Thursday, December 21, 2023

Airplane engine connecting rods

Forked connecting rods being machined at an unknown airplane engine factory in 1940. I'm guessing that they are for a V12 engine, possibly a Rolls Royce Merlin? Below the same connecting rods during final inspection. 

Agnes Rogers, From Man to Machine, A Pictorial History of Invention, Little, Brown and Co. 1941

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4 comments:

  1. Diz LizDecember 22, 2023 at 2:04 AM

    I think they are from an Allison, just judging by photos online. https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=Awrjc4QANIVlvWUTppmJzbkF;_ylu=c2VjA3NlYXJjaARzbGsDYnV0dG9u;_ylc=X1MDOTYwNjI4NTcEX3IDMgRmcgN5ZnAtdARmcjIDcDpzLHY6aSxtOnNiLXRvcARncHJpZANPbGdwelJOMFFBYVdjOW5tZDN6YV9BBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMxBG9yaWdpbgNpbWFnZXMuc2VhcmNoLnlhaG9vLmNvbQRwb3MDMARwcXN0cgMEcHFzdHJsAzAEcXN0cmwDMjkEcXVlcnkDYWxsaXNvbiUyMHYxNzEwJTIwY29ubmVjdGluZyUyMHJvZHMEdF9zdG1wAzE3MDMyMjg1MDY-?p=allison+v1710+connecting+rods&fr=yfp-t&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Ai%2Cm%3Asb-top&ei=UTF-8&x=wrt#id=0&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.enginehistory.org%2FPiston%2FAllison%2FV-1710Details%2Fallisonv1710connectingrods.jpg&action=click

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  2. Mister GDecember 22, 2023 at 4:20 PM

    Yes, I think I'd agree... I was thinking Packard Merlin, It was an American book. Packard was making Merlins by 1941. They don't look a lot different.
    https://www.enginehistory.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=562&sid=36c9010b4523bceaaa2899b3971040ac

    (scroll down)

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  3. Mister GDecember 22, 2023 at 4:22 PM

    Now I want to know, if conrods broke on those engines, which side broke more often?

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  4. Diz LizDecember 23, 2023 at 1:29 PM

    Look at the top of the clearance opening for the central connecting rod. It looks like the Allison opening narrows at the top; the Merlin looks circular. As I recall the hydroplane racers replaced Merlin rods with Allison rods ( https://www.cycleworld.com/story/blogs/ask-kevin/con-rod-confidential/).

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