1918 Gnome rotary engine running

November 7, 2009, finally got the engine running right. It has an ignition selector switch that allows it to run at 1/2 power, 1/4 power, and 1/8 power. This engine will be used in a replica 1918 Nieuport 28.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Gnome
• engine
• aircraft
• airplane
• WW1
• vintage

[OFFSHORERACEING]

cool keep it turning and running, as its meant to be

[dvaifilmsdotcom]

looks fuckin dangerous lol

[bldeagle]

@GGigabiteM I wish people would do some basic research before pretending to be experts, your statement is wrong. The pre-war Gnomes were still known as monosoupapes because of the single valve in the cylinder head, but used a counter balanced atmospheric inlet valve mounted in the piston to allow intake of the fuel/air mixture. And there is no such thing as blipmags.

[GGigabiteM]

@bldeagle All Gnome engines in the Monosoupape line used intake ports at the base of the cylinders and had one big valve at the top of the cylinder for exhaust and air intake. This is why Monosoupapes only had blipmags because regulating airflow into the cylinder was impossible.

The Le Rhone (Le Rhone being a separate manufacturer before gnome bought them out) was a conventional rotary with intake tubes and intake.exhaust valves.

[bldeagle]

@Xantec in level flight it's not really noticeable, it's mainly in the turns, and as I said in another reply an experienced pilot automatically compensates. Since the gyroscopic force acts at 90 degrees, in a right turn the nose tries to drop and in a left turn the nose tries to rise, so it is a bit easier to do right turns, but this is another of the WW1 flying stories that have gotten exaggerated over the years.

[bldeagle]

@zappafiner there is a gyroscopic effect, but it's not as strong as you might think. I've flown several aircraft with this engine installed and you tend to automatically correct for that without any problem. I think those stories started with the very inexperienced pilots who trained on these types, and then became part of exaggerated WW1 lore in the 1920s and 1930s.

[bldeagle]

@rexxcarz the intake valve in piston type of Gnome was the pre-WW1 type, commonly 50 or 70 hp, although they did make bigger ones, including a two row 14 cylinder 160 hp version. For the 1918 version they used holes in the cylinder skirt for intake, which I guess is why people keep thinking it's a 2 stroke when it isn't.

[bldeagle]

@toadabc there is a brush on the firewall and a distributor ring on the back of the engine that rotates with it and has contacts on the rear side and ring type terminals on its outer edge. The spark goes from the magneto to the brush to the distributor ring and then via a wire to the spark plug. The wire from the distributor ring to the spark plug is spring wire, about .050" I think, completely unshielded, so any nearby radio will have a lot of static.

[Xantec]

@55chh

for that very reason, fighters tended to turn easier in one direction. to fly level, they needed a little bit of opposite roll input

[ChargerMiles007]

Sweet video, this is the first vid I have watched of a Monosoupape running :)

Yes, it is indeed a crankcase breathing 4 stroke, just like the earlier piston valve type made by the same company.

I converted a lawnmower engine to run on the same cycle as the Mono, as well as built and ran a piston valve type. Cool engines, designed by some very clever folks back about 100 years ago. :)