

“ The manufacture of engines for any aeronautical purpose was one which we might approach with confidence. We possessed in the United States motor engineering talent at least as great as any in Europe, while in facilities for manufacture—in plants which had built our millions of automobile engines—no other part of the world could compare with us. Therefore, while waiting word from Europe as to the best type of wings, fuselages, instruments and the like, we went ahead to produce for ourselves a new, typically American engine which would uphold the prestige of America in actual battle. ”

“ Most of us manufacturers, sold on our own doctrine, had now moved into the design and production of new transport aircraft intended to replace the war-weary war surplus. In United Aircraft, for instance, we had undertaken to expand the power output and increase the dependability of our current commercial engines and had at the same time inaugurated a wholly new engine, a twenty-eight-cylinder Wasp Major with a capacity of 4,360 cubic inches and an initial rating of 3,000 horsepower. ”

“ With these considerations in mind, the Equipment Division of the Signal Corps in May of 1917 determined to go ahead with the design and production of a standard engine for the fighting forces of the aviation branch of the Army. In the engineering field two men stood out who combined in themselves experience in designing internal-combustion engines which approached nearest to combat engines, with experience also in large quantity production. ”

“ Listen carefully, and you will hear a queer rhythmical noise and the distant song of an engine. The measured flap of the tracks grows louder, and, if you did not know, you would think an aeroplane was droning overhead. Then in the half-light comes a tired officer, reading a map, and behind him another, signalling at intervals to a grey mass gliding smoothly like a snake. And so they pass, one by one, with the rattle of tracks and the roar of their exhaust, each mass crammed with weary men, hot and filthy and choking with the fumes. ”

“ Their machines were loaded up with fresh supplies of bombs just as quickly as it could be done, the petrol and oil tanks refilled, expended rounds of ammunition for the machine-guns replaced. Then, one after another, the machines steered out into the darkness across the ’drome ground towards a twinkle of light placed to guide them, wheeled round, gave the engine a preliminary whirl, steadied it down, opened her out again, and one by one at intervals lumbered off at gathering speed, and soared off up into the darkness. ”

“ He admitted that there was no motor in existence light enough, but thought one might be invented, and that an engine might be worked by a series of explosions in the cylinder, that is, what is known to-day as internal combustion; but he was not clear how such an engine could be produced. He, however, said that a flying machine would be so valuable in time of war, that it mattered little how expensive the explosive might be, even if fulminate of mercury had to be used. ”

“ The evolution of the heavier-than-air flying-machine, like that of the lighter-than-air, covers a long period of time, and was fraught with many difficulties and dangers. For ages many scientific men played with the idea, but owing to the lack of motive power light enough to be mounted on a glider yet supplying sufficient strength to drive a set of planes through the air at 45 miles an hour, very little progress was made until the perfection of the steam-engine and the development of the gasoline motor. ”

“ The invention of the light motor made aviation possible, and development has synchronized with the evolution of lighter, more powerful and more reliable engines. One of the most difficult problems still confronting us is the production of a cheap, high-powered and reliable engine, but the existence at the end of the war of machines weighing 15 tons indicates the progress achieved, while British engines of 600 horse-power are now in use, and one of 1,000 horse-power will shortly be available. ”

“ When the aviators have an attack in contemplation they fly low and snap their fingers at the puff balls of death as the shrapnel from their appearance when bursting may well be called. Naturally, efforts were made early in the war to lessen the danger by armouring the body of the machine sufficiently to protect the aviator and his engine—for if the aviator escaped a shot which found the engine, his plight would be almost as bad as if the missile had struck him. ”

“ But to anticipate possible extraordinary development of engines by other nations, our engineers went even further than the mark advised by our overseas observers and raised the power of the Liberty engine to something in excess of 400 horsepower. ”

“ As steam, applied as a motive force, in 150 years changed the world more than it had previously been changed since the days of palæolithic man, so, before the present century has run its course, may as great a change take place in the realms of war. The cause of both is the same: as the invention of the steam engine rendered obsolete to a high degree the hand-tool and replaced it by the machine-tool, so the application of petrol to the battlefield will force the hand-weapon out of existence and replace it by the machine-weapon. ”

“ With such machines, which give us a first insight as to the aircraft of the future, engine failure begins to lose its perils—particularly in regard to war. More than once during the great campaign, when flying a single-engine machine, an aviator has found his motor fail him, and has been obliged to land on hostile soil ”

“ For the haulage of very heavy guns some form of engine power is of course essential, and the ordinary steam traction engine provides the most obvious solution, since it is to be assumed that if the roads and bridges to be traversed are sufficiently strong to bear the gun itself, they will also bear the engines which haul it. ”

“ What is wanted, and what will be built in time, is a large, armoured, high-speed craft, having more than one engine, carrying a crew, and being able to bear the load of a powerful gun. In war, had a Commander a squadron of such machines, he would use them for attacking an enemy’s supply stores and ammunition parks, for blowing up railway lines, and for harassing troops when they were on the march ”

“ To meet these requirements the aviation motor must be especially designed, and since the vibration of the propeller shakes the frail frame on which the engine is mounted, the materials must have the greatest strength and resistance. ”

“ The average pilot, it is well known, is supplied with more instruments than he uses, but it is true nevertheless that familiarity with the use of instruments has often staved off disasters. At first the factory had refrained from initiating engine designs, but when competition and trial had shown that there was no immediate prospect of obtaining a thoroughly satisfactory engine from English makers, it asked permission of the War Office, and in 1913 designed its own engine. ”

“ Agesistratus,3 a Greek writer who flourished B.C. 200, and who wrote a treatise on making arms for war, estimated that some of the engines shot from 31⁄2 to 4 ‘stades’ (700 to 800 yards) .
3 The writings of Agesistratus are non-extant but are quoted by Athenæus.
Though such a very long flight as this appears almost incredible, I can adduce no sound reason for doubting its possibility. From recent experiments I am confident I could now build an engine of a size and power to accomplish such a feat if light missiles were used, and if its cost were not a consideration. ”

“ The people of the Renaissance had played with the notion of steam-driven war chariots. The Marquis of Worcester, a contemporary of Newton, in his book of inventions, tells of a steam engine. A little later, in the year 1698, Thomas Savery of London applied for a patent for a [405] pumping engine. At the same time, a Hollander, Christian Huygens, was trying to perfect an engine in which gun-powder was used to cause regular explosions in much the same way as we use gasoline in our motors.
THE MODERN CITY
All over Europe, people were busy with the idea. ”

“ Having made such conquests on land, and rendered possible aerial feats which could scarcely have been performed by steam, the explosion motor further vindicates its versatility by its fine exploits in the water.
At the Paris Exhibition of 1889 Gottlieb Daimler, the inventor who made the petrol engine commercially valuable as an aid to locomotion, showed a small gas-driven boat, which by most visitors to the Exhibition was mistaken for an ordinary steam launch, and attracted little interest. ”

“ But while we were producing engines for the training airplanes, both elementary and advanced, we were not staking our whole combat program on the Liberty engine alone, although we expected that engine to be our main reliance in our battle machines. Our organization, both at home and abroad, was on the alert continually for other engines that might be produced in Europe or the United States and which would be so far in advance of anything in use by the air fighters in Europe in 1917 as to justify our production of them on a considerable scale. ”

“ The first place among fighters is now perhaps held by the Spad. Carrying one or two passengers and equipped with an engine of 150 to 250 horsepower, with its Lewis and Vickers machine guns spitting away at the enemy, it is a formidable object in the arena of war.
Not to be left behind, America has developed a small, fast fighting machine which bids fair to make the other two look to their laurels. It is a tiny Curtiss triplane, the span of whose wings is only 25 feet. Its extra lifting surface gives it remarkable climbing powers without increasing its size as a target. ”

“ ENGINES OF THE WAR PERIOD The principal engines of British, French, and American design used in the war period and since are briefly described under the four distinct types of aero engine; such notable examples as the Rolls-Royce, Sunbeam, and Napier engines have been given special mention, as they embodied—and still embody—all that is best in aero engine practice. So far, however, little has been said about the development of German aero engine design, apart from the early Daimler and other pioneer makes. ”

“ I feel confident that an aeroplane can be even now built which will be able to lift a ton of dynamite or other high explosive, and that it can be so constructed that it will be an aerial torpedo or winged projectile, the engine charged with compressed air and set to run any required distance, from one mile to ten miles. Such a machine can be steered by wireless controlling apparatus just as submarine boats and small airships are directed. ”

“ The steam engine was applied to spinning, weaving, and countless other operations which previously had been performed by hand. Steam engines could not of course be installed in every small cottage; hence a number of machines were put in one factory to be run by one steam engine. ”

“ Description of the operation and advantages of a certain newly invented engine of war, whereby twenty-four bullets can be discharged from one piece at a time.
No. 75. Notes by the inventor touching the engines of war, with the expense of making a few at a time. It would require above 100 engines to be employed at once. Desires a yearly pension in consideration of his invention.
No. 76. A note of the effects already performed by the engine of war; of which there are 200 engines and 3000 bullets already delivered into the Tower for service.—Cal. ”