Largest Diesel Engine in World Has Just Been Completed (May, 1930)
Largest Diesel Engine in World Has Just Been Completed
THE first of the pair of Diesel engines that are to drive the White Star liner M. V. Britannic across the Atlantic has just completed its test run. This ten-cylinder double-acting four-stroke power unit, which was built by Harland & Wolff, Ltd., of Belfast, is the largest Diesel yet made and on test it gave 10,000 h.p. at 110 revolutions per minute on the dynamometer.
Being double-acting it gives the propeller twice the number of power impulses per revolution that an ordinary single-acting engine does and as it gets ten driving impulses per revolution, a degree of smooth running hitherto unattained with internal combustion engines will be achieved.Each of its ten cylinders has a bore of 33% inches, while the piston stroke is no less than 59 inches. Each of the valves stands higher than a man. When one of them and its cage is removed a man can easily crawl through the aperture into the cylinder. Thirteen automobiles have parked in a space marked out on the ground the same size as this giant’s bed plate.
The exhaust of the two engines is passed through four special boilers where it will generate steam for auxiliary services.
I need that for my truck!
Alex: Nonono, try this instead: http://en.wikipedia.org…
The combined rockets on the space shuttle are even more powerful.
@ Alex – Yea, and diesel is more economical too!
@ Jari Actually that one would be much better indeed!
@Hirudinea I ponder that. Between the higher costs of a diesel motor vs gas, the higher maintenance costs and of the fact the at least where I am diesel costs more than gasoline but that is not really saying much.
@ Kosher Ham – Yes they are. But can they operate continuously several weeks?
The most powerful modern diesel engine is about 11x as powerful (109,000 hp).
@ AshleyZ As i linked in #2.
Jari:
If we had rockets that could run continuously for several weeks up to a year we’d have colonies on the Moon and Mars now.
@Ham, we DO have such rockets. well, sort of. they just don’t put out enough reaction force to be usable on anything but small unmanned probes — the ion engines on Deep Space One racked up a total of 678 days firing time over the mission’s duration.
@ Nomen Nesico – Screw ion engines, we need Orion!
http://www.youtube.com/…
I wonder what those circles are the people stand in?
I wonder what those circles are the people stand in?
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