Gnome engine

[John A]

https://youtu.be/FvHrbkYEn0k
I would love to have one of these to play with!

[Kiwi_Roy]

Here's another guy with a good explanation of how a rotary engine works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjnQKXNPsk4

[jas67]

Here's another guy with a good explanation of how a rotary engine works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjnQKXNPsk4

That's a radial.  The Gnome is a rotary.   While similar, there is one huge difference.    The rotary engine, the whole damned engine rotates around a stationary crankshaft.     This is for cooling, as the forward speed of those aircraft was pretty slow, so, the cylinders rotating through the air provides cooling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5grX6OhfICc

[ozarquebus]

Pondering imponderables on a cold day.

The Gnome Rotary engine.

Yes, this is true on radial vs rotary, so why doesn't the entire Wankel Rotary engine spin?

Or is it because the earlier and simpler rotary piston engines came first and took the more obvious name?

 Could the determining factor be whether the driving piston or lobe is spinning, not the entire engine (rotary) and not the crank (radial)?

If it was just a matter of the crank being stationary vs the crank spinning or the engine case spinning, then a Wankel would be a radial engine.

To further clarify or obfuscate the concept: jet engines are referred to as having Radial compressor blades on the spinning turbine shaft.

OR are rotary engines a subset of radial engines, being that rotary engines ARE radials?

The meanings and differentiations appear to have sprung from general usage rather than iron-clad physics.

Please correct me if there is an "Occams Razor' for this occasion.

[ozarquebus]

Yes, Manfred could use the torque of the LeRhone to snap roll the Fokker blindingly fast, but hardly at all against the torque. There was that one motorcyle at the Guggenheim museum that had this type of engine as the front hub of the bike.
"The Art of stopping a Rotary powered motorcycle"

[John A]

A Gnome assembly video https://youtu.be/Gh3W-9gZXFw

[lucky phil]

Pondering imponderables on a cold day.

The Gnome Rotary engine.

Yes, this is true on radial vs rotary, so why doesn't the entire Wankel Rotary engine spin?

Or is it because the earlier and simpler rotary piston engines came first and took the more obvious name?

 Could the determining factor be whether the driving piston or lobe is spinning, not the entire engine (rotary) and not the crank (radial)?

If it was just a matter of the crank being stationary vs the crank spinning or the engine case spinning, then a Wankel would be a radial engine.

To further clarify or obfuscate the concept: jet engines are referred to as having Radial compressor blades on the spinning turbine shaft.

OR are rotary engines a subset of radial engines, being that rotary engines ARE radials?

The meanings and differentiations appear to have sprung from general usage rather than iron-clad physics.

Please correct me if there is an "Occams Razor' for this occasion.

Nope, Most modern jet engines are axial flow compressors and turbines with axial flow blades (obviously) The only thing that would describe them as radial is their disposition on the compressor drum and turbine disk. The blade style isn't referred to as a radial blade. The blade style and name is derived from the direction of the airflow over the blade as is the whole engine.
The other common style of jet or gas turbine engine is the centrifugal compressor and turbine most commonly seen in automotive turbochargers minus the combustion section. Some dual stage compressors as well in this style.
The Rotary engine didn't survive for obvious reasons, on off engine control, massive inertia which meant the aircraft turned very slow in one direction and really tight in the other, massive castor oil consumption, the list goes on. It's the stone age version of the aircraft piston engine and technical evolution led to it's extinction.   

Ciao   

[jas67]

To further clarify or obfuscate the concept: jet engines are referred to as having Radial compressor blades on the spinning turbine shaft.

When the term "radial" is used with jet engines, it refers to the direction of air flow through through the compressor.
See the following image (left one, "centrifugal" compressor also sometime are called "radial").  The other type is "axial", in which the airflow
goes straight through the engine along the axis (hence axial).

[dsrdave]

I restored one of those years ago. I assume it’s still in the EAA museum. Beautiful machining and metallurgy for the day. Huge roller bearings on the crank. It was actually a pretty simple design

[JJ]

Remember the "Radial Hell Chopper" built by Jesse James?