An obturator ring was a type of

piston ring A piston ring is a metallic split ring that is attached to the outer diameter of a piston in an internal combustion engine or steam engine. The main functions of piston rings in engines are: # Sealing the combustion chamber so that there is mini ...

used in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

aero engines for improved sealing in the presence of

cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...

distortion.

Purpose

The cylinders of rotary aircraft engines of World War I (engines with the

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

fixed to the

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

and rotating cylinders) were notoriously difficult to keep cool leading to thermal distortion. To keep the weight down they had very thin-wall (1.5 mm)

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

cylinders. Obturator rings, made of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

in the early Gnome engines, could flex to the shape of the cylinder. Wear on the rings was considerable. Engines needed to be overhauled about every 20 hours. The reliability of Gnome engines license-built by The British Gnome and Le Rhone Engine Co. gave an overhaul life of about 80 hours mainly as a result using a special tool to roll the 'L' section obturator rings. The problem of thermal distortion was effectively cured on the

Bentley BR1 The Bentley BR.1 was a British rotary aircraft engine of the First World War. Designed by the motor car engine designer W. O. Bentley, the BR.1 was built in large numbers, being one of the main powerplants of the Sopwith Camel. Design and develo ...

engine by using aluminium cylinders, for good thermal conductivity, with cast iron liners shrunk in. An 'L' section obturator ring is shown in Patent US 1378109A - "Obturator ring".https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/31/ba/4e/d0d1dff885aaff/US1378109.pdf

References

Pistons Aerospace engineering {{Mech-engineering-stub

Purpose

See also

References