NOVEMBER 3,

1938.

FLIGHT.

BRITAIN'S

AERO

ENGINES

(CONTINUED)

well above a 100 deg. C. and should avoid the difficulties of draining and supplying the Glycol. In all essentials the following description of the Merlin will apply to all current models, excepting the Merlin I. The crankcase is an aluminium casting made in two halves bolted together. The upper half is cast integral with the rear half of the reduction gear casing and carries the cylinder blocks in addition to incorporating the seven main bearings and caps, the engine mounting feet, slinging points, etc. In the lower half are the oil pumps and niters together with drives for a hydraulic undercarriage pump or low-pressure air compressor. At the rear end of both halves is a vertical facing for mounting the wheel case which houses the auxiliary drives. The main bearings are split mild steel shells lined with lead-bronze and fitted into recesses machined in the crankcase. They are held in position by caps and bolts passing through the caps and across the whole width of the crankcase. A one-piece forging, the crankshaft has integral balance weights. It is machined all over, nitrogen-hardened, and its crank pins and journals are bored and fitted with oil retaining covers. Oil is fed into the journals and passes through drilled passages into the crankpins to feed the bigend bearings. The drive to the reduction gear pinion is taken from a flange bolted to the front end, and the spring drive to the camshafts, supercharger and all auxiliaries from the rear end. There are two connecting rods to each crankpin. These are of " H " section, and are nickel-steel forgings machined all over, each pair consisting of a plain rod and a forked rod carrying a nickel-steel bearing block lined inside and out with a special lead-bronze mixture. The bearing block is divided across its bore, and bears directly on the crankpin being secured to the forked rod by four bolts, whilst its outer lining forms the bearing for the plain rod. Lubrication of the big-end bearings is by pressure feed from the crankpins, but the small end bush relies upon the oil mist from the cylinder walls and pistons. The forged aluminium alloy pistons are machined all over, and are fitted with three gas and two scraper rings. The hollow gudgeon pins are of the fully floating type, and are retained in position by spring circlips. Each of the two banks of cylinders, which are set in a vee at an angle of 60 deg. on the upper half of the crankcase, is a monobloc aluminium casting with integral heads and water jackets into which are inserted six '' w e t ' ' cylinder liners of high carbon steel. The cylinder head houses the valves, camshaft and rocker gear. At the upper end of each liner is a spigoted flange registering in a recess in the head, a soft aluminium alloy joint ring ensuring gas tightness, while the coolant joint at the base of each cylinder is made by a rubber ring, springloaded in an external groove in the liner. The lower end of the liner is flanged for seating on the crankcase. Fourteen long studs extending from the top of the block castings into the crankcase secure the cylinder assembly in position and maintain the gas tightness of the head joint. Relative movement between the cylinder skirts and the liners is permitted by the springloaded glands, which at the same time ensure coolant-tight joints. A certain degree of flexibility and a reduction in local distortion of each top joint face under sudden temperature changes are allowed by a lateral saw-cut between each combustion head. Further, to improve

this joint and prevent disturbance of the liner during removal of the cylinder block there are six additional studs on each side of the block to secure clamps. These studs abut against the lower face of the top flange of each liner. Renewable valve seatings (aluminium bronze for the inlet and silchrome for the exhaust) are screwed into the. cylinder heads which also house the cast-iron inlet, and the phosphor bronze exhaust-valve guides. The camshafts, which are driven through the spring drive by an inclined shaft and bevel gears from the wheel case at the rear of the engine, are nickel steel forgings machined all over and case-hardened and ground on the cam and bearing surfaces. Each valve is operated by a separate steel rocker having a spherical-headed tappet screw and locknut at the valve end for tappet adjustment. There are four valvestwo inlet and two exhaustfor each cylinder, all working parallel to the axis of the cylinder. Each is fitted with two concentric-coil springs. To damp out irregularities in angular velocity and torque, the drive from the crankshaft to the supercharger, timing gears, and auxiliary components, is taken through a torsionally flexible shaft which provides a spring drive. The twisting of this shaft is limited by a hollow sleeve connected to its outer end by means of a damper clutch, the drive then being taken up by the sleeve. The wheel-casean aluminium alloy castinghouses, apart from the supercharger unit on its rear face, the drives to the camshafts, magnetos, coolant and oil pumps, fuel pumps, supercharger, hand and electric starters and electric generator. Alternative methods of starting are by an electric starter motor or an auxiliary hand-turning gear. A single spur reduction gear is used. The pinion, which is hollow and carried in two roller bearings, is coaxial with, and driven from, the crankshaft by a short hollow shaft, serrated at both ends, engaging the crankshaft flange and the forward end of the pinion internally. This pinion engages with a toothed ring bolted to a flange formed integral with the hollow airscrew shaft, the latter being supported on roller bearings and fitted with a ball bearing which takes axial thrust in either direction. The hollowdrive shaft isolates the pinion bearings from the crankshaft loading. Lubrication of the gears is effected by two jets fed from the low - p r e s s u r e

The Pobjoy Niagara III in its standardised cowling which ensures not only h a n d s o m e externa] appearance but efficient cooling.