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H engine

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
Animation of an H engine
Animation of an H engine
For the EMD V12/V16 "H-Engine", see EMD 265.

An H engine is a piston engine comprising two separate flat engines (complete with separate crankshafts), most often geared to a common output shaft. The name "H engine" is due to the engine blocks resembling a letter "H" when viewed from the front. The most successful "H" engine in this form was the Napier Dagger and its derivatives. The name was also applied to engines of the same basic layout, but rotated through 90 degrees—most famously the Napier Sabre series. A variation on the "H" theme were the Fairey Prince (H-16) & Fairey P.24 Monarch, where the two engines retained separate drives, driving Contra-rotating propellers through separate concentric shafts. Although successful, they only existed in prototype form.

The H engine is a relatively rare layout, with its main use being in aircraft engines during the 1930s and 1940s. The 1966 Lotus 43 Formula One car used a BRM 16-cylinder H engine, and an 8-cylinder H engine was used for powerboat racing in the 1970s.

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Flat engine

Flat engine

A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, whereby each cylinder has two pistons sharing a central combustion chamber.

Napier Dagger

Napier Dagger

The Napier Dagger was a 24-cylinder H-pattern (or H-Block) air-cooled engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier before World War II. It was a development of the earlier Napier Rapier.

Napier Sabre

Napier Sabre

The Napier Sabre is a British H-24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aero engine, designed by Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolved to become one of the most powerful inline piston aircraft engines in the world, developing from 2,200 hp (1,600 kW) in its earlier versions to 3,500 hp (2,600 kW) in late-model prototypes.

Fairey Prince (H-16)

Fairey Prince (H-16)

The Fairey P.16 Prince was a British experimental 1,500 hp 16-cylinder H-type aircraft engine designed and built by Fairey in the late 1930s. The engine did not go into production.

Fairey Monarch

Fairey Monarch

The Fairey P.24 Monarch was a British experimental 2,000 hp class H-24 aircraft engine designed and built by Fairey in the late 1930s. The engine did not go into production.

Contra-rotating propellers

Contra-rotating propellers

Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers, also referred to as CRP, coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single piston or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propellers in contra-rotation. Two propellers are arranged one behind the other, and power is transferred from the engine via a planetary gear or spur gear transmission. Contra-rotating propellers are also known as counter-rotating propellers, although counter-rotating propellers is much more widely used when referring to airscrews on separate non-coaxial shafts turning in opposite directions.

Lotus 43

Lotus 43

The Lotus 43 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1966 season. Hampered by its heavy and unreliable BRM engine, it won only one race, the 1966 United States Grand Prix.

Design

The benefits of an H engine are the ability to share common parts with the flat engine upon which it is based, and the good engine balance which results in less vibration (which is difficult to achieve in many other types of four-cylinder engines).[1]

However, H engines are relatively heavy and have a high centre of gravity. The latter is not only due to the second crankshaft being located near the top of the engine, but also the engine must be high enough off the ground to allow clearance underneath for the exhaust pipes.

The U engine layout uses a similar concept, placing two straight engines side-by-side.

History

Aircraft engines

Napier Sabre H-24 engine (starboard side)
Napier Sabre H-24 engine (starboard side)

Formula One racing engines

The British Racing Motors (BRM) H-16 Formula One engine won the 1966 US Grand Prix in a Lotus 43 driven by Jim Clark.[2] It was also used by the unsuccessful 1966 BRM P83 car driven by Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart. As a racing-car engine it was hampered by a high center of gravity, and it was heavy and complex, with gear-driven twin overhead cams for each of four cylinder heads, two gear-coupled crankshafts, and mechanical fuel injection.[3][4]

  • BRM H-16 engine (64-valve version)

    BRM H-16 engine (64-valve version)

  • BRM H-16 engine in a 1966 BRM P83

    BRM H-16 engine in a 1966 BRM P83

Motorcycle engines

Brough Superior H-4 motorcycle engine
Brough Superior H-4 motorcycle engine

The Brough Superior Golden Dream motorcycle, first shown in 1938.[5] A 1,000 cc H-4 design and a few units were produced in early 1939. Any development planned was interrupted by World War II and subsequent years of austerity.

Wooler built a motorcycle prototype with a similar configuration to the Brough Superior Golden Dream and exhibited it at the British International Motor Show at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 1948 and again in 1951. This was replaced by a flat-four engined prototype at the 1953 show.

Powerboat racing engines

German firm Konig, who specialised in racing outboard motors,[6] built a few 1000cc H-8s in the 1970s, which were basically two of their VC500 flat fours mounted one above the other, with the direction of rotation reversed on one of them. Each half of the engine was a water cooled 2-stroke with rotating disc valve driven by a toothed belt via two 45/90 degree pulleys, plus two siamesed expansion chamber exhausts, fed by two single choke carbs. Both cylinders at each end of each engine fired at the same time, hence the siamesed exhausts for each pair.

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Napier Sabre

Napier Sabre

The Napier Sabre is a British H-24-cylinder, liquid-cooled, sleeve valve, piston aero engine, designed by Major Frank Halford and built by D. Napier & Son during World War II. The engine evolved to become one of the most powerful inline piston aircraft engines in the world, developing from 2,200 hp (1,600 kW) in its earlier versions to 3,500 hp (2,600 kW) in late-model prototypes.

Lycoming Engines

Lycoming Engines

Lycoming Engines is a major American manufacturer of aircraft engines. With a factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Lycoming produces a line of horizontally opposed, air-cooled, four, six and eight-cylinder engines including the only FAA-certified aerobatic and helicopter piston engines on the market.

Hyper engine

Hyper engine

The hyper engine was a 1930s study project by the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to develop a high-performance aircraft engine that would be equal to or better than the aircraft and engines then under development in Europe. The project goal was to produce an engine that was capable of delivering 1 hp/in3 (46 kW/L) of engine displacement for a weight of less than 1 lb/hp delivered. The ultimate design goal was an increased power-to-weight ratio suitable for long-range airliners and bombers.

Fairey Prince (H-16)

Fairey Prince (H-16)

The Fairey P.16 Prince was a British experimental 1,500 hp 16-cylinder H-type aircraft engine designed and built by Fairey in the late 1930s. The engine did not go into production.

Fairey Monarch

Fairey Monarch

The Fairey P.24 Monarch was a British experimental 2,000 hp class H-24 aircraft engine designed and built by Fairey in the late 1930s. The engine did not go into production.

Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz DZ 710

Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz DZ 710

The Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz DZ 710 was a German aircraft engine manufactured by Motorenfabrik Oberursel A.G. in the early 1940s. It was a 16-cylinder horizontally-opposed, two cycle diesel engine. A larger 32-cylinder variant, the Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz DZ 720 was basically two DZ 710's 'bolted' together to make an H engine configuration.

D. Napier & Son

D. Napier & Son

D. Napier & Son Limited was a British engineering company best known for its luxury motor cars in the Edwardian era and for its aero engines throughout the early to mid-20th century.

Napier Rapier

Napier Rapier

The Napier Rapier was a British 16-cylinder H pattern air-cooled aero engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier & Son shortly before World War II.

Napier Dagger

Napier Dagger

The Napier Dagger was a 24-cylinder H-pattern (or H-Block) air-cooled engine designed by Frank Halford and built by Napier before World War II. It was a development of the earlier Napier Rapier.

Pratt & Whitney

Pratt & Whitney

Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation and military aviation. Its headquarters are in East Hartford, Connecticut. As one of the "big three" aero-engine manufacturers, it competes with General Electric and Rolls-Royce, although it has also formed joint ventures with both of these companies. In addition to aircraft engines, Pratt & Whitney manufactures gas turbines for industrial and power generation, and marine turbines. In 2017, the company reported that in 2014 they had 38,737 employees supporting more than 11,000 customers in 180 countries around the world. In 2013, Pratt & Whitney's revenue totaled $14.5 billion.

British Racing Motors

British Racing Motors

British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM won the constructors' title in 1962 when its driver Graham Hill became world champion. In 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1971, BRM came second in the constructors' competition.

Lotus 43

Lotus 43

The Lotus 43 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman for the 1966 season. Hampered by its heavy and unreliable BRM engine, it won only one race, the 1966 United States Grand Prix.

Other engines named "H"

Subaru has marketed its flat-four and flat-six engines as "H4" and "H6" respectively. The letter "H" in this case refers to "horizontally-opposed", an alternative term for flat engines; these engines can also be said to look like a "H" or conjoined "H"s, albeit from the top and in schematic form.

The Saab H engine is a straight-four engine produced from 1981 to 2009. The letter "H" represents "high compression".

Discover more about Other engines named "H" related topics

Flat-four engine

Flat-four engine

A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, each pair of opposed pistons moves inwards and outwards at the same time.

Flat-six engine

Flat-six engine

A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed cylinders moves inwards and outwards at the same time.

Flat engine

Flat engine

A flat engine is a piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct from the less common opposed-piston engine design, whereby each cylinder has two pistons sharing a central combustion chamber.

Saab H engine

Saab H engine

The Saab H engine is a redesign of the Saab B engine, which in turn was based on the Triumph Slant-4 engine.

Source: "H engine", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, March 13th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_engine.

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Further Reading

Radial engine

Sleeve valve

Napier Lion

D. Napier & Son

Flat-twin engine

Flat-four engine

Coventry Climax

British Racing Motors

Overhead camshaft engine

Multi-valve

Rolls-Royce Eagle (1944)

Lotus-Ford Twin Cam

Napier Rapier

BRM P83

BRM P75
References
  1. ^ Willoughby, Vic (1989). Classic motor cycles. Ivy Leaf. ISBN 0-86363-005-7.
  2. ^ "BRM engines H16". Members.madasafish.com. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  3. ^ Taylor, Roger. "Lotus 43 & B.R.M. 83". Model Cars (July 1967): 327. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.
  4. ^ Taylor, Roger. "Lotus 43 & B.R.M. 83". Model Cars (July 1967): 328. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  5. ^ Wilson, Hugo (1995). "Brough Superior Dream". The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle. London: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 34–35. ISBN 0-7513-0206-6.
  6. ^ "Quincy vs Konig". www.quincylooperracing.us. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
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