Talk:Radial engine

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You have new messages (last change).

"The radial engine is a particular engine configuration, in which the cylinders are arranged pointing out from a central crankshaft like the spokes on a wheel. " - I think a direct link to rotary engines would be useful here - not just indirectly through engine configuration

Who invented the radial engine? Was it an evolution of the rotary piston engine, or a seperate invention?

"The other disadvantage is that the frontal area of the radial is always much larger than the same displacement inline, meaning that the radial will always haver:Duk|Duk]] 06:38, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Rotating mass

Someone gave me some comments on that I'm passing on;

The statement Another mixed blessing is the greater rotating mass of the radial engine. might be wrong, I thing it was meant for Rotary piston engine. I'm no expert on these engines, but Radials have a lower rotating mass than inlines (because there is no crankshaft) while rotaries have a greater rotating mass because it's the cylinders and housing that rotates (I think). --Duk 17:07, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

-- Good catch. The "greater rotating mass" comment was alrady there; I just expanded on it - but I think you're right - it belongs with the rotaries, not the radials. I know pilots in both wars used torque and gyroscopic effects, but only the WWI pilots had rotaries - the 2nd War pilots just had huge propellers and gobs of power. Knotnic 17:25, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Clarifying Statement

  • Guys, I added this line to the first paragraph:
    "The Radial Engine is a type of [Reciprocating engine]".

    I added this because people seem to be getting confused between this and this. --Pavithran 22:55, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Profanity in description

someone had put profanity in the first sentence. I deleted it. Check to see if it's worded correctly and if not feel free to correct it. Thanks.

[edit] Odd number of cylinders?

The article says, Four-stroke radials almost always have an odd number of cylinders. Isn't that an understatement? Are there any examples of a radial design which didn't have an odd number of cylinders? -- RoySmith (talk) 21:15, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh, never mind, I read further and saw the bit about the even-numbered ones. -- RoySmith (talk) 22:18, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Totally obscene

Well, personnaly I find the animation totally obscene !

[edit] Very Basic Question

I'm almost embarrassed to ask this question, but I haven't been able to find the answer up til now. I've heard that the radial engine itself rotates with the propeller, i. e. the propeller is fixed to the engine and they both rotate at incredible RPMs. Can this be possible? Wouldn't that make it extremely complicated to operate properly ( fuel flow, centrifugal force, etc) ? Could someone clear this up, please? Thank you 67.72.98.45 18:45, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

What you are referring to is one type of a radial engine called a rotary engine --rogerd 18:56, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
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