Twenty-Five 3¾-litres V 26 engine | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Manufacturer | The Daimler Company Limited |
Production | early 1934 to September 1935 |
Layout | |
Configuration | 8-cylinder in-line [1] |
Displacement | 3,746 cc (228.6 cu in) [2] |
Cylinder bore | 72 mm (2.8 in) [2] |
Piston stroke | 115 mm (4.5 in) [2] |
Block material | aluminium alloy. 9-bearing crankshaft with vibration damper [1] |
Head material | one-piece detachable |
Valvetrain | OHV worked by pushrods from a nine-bearing camshaft-in-block, timing is mounted at the back of the block [3] |
Compression ratio | 5.5:1 [3] |
Combustion | |
Fuel system | Stromberg twin downdraught carburettor with cleaner and silencer, mixture thermostatically controlled (automatic choke). The induction system is split; four central cylinders are fed by one section, outer pairs by the other section. [1] [3] |
Fuel type | petrol supplied by mechanical pump [4] |
Cooling system | water, pump and fan, thermostatically controlled [4] |
Output | |
Power output | 90 bhp (67 kW; 91 PS) [3] @3,600 rpm (claimed) Tax rating 25.7 hp [4] |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | 3.7-litre Double-Six 30 |
Successor | Thirty-Two V 4½ |
Daimler Straight-Eight engines were eight-cylinder in-line petrol engines made by the Daimler Company to power the largest and most expensive cars in their range. The Straight-Eight engines replaced Daimler's earlier Double-Six V12 engines. Unlike the Double-Six engines, which used sleeve valves based on the Knight patents, the Straight-Eights used conventional poppet valves in the overhead valve configuration.
Three series of Straight-Eight engines were built between 1934 and the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939; another series, the DE36, was built after the war from 1946 to 1953.
The Straight-Eight engine was announced by The Daimler Company Limited on 1 May 1934 with its first vehicle, Daimler's new Twenty-Five saloon and limousine. The new engine was the first of a series intended to replace Daimler's outmoded large sleeve-valve six-cylinder and twelve-cylinder engines. The sleeve-valve engines with silence and great low-speed torque were unable to spin fast enough to make full use of new combustion technology and remain reliable. [5] These new engines were intended to run comfortably at 4,000 rpm. [3]
The general aim with the engine was "to give the greatest luxury in travel as expressed by quietness, smoothness, flexibility, and general ease and safety of control rather than great speed". [5]
While a great deal of useful experience had been acquired by Daimler from Lanchester, who were still building their overhead camshaft straight-eight when they were purchased in 1931, the Daimler Straight-Eight is not a copy. [6]
In the Daimler Twenty-Five the straight-eight was mounted using their Daimler-patented bi-axial design by which flexible support is given to the engine at five points. The gearbox was also held with rubber at three points and one underneath. [5] The one-piece cylinder-head had the spark plugs sunk into it at an angle along the nearside. The make and break and the distributor were set almost vertically at the side of the block. Alongside was the coil with a spare mounted beside it. The generator on the offside shares a triple belt drive with the water pump and the radiator cooling fan. [5] |
The crankshaft was fully counterbalanced, mounted in nine main bearings, and fitted with a vibration damper. The valves, like other poppet valve Daimlers, had wide clearances, in some cases more than 0.060 inches (1.52 mm). They were overhead and driven by pushrods from a chain driven camshaft taking power from the rear end of the crankshaft. [3]
In September 1935 it was announced that the cylinder bore was now increased to 80 mm increasing the engine's capacity from 3.746 to 4.624 litres following the 25% reduction in horsepower tax which took effect on 1 January 1935. intended to provide improved performance but more important lighter running for the engines and a consequent extension of silent and comfortable service. The tax horsepower rating is now 31.74. [7]
Thirty-Two 4½-litre V 4½ engine | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Manufacturer | The Daimler Company Limited |
Production | December 1935 [8] - |
Layout | |
Configuration | 8-cylinder in-line [8] |
Displacement | 4,624 cc (282.2 cu in) [8] |
Cylinder bore | 80 mm (3.1 in) [8] |
Piston stroke | 115 mm (4.5 in) [8] |
Valvetrain | OHV worked by pushrods from a nine-bearing camshaft-in-block [9] |
Compression ratio | 6:1 [8] |
Combustion | |
Fuel system | Stromberg twin downdraught carburettor with cleaner and silencer, mixture thermostatically controlled (automatic choke). [4] |
Fuel type | petrol |
Cooling system | water, thermostatically controlled [4] |
Output | |
Power output | Tax rating 31.74 hp [8] |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Twenty-Five V 26 |
Successor | Thirty-Six DE 36 |
In most respects, the Thirty-Two V 4½ was a bored out version of the V26, which it replaced. The compression ratio was increased to 6 to 1. [8] These engines were also fitted to a number of chassis made after 1936 which were fitted with a Lanchester radiator and nameplates. [10]
Twenty-Six 3½-litre E 3½ engine | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Manufacturer | The Daimler Company Limited |
Production | 1936-1937 [4] |
Layout | |
Configuration | 8-cylinder in-line [7] |
Displacement | 3,421 cc (208.8 cu in) [7] |
Cylinder bore | 72 mm (2.8 in) [7] |
Piston stroke | 105 mm (4.1 in) [7] |
Head material | non-detachable |
Valvetrain | OHV worked by pushrods from a nine-bearing camshaft-in-block [7] |
Combustion | |
Fuel system | Stromberg twin downdraught carburettor with cleaner and silencer, mixture thermostatically controlled (automatic choke). The induction system is split; four central cylinders are fed by one section, outer pairs by the other section. [7] |
Cooling system | water, thermostatically controlled [7] |
Output | |
Power output | Tax rating 25.7 hp [7] |
Chronology | |
Successor | Twenty-Seven DE 27 |
Introduced in 1936, the E 3½ was an entirely new engine to power a livelier car for the owner driver. [11] During 1935 a 3½-litre Straight-Eight open car achieved a maximum timed speed at Brooklands of slightly in excess of 90 mph. [12]
In August 1938 the engine bore was increased to 77.47 mm (3.050 in) and the engine was renamed E 4. [13] The increase in bore increased the following:
Thirty-Six 5½-litre DE 36 engine | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Manufacturer | The Daimler Company Limited |
Layout | |
Configuration | 8-cylinder in-line [15] |
Displacement | 5,460 cc (333.2 cu in) [15] |
Cylinder bore | 85.1 mm (3.35 in) [15] |
Piston stroke | 120 mm (4.7 in) [15] |
Valvetrain | OHV worked by pushrods [15] from a nine-bearing camshaft-in-block |
Compression ratio | 6.3:1 [15] |
Combustion | |
Fuel system | Twin SU downdraught carburettors with cleaner and silencer, mixture thermostatically controlled (automatic choke). The induction system is split; four central cylinders are fed by one section, outer pairs by the other section. [7] |
Fuel type | petrol, fuel pump AC mechanical [15] |
Oil system | Gear driven pump, Tecalemit full flow filter [15] |
Cooling system | water, thermostatically controlled [15] |
Output | |
Power output | 150 bhp (110 kW; 150 PS) @3,600 rpm, [15] Tax rating 35.92 hp |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Thirty-Two V 4½ |
Successor | Regina DF400 and DK400 |
The DE 36 was the last Daimler Straight-Eight. [16] Developed from the Thirty-Two V 4½, [17] the DE 36's bore and stroke were, at 85.1 mm × 120.0 mm (3.35 in × 4.72 in), identical to those of the six-cylinder 27 hp (RAC) engine being used in the DE 27 limousine and DC 27 ambulance. [18]
The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in the United States in the Willys-Knight car and light truck. They subsequently fell from use due to advances in poppet-valve technology, including sodium cooling, and the Knight system double sleeve engine's tendency to burn a lot of lubricating oil or to seize due to lack of it. The Scottish Argyll company used its own, much simpler and more efficient, single sleeve system (Burt-McCollum) in its cars, a system which, after extensive development, saw substantial use in British aircraft engines of the 1940s, such as the Napier Sabre, Bristol Hercules, Centaurus, and the promising but never mass-produced Rolls-Royce Crecy, only to be supplanted by the jet engines.
The Daimler Company Limited, prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The company bought the right to the use of the Daimler name simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft of Cannstatt, Germany. After early financial difficulty and a reorganisation of the company in 1904, the Daimler Motor Company was purchased by Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA) in 1910, which also made cars under its own name before the Second World War. In 1933, BSA bought the Lanchester Motor Company and made it a subsidiary of Daimler Company.
Frederick William Lanchester LLD, Hon FRAeS, FRS, was an English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering and to aerodynamics, and co-invented the topic of operations research.
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer located until early 1931 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, and afterwards at Sandy Lane, Coventry England. The marque has been unused since the last Lanchester was produced in 1955. The Lanchester Motor Company Limited is still registered as an active company and accounts are filed each year, although as of 2014 it is marked as "non-trading".
The Daimler 2.5 V8/V8-250 is a four-door saloon which was produced by The Daimler Company Limited in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1969. It was the first Daimler car to be based on a Jaguar platform, the first with a unit body, and the last to feature a Daimler engine after the company was bought from the Birmingham Small Arms Company by Jaguar Cars in 1960. The engine is the hemispherical head V8 designed by Edward Turner and first used in the Daimler SP250 sports car.
The Silver Wraith was the first post-war Rolls-Royce. It was made from 1946 to 1958 as only a chassis at Rolls-Royce's former Merlin engine plant, their Crewe factory, alongside the shorter Bentley Mark VI. The Bentley too was available as a chassis for coachbuilders but also for the first time could be bought with a Rolls-Royce built standard steel body.
The Bentley 6½ Litre and the high-performance Bentley Speed Six were rolling chassis in production from 1926 to 1930. The Speed Six, introduced in 1928, would become the most successful racing Bentley. Two Bentley Speed Sixes became known as the Blue Train Bentleys after their owner Woolf Barnato's involvement in the Blue Train Races of 1930.
The Knight engine is an internal combustion engine, designed by American Charles Yale Knight (1868-1940), that uses sleeve valves instead of the more common poppet valve construction.
The Rover 8 was a small single-cylinder 8 hp 1327 cc car made by the British Rover car company. It was Rover's first production car. It was remarkable for being supported by a backbone chassis rather than a conventional ladder frame. The first model was manufactured from 1904 to 1912, A Daimler-Knight sleeve-valve engine option was available in 1911 and 1912.
The Humber Pullman is a four-door limousine which was introduced by the British Humber company in 1930 as a successor to the Humber 20/65 hp and long-wheelbase version of the Humber Snipe.
Laurence Henry Pomeroy (1883–1941) was an English automotive engineer trained as a locomotive engineer and particularly interested in the introduction of light alloys into automotive applications.
The Vauxhall 27, 30 and 35 h.p. is a large six cylinder car manufactured by Vauxhall from 1910 to 1914. The 27 h.p. was Vauxhall's first six-cylinder car.
The Triumph Six Cylinder or Triumph I6 engine is a cast-iron overhead valve straight-six engine produced by Standard Triumph. It is an evolution of the Standard Motor Company's inline-4 Standard Eight, with the addition of two cylinders and a larger displacement.
The Standard wet liner inline-four engine was a 2,088 cc inline four cylinder petrol engine produced by the Standard Motor Company. Originally developed concurrently for passenger car use and for the Ferguson TE20 tractor, it was widely used for Standard passenger cars of the 1950s, most notably the Vanguard. Later it was successfully used in Standard's popular early generation Triumph TR series sports cars.
The Rover 16/50 and Rover 16 are mid-sized cars which were produced by Rover from 1926 to 1929 and non-continuously from 1936 to 1947 respectively.
The Daimler New Fifteen, was a large saloon/sedan car at the low end of the manufacturer’s range, announced in September 1937. It had a tax rating of 16.2 hp. In September 1938 it was given a larger engine with the tax rating of 17.9 hp though it retained the name Fifteen. When production resumed in 1946 it was given a revised cylinder head, given chrome channel frames for the side windows, stripped of its running-boards, and renamed Daimler Eighteen.
The Daimler Fifteen, was a saloon car at the low end of this manufacturer’s range, announced in September 1932. It was the first Daimler product for more than two decades with an engine that breathed conventionally through poppet valves. Conventional valve gear had improved, superseding the former advantages of the Daimler-Knight sleeve-valve technology. The car's name derived from its tax rating of 15 hp. The design of its 6-cylinder 1.8-litre engine was developed from the 4-cylinder 1.2-litre Lanchester Ten which was installed in Lanchester's shorter versions of the same chassis and bodies and using the same Daimler semi-automatic transmissions.
Daimler Double-Six piston engine was a sleeve-valve V12 engine manufactured by The Daimler Company Limited of Coventry, England between 1926 and 1938 in four different sizes for their flagship cars.
Daimler DE was a series of chassis made by the Daimler Company from 1946 until 1953. DE chassis were the basis for Daimler's largest and most expensive cars at the time. There were two versions: the short-wheelbase DE 27 with the Daimler Twenty-seven six cylinder engine, and the long-wheelbase DE 36, the last Daimler Straight-Eight, with the Thirty-six straight-eight engine. Daimler DEs, especially the DE 36 Straight-Eight, was sold to royalty and heads of state around the world, including British royalty under the royal warrant that Daimler had held since 1900.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daimler Straight-Eight . |