Obturator ring

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This article is about the aircraft engine component. For obturation in bullets and artillery, see obturating ring .

Obturator rings were used in World War I aircraft engines to prevent warping of the cylinders.

[edit] Uses

The rotary aircraft engines of World War I (engines with the crankshaft fixed to the airframe and the cylinders rotated) were notoriously difficult to keep cool when operating. Thus, their very thin walled steel cylinders would become distorted to an unacceptable level. Obturator rings, made of brass, were fitted in order to overcome this out of roundness in much the same way as a leather washer does in a bicycle pump. Wear on the rings was considerable and so they only lasted a matter of hours. By the time the war ended, technology and materials had advanced sufficiently to do away with these obturator rings. The Bentley BR2 was manufactured in small numbers at the end of the war being the last of the rotary engines.