jeb@eisx.UUCP (07/05/84)
Re: Aircraft engines - radials and rotaries You can still see the old rotary engines flying at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome at Rhinebeck, New York. It's been a few years since I was there, but it was quite a show. One of my friends had told me that the whole engine rotated in most of the WWI fighters, but I didn't believe it until I saw it. An interesting thought: Almost all of the mechanical motion in a rotary radial engine is actually ROTARY, there is no(?) reciprocating motion. The crankcase and cylinders rotate around one point, along with the propellor. The assemblage of pistons and connecting rods rotates around another point, determined by the single offset of the crank. The pistons rock back and forth on the wrist pins, but they actually turn in a circle. Jim Beckman ATTISL, South Plainfield, NJ eisx!jeb