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Straight engine

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
Schematic drawing of a straight-four engineMercedes D.IIIs on a WW1 AEG G.IVInverted Gipsy Major in a DHA-3 DroverStraight-4 engine in an Indian Four motorcycle
Schematic drawing of a straight-four engine
Schematic drawing of a straight-four engineMercedes D.IIIs on a WW1 AEG G.IVInverted Gipsy Major in a DHA-3 DroverStraight-4 engine in an Indian Four motorcycle
Straight-4 engine in an Indian Four motorcycle

The straight engine (also called inline engine) is a piston engine where all of the cylinders are aligned in a row along the crankshaft.

Most straight engines have four or six cylinders, however straight engines have ranged from two cylinders to fourteen cylinders.

Design

A straight engine is easier to build than an equivalent flat engine or V engine, since it uses one cylinder head rather than two. Inline engines are also narrower than flat engines or V engines, however they are longer and can be taller.

The engine balance characteristics of a straight engine depend on the number of cylinders and the firing interval.

Slant engines and horizontally-mounted engines

When a straight engine is mounted at an angle from the vertical it is called a slant engine.[1] Notable slant engines include the 1959-2000 Chrysler Slant-6 engine and the 1968-1981 Triumph Slant-4 engine.

Some buses and diesel multiple unit trains take this concept further by mounting the engines horizontally (i.e. with a slant angle of 90 degrees). This is used to reduce the height of the engine, so that it can be located under the floor of the train or bus.

Number of cylinders

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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.

Cylinder head

Cylinder head

In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head sits above the cylinders and forms the roof of the combustion chamber. In sidevalve engines, the head is a simple sheet of metal; whereas in more modern overhead valve and overhead camshaft engines, the cylinder head is a more complicated block often containing inlet and exhaust passages, coolant passages, valves, camshafts, spark plugs and fuel injectors. Most straight engines have a single cylinder head shared by all of the cylinders and most V engines have two cylinder heads.

Engine balance

Engine balance

Engine balance refers to how the forces are balanced within an internal combustion engine or steam engine. The most commonly used terms are primary balance and secondary balance. First-order balance and second-order balance are also used. Unbalanced forces within the engine can lead to vibrations.

Chrysler Slant-6 engine

Chrysler Slant-6 engine

The Slant-Six is the popular name for a Chrysler inline-6 internal combustion engine with an overhead valve reverse-flow cylinder head and cylinder bank inclined at a 30-degree angle from vertical. Introduced in 1959, it was known within Chrysler as the G-engine. It was a clean-sheet design that began production in 1959 at 170 cubic inches (2.8 L) and ended in 2000 at 225 cubic inches (3.7 L). It was a direct replacement for the flathead Chrysler straight six that the company started business with in 1925 until the old design was discontinued in the 1960s.

Diesel multiple unit

Diesel multiple unit

A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also generally classed as DMUs. Diesel-powered units may be further classified by their transmission type: diesel–mechanical DMMU, diesel–hydraulic DHMU, or diesel–electric DEMU.

Straight-three engine

Straight-three engine

A straight-three engine is a three-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft.

Straight-five engine

Straight-five engine

The straight-five engine is a piston engine with five cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankshaft.

Straight-six engine

Straight-six engine

The straight-six engine is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balance, resulting in fewer vibrations than other designs of six or less cylinders.

Straight-seven engine

Straight-seven engine

A straight-seven engine or inline-seven engine is a straight engine with seven cylinders. It is more common in marine applications because these engines are usually based on a modular design, with individual heads per cylinder.

Straight-eight engine

Straight-eight engine

The straight-eight engine or inline-eight engine is an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine with all eight cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase. The type has been produced in side-valve, IOE, overhead-valve, sleeve-valve, and overhead-cam configurations.

Straight-nine engine

Straight-nine engine

The straight-nine engine is a piston engine with nine cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. The most common application is for large diesel engines used by ships.

Straight-fourteen engine

Straight-fourteen engine

A straight-14 engine or inline-14 engine is a fourteen-cylinder piston engine with all fourteen cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase. This design results in a very long engine, therefore it has only been used as marine propulsion engines in large ships.

Usage in automobiles

The straight-three and straight-four configurations are the most common layouts for three- and four-cylinder engines respectively. Straight-five engines are occasionally used, most recently by Audi and Volvo. Straight-six engines were common prior to the 1990s, however most six-cylinder engines now use a V6 layout. Similarly, straight-eight engines were popular in the 1920s to 1940s, however they were replaced by the more compact V8 layout.

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Aviation use

Many straight engines have been produced for aircraft, particularly from the early years of aviation and through the interwar period leading up to the Second World War. Straight engines were simpler and had low frontal area, reducing drag, and provided better cockpit visibility.

Straight sixes were especially popular in the First World War, and most German and Italian and some British aircraft used descendants of Daimler's pre-war inline six. Prominent examples include the German Mercedes D.III and BMW IIIa, Italian Isotta Fraschini V.4 and British Siddeley Puma.

The British de Havilland Gipsy family of engines and their descendants included straight-four and straight-six upright and inverted air-cooled engines which were used on a wide range of smaller aircraft around the world, including on the Tiger Moth biplane, and helped made the configuration popular for light aircraft. Menasco and Fairchild-Ranger in the United States, Renault in France, Walter in Czechoslovakia, and Hirth in Germany all built a similar range of engines which were popular in their respective markets.

The aviation use of term "inline engine" is used more broadly than for straight engines, since it also applies to other configurations where the cylinders are located in rows (e.g. V engines, W engines, H engines and horizontally opposed engines).[2]

Inverted engines

Some straight aircraft engines have used an inverted engine configuration, whereby the crankshaft is at the top of the engine and the pistons hang downwards from it. Advantages of the inverted arrangement include a raised thrust line for improved clearance for the propeller, which either allows for the use of a larger, more efficient propeller, or for shorter undercarriage. Since the thrust line is higher, the engine can be mounted lower in the airframe, improving visibility forward, which is no longer blocked by the cylinder heads. It also allows for a simpler exhaust to keep gasses clear from the cockpit.

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Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft

Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft

Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900) and Wilhelm Maybach (1846–1929), it was based first in Cannstatt. Daimler died in 1900, and their business moved in 1903 to Stuttgart-Untertürkheim after the original factory was destroyed by fire, and again to Berlin in 1922. Other factories were located in Marienfelde and Sindelfingen.

BMW IIIa

BMW IIIa

BMW IIIa was an inline six-cylinder SOHC valvetrain, water-cooled aircraft engine, the first-ever engine produced by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG, who, at the time, were exclusively an aircraft engine manufacturer. Its success laid the foundation for future BMW engine designs. It is best known as the powerplant of the Fokker D.VIIF, which outperformed any allied aircraft.

Isotta Fraschini V.4

Isotta Fraschini V.4

The Isotta Fraschini V.4 of 1916 was an Italian six-cylinder, water-cooled, in-line piston aero engine of World War I. Its construction was fairly typical of aircraft engines of the period with six cast-iron cylinders mounted in pairs with common heads. This engine was also produced by Alfa Romeo.

De Havilland Gipsy

De Havilland Gipsy

The de Havilland Gipsy is a British air-cooled four-cylinder in-line aircraft engine designed by Frank Halford in 1927 to replace the ADC Cirrus in the de Havilland DH.60 Moth light biplane. Initially developed as an upright 5 litre capacity engine, later versions were designed to run inverted with increased capacity and power.

De Havilland Tiger Moth

De Havilland Tiger Moth

The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft. In addition to the type's principal use for ab initio training, the Second World War had RAF Tiger Moths operating in other capacities, including maritime surveillance and defensive anti-invasion preparations; some aircraft were even outfitted to function as armed light bombers.

Menasco Motors Company

Menasco Motors Company

The Menasco Motors Company was an American aircraft engine and component manufacturer.

List of Renault engines

List of Renault engines

Engines used by French automaker Renault SA have historically been referenced in technical specifications along two distinct systems:a purely numeric system used from the origins of the company until the mid-1980s an alphanumeric system in use since then

France

France

France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. It also includes overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, giving it one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea; overseas territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean. Its eighteen integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 km2 (248,573 sq mi) and had a total population of over 68 million as of January 2023. France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre; other major urban areas include Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, Bordeaux, and Nice.

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia was a landlocked state in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland became part of Germany, while the country lost further territories to Hungary and Poland. Between 1939 and 1945, the state ceased to exist, as Slovakia proclaimed its independence and the remaining territories in the east became part of Hungary, while in the remainder of the Czech Lands, the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed. In 1939, after the outbreak of World War II, former Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš formed a government-in-exile and sought recognition from the Allies.

Hirth

Hirth

Hirth Engines GmbH is an engine manufacturer based in Benningen, Germany. It is currently a part of the UMS Aero Group. Hirth began manufacturing aero engines in the 1920s, was taken over by Heinkel in WWII to develop the Heinkel-Hirth jet engines, and today specialises in small two-stroke engines for light aircraft and other applications.

Germany

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second-most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south; it covers an area of 357,022 square kilometres (137,847 sq mi), with a population of over 84 million within its 16 constituent states. Germany borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, and France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands to the west. The nation's capital and most populous city is Berlin and its main financial centre is Frankfurt; the largest urban area is the Ruhr.

H engine

H engine

An H engine is a piston engine comprising two separate flat engines, 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.

Motorcycle use

In motorcycling, the term "in-line" is sometimes used narrowly, for a straight engine mounted in line with the frame.[3] A two-cylinder straight engine mounted across the frame is sometimes called a parallel twin. Other times, motorcycling experts treat the terms parallel, straight, and inline as equivalent, and use them interchangeably.[4][5]

Source: "Straight engine", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, December 28th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_engine.

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References
  1. ^ Today's Technician: Automotive Engine Performance. Douglas Vidler. Cengage Learning, 1 Jul 2003
  2. ^ Johnson, E. R. (2011-04-20). United States Naval Aviation, 1919-1941: Aircraft, Airships and Ships Between the Wars (illustrated ed.). McFarland. p. 326. ISBN 978-0786445509. INLINE ENGINE–A type of reciprocating piston engine in which an even (4-6-8-12) number of cylinders are arranged either in a straight line or in a V-type configuration directly above (or below) the crankcase.
  3. ^ Wilson, Hugo (1995). "Glossary". The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle. London: Dorling Kindersley. pp. 309–310. ISBN 0-7513-0206-6. in-line Engine layout in which the cylinders are arranged in a row, and in-line with the wheels of the machine.
  4. ^ Hunt, Phil; McKay, Malcolm; Wilson, Hugo; Robinson, James (2012), Duckworth, Mick (ed.), Motorcycle: The Definitive Visual History, DK Publishing, Penguin Group, pp. 126, 210, ISBN 9781465400888
  5. ^ Tuttle, Mark Jr. (December 2005), "BMW F800S", Rider, p. 15

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