24 -Cylinder Sleeve- Valve Unit of 3,500 BMP
24 - cylinder Sleeve - valve Unit of 3,500 BMP. ' ITH what may well prove to be the last of the civil aircraft—particularly in view of the airscrew-turbine very high-powered piston engines Rolls-Royce position. have resurrected one of their most famous type In general terms composition of the Eagle may be sum- names—Eagle—and on examination there is no marized as consisting of twelve cylinders on each side reason to believe that this latest Derby creation formed in monobloc castings, through-bolted with the will not carry to new heights the lustre vertically split crankcase. Each row of six cylinders is bequeathed by its famous namesake. served by its own induction manifold which, in turn, is The new Eagle is a twin-crank flat-H sleeve-valve engine fed from an individual aftercooler. Exhaust is through aspirated with a two-stage two-speed supercharger, and, paired ejector stacks mounted in a • central row between in Mk 22 form, is equipped to drive an eight-blade contra- the upper and lower banks of cylinders. The reduc- rotating airscrew. It is the first Rolls-Royce production tion gearing is powered equally by both crankshafts, and sleeve-valve engine, although the company extensively with it is incorporated the contra-rotation gear for airscrew investigated the potentials of sleeve valves as a part of drive. In this particular instance—i.e., the Mk 22—the their normal research programme in the early 1930s. In nose-length requirements of the aircraft in which the point of fact, although it is not generally known, Rolls engine is first to be installed have called for an extended produced an air-cooled 22-litre sleeve-valve 24-cylinder snout bousing forward of the reduction gear, but for other engine of X-form which, called the "Exe," first flew in installations this might not apply, and the overall length September, 1938, in a Fairey Battle.
[Show full text]