More Punch for the Power
Early aircraft engines were big and heavy with cast iron blocks and forged steel parts. The cooling system used water, radiators and piping which further increased their weight.
In 1908 two French brothers, Laurent and Gustav Seguin, invented the rotary engine. They designed the engine to be lighter and more powerful than existing engines. The engine cylinders were arranged like the spokes on a wheel and it was cooled by air going through fins machined on the cylinders. To cool the engine when the engine when the airplane was not moving they designed the cylinders to spin instead of the crankshaft. An added benefit was that the movement of the cylinders performed like a flywheel to even out vibration.
The main drawback of this engine was the gyroscopic effect of the spinning cylinders. Airplanes with rotary engines could turn very quickly to the right but only slowly to the left. Another drawback was high fuel and oil usage.
The air-cooled radial engine, which had fixed cylinders, combined the positive traits of the rotary engine and addressed the engine’s drawbacks.
