Old radial engine

[azimuthaviation]

^ Geez, I'd hate to see that powering an aeroplane - what does it produce - 3 or 4 Horsepower?

The "waste" steam from the third stage of some triple expansion marine engines was enough to power low pressure steam turbines of several thousand horse power.

Oh, sure, but they probably had a boiler the size of a house to produce the steam. Which brings about a question...did the old steamships have freshwater tanks to replenish the boilers? Or did they condense the used steam and reuse the water thus obtained?

They did have a closed loop system where after the final stage the steam was converted back into water and returned to the boilers, however they also carried fresh water tanks to replace losses along the line.

[Meatservo]

The condensers were an important part of the overall power scheme for efficient cruising. The "triple expansion" part of the reciprocating engines took the exhaust from a high pressure cylinder to drive a mid-pressure cylinder, the exhaust of which drove a low pressure cylinder or even two, and the exhaust from that could drive a turbine, usually with its own screw. Then the steam went to condensers which were cooled by seawater. The drop in pressure due to condensing actually created a lower-than-atmospheric pressure in the exhaust part of the loop, increasing the differential in pressure between the boiler and the condensers. [The very earliest steam engines (Newcomen pumping engines) derived ALL of their power from the "suction" created by condensation and none at all from the pressure or expansion of the steam!] Ships also had desalinators on board for feedwater as well as for potable water.

I like steam engines.

[beaverbob]

Does anybody know who made the largest Radial piston engine? It's easy to look up.

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoming_XR-7755

[Driving Rain]

Would I be lying if I said lycoming?

The engine first started testing at 5,000 hp (3,700 kW) in 1944 with the XR-7755-3, but demonstrated terrible reliability problems. Never flew to the best of my knowledge.

[beaverbob]

Would I be lying if isaid lycoming?

No

[beaverbob]

According to Wikipedia only two were built before the project was halted in 1946. I wish I could have heard four of them on take off.

[Shiny Side Up]

Would I be lying if I said lycoming?

The engine first started testing at 5,000 hp (3,700 kW) in 1944 with the XR-7755-3, but demonstrated terrible reliability problems. Never flew to the best of my knowledge.

Depends on whether we talking about one that saw service or not, and whether we're strictly talking aero use as well. Largest to see service was the P&W R-4360, the largest for aero use was probably the lycoming aforementioned. One of the largest would have to have been the Zvezda M503.

That all hardly matters though since if you want style you got to go with sleeve valves.

[Driving Rain]

Just a guess, but I'm thinking Spandau will never be back on AVCanada.....pity

[beaverbob]

I went out for another New Year dinner tonight. An old radial engine has nothing over me now. My wife had to "Roll" me out of there to go home.

[complexintentions]

Just a guess, but I'm thinking Spandau will never be back on AVCanada.....pity

Hmm...it WOULD be a pity, since I thought he made some very good points about radial engines being a bit of an art form to start. It would seem that from your comment about having thousands of hours behind radials you know a bit about dick-waving yourself. I believe all he was trying to do was point out that certain people are in far too eager a hurry to denigrate old technology and by extension, old values that actually may HAVE value. Like, knowing how to do more than flick the switches like a monkey to start an engine. But I guess people either get that, or they don't. C'est la vie.

Anyway, back to the uhhh steam train circle-jerk?

[Driving Rain]

Agreed. I was commenting on his post before that. One that the moderator had to remove. You know a simple search of a members profile and previous postings would've clued him in. It's not like he's new here his profile shows he's been a member since 2008.

[Meatservo]

Anyway, back to the uhhh steam train circle-jerk?

Unless I've missed something here, I haven't seen a single train in this thread. What a stupid thing to say.

[Colonel Sanders]

I haven't seen a circle jerk here, either.

Oh my god. DO NOT GOOGLE IMAGES CIRCLE JERK,
in search of some amusing eye candy to put here.

[Meatservo]

Ha,ha. Backfired, did it?

[iflyforpie]

Just a guess, but I'm thinking Spandau will never be back on AVCanada.....pity

Hmm...it WOULD be a pity, since I thought he made some very good points about radial engines being a bit of an art form to start. It would seem that from your comment about having thousands of hours behind radials you know a bit about dick-waving yourself. I believe all he was trying to do was point out that certain people are in far too eager a hurry to denigrate old technology and by extension, old values that actually may HAVE value. Like, knowing how to do more than flick the switches like a monkey to start an engine. But I guess people either get that, or they don't. C'est la vie.

Anyway, back to the uhhh steam train circle-jerk?

That's exactly why I put the steam engine reference in there..... so that somebody would lament the passing of one old technology while insulting a much older one. The more things change, the more they stay the same.....

[CFR]

I haven't seen a circle jerk here, either.

Oh my god. DO NOT GOOGLE IMAGES CIRCLE JERK,
in search of some amusing eye candy to put here.

I WILL NEVER, EVER NOT TAKE YOUR ADVICE AGAIN!!!!!!!!

[Driving Rain]

That's exactly why I put the steam engine reference in there..... so that somebody would lament the passing of one old technology while insulting a much older one. The more things change, the more they stay the same.....

But steam engines are still in wide use today and aren't likely to be replaced anytime soon. Check out nuke power plants.
There've been recent advances in steam propulsion as well. I think steam will be around for as long as humans populate this planet.

[DonutHole]

A picture of the prime ministers cabinet sitting at a round table would suffice..

oh wait, that's a circle OF jerks.. totally different thing.

Radials are a pain, I can think of no better use for one than a coffee table. Too many cylinders, too many spark plugs... brayton cycle is just better.

[xsbank]

Curious how you plan to get your new coffee table into your house?

[DonutHole]

roll it?

[Cat Driver]

Radials are a pain, I can think of no better use for one than a coffee table. Too many cylinders, too many spark plugs...

For sure radials are not really very good, all you need do is look at what a flop the DH Beaver has been.

[DonutHole]

Never said they weren't good. Just that they are a pain.

The beaver is an amazing aircraft, love them, but a lot of people are ditching the radial for turbines, I assume the reason to be that they think the turbine is better... don't know many folks who repower their aircraft with a downgrade. But I could be wrong.

[Driving Rain]

Of all the aircraft I've flown the standard Beaver ranks right next to my favourite... the Turbo-Beaver.

[Driving Rain]

http://youtu.be/nKGy08OVxyM

Oh No... A radial steam engine.

[Beefitarian]

http://youtu.be/nKGy08OVxyM

Oh No... A radial steam engine.

Aite, first. That's cool! Second, you're going to encounter icing every time it's cold. Finally there's ago of other cool engine videos linking to that one. Model V twins, diesel bikes...