Napier Cub
1910s British aircraft piston engine
The Napier Cub was an unusual and very large experimental 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) 16-cylinder 'X' pattern liquid-cooled aero engine built by the British engine company D. Napier & Son. The Cub was the only Napier 'X' engine design. First flown on 15 December 1922 in an Avro Aldershot biplane bomber aircraft, the only other application was in the Blackburn Cubaroo. Only six engines of this type were ordered and produced.
01Design
The four banks of four cylinders were arranged in a flattened 'X' when viewed from the front. The angle between the upper cylinders was 52.5 degrees, the lower cylinders 127.5 degrees, which gave an angle of 90 degrees between the outer cylinder banks. The cylinders consisted of separate individual steel forgings with welded steel water cooling jackets. The carburettor was situated below the propeller reduction gear at the front of the engine and fed the inlet valves through four inlet manifolds. The valve drive gear, magnetos and pumps were fitted to the rear of the crankcase.
02Specifications (Cub)
Data from Lumsden
General characteristics
- Type: 16-cylinder liquid-cooled X engine
- Bore: 6.25 in (158.75 mm)
- Stroke: 7.5 in (190.5 mm)
- Displacement: 3,681 cu in (60.32 L)
- Dry weight: 2,450 lb (1,111 kg)
Components
- Valvetrain: Single overhead camshaft with four poppet valves per cylinder
- Fuel system: Updraught carburettor
- Fuel type: Petrol
- Cooling system: Liquid cooled
- Reduction gear: Spur geared, reduction ratio 0.489:1, left hand tractor
Performance
- Power output: 1,000 hp at 1,800 rpm
- Compression ratio: 5.3:1
- Power-to-weight ratio: 0.4 hp/lb
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Napier Cub”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- NapierCub.jpg by Not known, Fair use
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