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Concept
Le Rhône
Summary
Le Rhône was the name given to a series of rotary aircraft engines built between 1910 and 1920. Le Rhône series engines were originally sold by the Société des Moteurs Le Rhône and, following a 1914 corporate buyout, by its successor company, Gnome et Rhône. During World War I, more than 22,000 nine cylinder Le Rhône engines were built, with the type far outselling Gnome et Rhône's other main wartime engine series, the Gnome Monosoupape.
Licenses for production of Le Rhône series engines were negotiated with companies in Great Britain, Austria, Italy, Russia, Sweden and Germany. Le Rhône-designed engines powered many of the most famous WW1 aircraft, including the Sopwith Pup, the Sopwith Camel, the Nieuport 11 "Bebe" and the Fokker Dr.1 "Triplane".
As with all rotary engines, the crankshaft of the Rhône remained stationary in operation, with the entire crankcase and its attached cylinders rotating around it as a unit.
When compared with the Gnome Monosoupape, the Rhône engines were of a more conventional design with a carburetor mounted on the shaft and intake and exhaust valves mounted on the cylinder heads. Fuel was piped from the hollow shaft to the cylinder heads by copper tubes (mounted at the front of the 80 Horsepower 9C model and at the back on the 110 horsepower 9J). The use of a carburetor allowed the Rhône series engines to be throttled during flight, which greatly reduced fuel and lube oil consumption. The ability to throttle the engine was cited as the reason for the Aéronautique Militaire’s preference for the Rhône series over the 'Monosoupape.
Le Rhône engines featured cylinders with grey iron liners which could be bored out and replaced when worn allowing the cylinders to be reused. Sealing was done with piston rings only and without the use of the bronze obturator rings used on Gnome and Clerget engines.
A complicated slipper bearing system was used in the Rhône series engines. The master rod was of a split type, which employed three concentric grooves, designed to accept slipper bearings from the other cylinders.
Official source
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