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

4 comments:

Diz Liz said...

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

Mister G said...

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)

Mister G said...

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

Diz Liz said...

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/).