Szekely SR-3
The Szekely SR-3 - aircraft engine was an air-cooled three-cylinder - radial engine , which by the Szekely Aircraft Engine Co. in Holland , Michigan was developed in the 1920s and 1930s and built. The designer was Otto E. Szekely.
use
The SR-3 series was used exclusively in the United States to power small aircraft, such as the Taylor Aircraft Company , American Eagle Aircraft Corporation and other smaller aircraft manufacturers. The American Eagle Aircraft Corporation alone used around 230 units of the first SR-3 series with 30 hp. In the Aguilucho series B-31 and B-32, which were manufactured in 1930, the SR-3 with 45 hp was used. Taylor Aircraft used the SR-3-35 on their H-2 . Due to numerous reliability issues, many aircraft have replaced the SR-3 type with other engines. Some SR-3 engines still exist as museum exhibits , for example in the Holland Museum in Michigan.
construction
While in conventional piston engines in boxer or in- line design, each piston is directly connected to the crankshaft via a connecting rod, in the SR-3 there is no direct connection between the pistons and the crankshaft. Since the geometrical longitudinal axes of the cylinders lie in one plane, not all piston rods can be attached directly to the main shaft (crankshaft). On the main shaft, on which the propeller is mounted, there is a large connecting rod eye of the main connecting rod (also known as the mother connecting rod) to which the secondary connecting rods (also known as the connecting rods) are hinged.
Due to this design, the engine housing of the SR-3 engine was significantly lighter and shorter than that of comparable boxer or in-line engines of the time. The shaft of the main connecting rod was used on one side for direct propeller mounting, the magneto ignition was mounted on the opposite side. The SR-3 series did not have an electric starter.
literature
- Rod Simpson: Aeronaves Mundial de Airlife. Airlife Publishing Ltd., ISBN 1-84037-115-3 .
