Reaction Motors, Inc. (RMI) was an early American maker of liquid-fueled rocket engines, located in New Jersey. RMI engines with thrust powered the

Bell X-1 The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics– U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Be ...

rocket aircraft A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typicall ...

that first broke the sound barrier in 1947, and later aircraft such the X-1A, X-1E, and the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. A thrust RMI engine also powered the Viking research rocket, the first large liquid-fueled US high-altitude rocket. RMI was merged with Thiokol in 1958, where it produced the XLR-99 engine that powered the X-15 rocket aircraft.

History

Formation and the sound barrier

Reaction Motors, Inc. began operation as early as 1930 through the work of then

American Interplanetary Society The American Rocket Society (ARS) began its existence on , under the name of the American Interplanetary Society. It was founded by science fiction writers George Edward Pendray, G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, Laurence Manning, Nat Schachner, Na ...

members Lovell Lawrence, George Edward Pendray, Hugh Pierce, and engineer

John Shesta John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. This group quickly moved from science fiction discussions to practical rocketry. Pendray contributed heavily to their early designs using knowledge acquired from a trip to Berlin in 1931. In 1938, Princeton University student James Hart Wyld tested a two-pound rocket engine which provided 90 pounds of thrust; this would become the basis for the group's work over the next two decades. Though test flights are recorded from 1933 forward, the group would rename themselves the American Rocket Society and continue experimentation in the relatively populous area of

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

until incorporating Reaction Motors, Inc. under Lovell Lawrence in 1938 in pursuit of a war-time contract from the United States Navy. In 1938 and prior to incorporation, the group successfully designed and perfected the world's first workable regenerative cooling rocket engine, technology which would for the first time make liquid-fueled rocket engines capable of burning for long enough periods to be practical. All future liquid-fueled rockets would build off this technology. They tested this rocket engine in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, not far from the laboratory they built it in. With Lawrence as president and Wyld, Pierce, and Shesta as company officers, Reaction Motors, Inc. received its first naval contract in 1942. Operating on a start-up budget of $5,000, the company first used a bicycle shop in

Oakland, New Jersey Oakland is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of New York City. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 12,754,Pompton Plains to provide space for rocket engine testing and machine work. In 1945 RMI was granted a contract from the United States Army to develop a rocket engine for the first of the "X" series of experimental airplanes, designed to break the sound barrier. Undaunted by the 1946 death of British test pilot

Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland Jr., OBE (18 February 1910 – 27 September 1946) was a British test pilot. He was the son of Geoffrey de Havilland, the English aviation pioneer and aircraft designer. Early life Geoffrey Raoul de Havilland was b ...

, the company eventually furnished the X-1 project with a design based upon four of Wyld's engines which would provide 1,500 pounds of thrust each. On October 14, 1947, American test pilot Chuck Yeager was the first in the world to break the sound barrier, piloting the X-1 with the four Reaction Motors, Inc. engines. Yeager was able to complete his flight safely due to the remarkably smooth flight provided by Wyld's system and despite the fact that he had broken several ribs while horse-riding the previous day.

Merger with Thiokol and the Space Race

In early 1956, following an extensive bidding war, Reaction Motors, Inc. was awarded a contract from the United States Navy for the development of the proposed XLR30 engine to be used to power the experimental aircraft known as X-15 and eventually pursue manned spaceflight. After much misadventure, a massive increase in budgetary requirements, and engineering problems related to fuel injectors and the thrust chamber which resulted in the Navy enlisting the assistance of the Rocketdyne Division of

North American Aviation North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer that designed and built several notable aircraft and spacecraft. Its products included: the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F ...

, the XLR30 engine project was moved back on track with a new designation of TR-139 to convey the striking changes in design which were required. On April 17, 1958, RMI's acquisition by Thiokol Chemical Corporation was finalized by the approval of the stockholders and RMI was henceforth referred to as Reaction Motors Division (RMD). RMD's engine for the X-15 was completed and 199 flights were made before the X-15 project was discontinued in 1969, years past its due date and having cost more than five times its original budget. The X-15 is credited as having reached a record mach 6.72 at 67 miles above the Earth, being solely responsible for providing the data necessary to insulate and maintain the structural integrity of the Mercury spacecraft, and a host of additional technical achievements and aviation milestones.

Products

* Reaction Motors XLR11 * Reaction Motors XLR10 - used on Viking (rocket) * Reaction Motors XLR30-RM-2 *

Reaction Motors XLR-99 The Reaction Motors LR99 engine was the first large, throttleable, restartable liquid-propellant rocket engine. Development began in the 1950s by the Reaction Motors Division of Thiokol Chemical Company to power the North American X-15 hypersoni ...

Patents filed

(partial list) *3095694 - Reaction motor which does not require booster at high altitudes *2637973 - "Rocket Engine Having Turbine Located in Nozzle for Driving Auxiliaries" *2479888 - "Controlling System for Reaction Motors"

References

{{Reflist Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of the United States Rocket engine manufacturers of the United States