1909 Gnome Omega Rotary Aircraft Engine

[leakyspacesuit]

You should team up with someone to build a replica airplane of the period and make that thing fly. That would be a star attraction at an airshow!

[ommie299]

quick question, how does the fuel get pumped into the chamber with the engine spinning like that?

[kozaero]

@ommie299 The crown of the piston has an atmospheric valve that allows the fuel/air mixture to come through from the crankcase. The crankcase is supplied from the tube in its center via the carburetor on the aft end. See kozaero.com for more details.

[SAAB900S16]

How much cooler would it be to have this hunk of metal flying around the engine bay of a car than a Wankel rotary?

[ymgjpn]

Can I use this sound in Japanese Aircraft Museum?

[kozaero]

@ymgjpn

Yes, you can use the sound or entire video if you like. There is a good version on my web site

kozaero.com

[MrBurningPride]

There's a difference between a gnome rotary and a rotary engine, you guys know that right?

[kozaero]

@MrBurningPride

Gnome is the original rotary engine

[MrBurningPride]

@kozaero but there still a difference right? People are arguing like it's the same exact thing :/

[kozaero]

@kozaero

[leneanderthalien]

@MrBurningPride

The Gnome is a the real rotary, i think the rotary you mean is the Wankel with rotative piston (or rotor) engine...

[lmo1131]

No, it is a rotary engine... the cylinders, crankcase, and prop are ALL rotating.

[McLarenMercedes]

@lmo1131

The crankcase does NOT rotate. It's fixed to the same position, hence the cylinders rotate around that axle.

In a radial the cylinders stay in the same position and the crankshaft rotates. In the radial the exact opposite applies. Look it up on Google, there are some nice explanations.

[McLarenMercedes]

@McLarenMercedes

Correction, I meant the crankshaft doesn't rotate.

[Subsw00fers]

I thought you were going to take off. You had the clothes and glasses ready. I guess I was wrong.

[ufoengines]

I loved getting the chance to explain the concept of this engine to my drinking buddies. Makes me feel realy smart till the buzz wears off next morning.

[amuline13]

I Can't Understand How The Fuel And The Electricity Reaches The Cylinders In This Case!!!

[amuline13]

Need Help!

Do All The Rotary Engines Have Rotating Cylinders And Fixed Crank Configuration? Most Of The Animation Shows The Conventional Rotating Crank And Fixed Cylinder Configuration Which According To Me Is Much More Sensible As There Would Be Lesser Rotating Peripheral Masses!!! Also The Cylinder Connections For Fuel, Exhaust And Electricity Would Be Less Complicated!

However, Rotating Cylinders In The First Case Could Help Aid & Maintain Momentum Acting As A Flywheel!

Please Comment!

[GGigabiteM]

@amuline13 Stop Capitalizing Every Word.

All rotaries have the pistons, connecting rods and crankshaft stationary, with the crank case and cylinders rotating around with the propeller bolted on it. They made sense 100 years ago because radials of the day were unbalanced and rattled to pieces without a heavy flywheel. The rotating crank case and cylinders doubled as their own flywheel, which saved weight and gave a higher power to weight ratio.

[amuline13]

@GGigabiteM U Just Repeated And Endorsed What I Said, Man!!!

What About The Other Configuration???

With Rotating Crank, Reciprocating Pistons --- And --- Stationary Crank Case, And Cylinders???

[7777dmith7777]

Isn't this a radial engine, not a rotary ??

[kozaero]

@7777dmith7777

Nope

[alna1287]

@7777dmith7777 It's a stationary-crank radial, AKA a rotary - not to be confused with a Wankel Rotary.

[OzzInter]

Thanks for sharing this video clip!

When I google "ROTARY" it leads me to Wankel (NSU/ Mazda etc.) type rotaries.

I am trying to find more details about these extraordinary aircraft engines.

Know of any websites etc. on rotary aircraft engines?

I have a lot of information on Radial aircraft engines (Twin Wasp etc.) but little on Rotaries.

P.S. There was actually Wankel type aero engine!

[Kopihucky]

lots of power for something so small...

[lonecrusader08]

Why is the motor spinning? I find this wierd but interesting. I never saw a motor spin I thought it was ment to be stationary.

[MrTrailltrader]

@lonecrusader08

Well Lone, thats how the early engines ran- the cylinders rotated with the prop bolted to the crankcase and the back of the crankshaft (I'm not sure) bolted to the aircrafts frame. Max HP on this design was about 160ish because centrifical force would make the plane extreemly difficult to handle. Sopwith Camels became famous for this torque.

[kozaero]

Sparta MI.

[XR4turbo]

Where was this?

[RCFLYER83]

Does this engine have a carb with a throttle? It sounded like it was running very smooth and not missing much at low power. I thought these engines cut ignition/miss a few cylinders to lower power.

[MrTrailltrader]

@RCFLYER83

No carb, no throttle. They ran about 1250 RPM, just about ideal for the prop blades of that time. To control RPM you had a "Blooper" switch that would cut out the ignition.

[kozaero]

@MrTrailltrader

Almost correct. carb and throttle called a Tampie valve. Set it to run smoothly then blip.

[kozaero]

When the video gets dark it shows the engine at night from the front. The mixture was set rich to show more flame.

Koz

[n33d4killz]

Do you think it might be possible to make a diesel rotary engine?

[kozaero]

I am sure you could make a diesel.

[curtis52285]

What is going on when the picture is dark. Was that done intentionally?

[douro20]

I wonder how much oil spray the operator got at him.

[kozaero]

I use de-gumed Castor oil. Blenzoil.

Koz

[carbidegrd]

Is there a source for blue prints? I would like the prints for the Clerget 130 or the Bentley. I am a machinist and want to build it on my Stanko lathe and Mazak cnc lathe.

[kozaero]

Vintage Aero in NewZeland may have prints for an Oberusel. Not sure about the others. Very Very difficult to reproduce. 1mm wall thickness on the cast iron pistons.

[pjsaund]

There is a book by Lew Blackmore called 'Building the BR2 Rotary' that details how to construct a 1/4 scale version of the BR2 rotary. It's out of print, but I managed to find a copy on Amazon.

[paullubliner]

@pjsaund Is there an equivalent for the Le Rhone 9c?

[markterry95]

amazing! I've become really interested in these rotary engines lately - is this a mono-valve engine? and could somebody possibly explain to me how mono-valve rotarys work?

Is this thing using castor oil or a newer synthetic alternative?

[barthoedemaker]

pistons and cylinder moving causes ALOT of wear. Thanks god it where they early times.

[GGigabiteM]

No, they were designed to wear. Due to the nature of alloys at the time, they used brass cylinder rings to accommodate the expansion of the metal, which had to be replaced every few day or days (depending on how much the engine was used.)

[twasko]

Looks good Koz. Hard to get tired of watching that.

[kozaero]

Thank you for the kind words. I hope to have my 160hp Gnome running soon. I will post more videos of both engines running in the near future.

Koz

[simonspiers]

What a beauty!

[steamwally]

Bloody marvelous!

and she sounds the buisness too!