The company has built more than 325,000 piston aircraft engines and powers more than half the world's general aviation fleet, both rotary and fixed wing.[1]
Lycoming has been a principal pioneer of turbine engines for medium and large helicopters, and has also produced engines for small jetliners and business jets.[2][3][4]
Lycoming is an operating division of Avco Corporation, itself a subsidiary of Textron.[4][5]
History
Sewing machines, bicycles and fashion
Demorest Manufacturing Company Machine
Lycoming dates its founding to 1845 by "Madame Ellen Curtis Demorest".[6] However, the early history of the company (especially prior to 1860) is unclear;[7] biographer Ishbel Ross notes that the marriage of Ellen Louise Curtis to William Jennings Demorest took place in 1858, somewhat later than the purported date of establishment of the company.[7] A few years later in New York, between c. 1860 and 1887, the Demorests published fashion magazines and operated the Demorest Fashion and Sewing-Machine Company (sometimes known as the Demorest Manufacturing Company). They produced "Madame Demorest" and "Bartlett & Demorest" sewing machines and sold Ellen Demorest's innovative paper patterns for dressmaking.[7] During this period, Ellen Demorest patented several fashion accessories,[8][9] while her husband patented improvements to sewing machines[7] and an apparatus for the vulcanization of rubber.[10][11]
A Demorest print advertisement
Around 1883, Gerrit S. Scofield & Frank M. Scofield (advertising agents from New York) bought the Demorest brand and the sewing machine business (the Demorests retained the magazine business), and constructed a factory in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (in Lycoming County).[7][12] At the urging of the newly established Williamsport Board of Trade, citizens invested US$100,000 in the new manufacturing facility, which employed 250 people.[7] The factory produced 50 to 60 sewing machines per day.[13] With the development of the "New York Bicycle" in 1891 (designed by employee S. H. Ellis), the company diversified its product offerings.[7][13] Until the early 1900s, the factory produced sewing machines, bicycles, typewriters, opera chairs and other products.[6][7][13]
By 1907, the manufacture of sewing machines had become unprofitable for Demorest, and the company was sold and restructured as the Lycoming Foundry and Machine Company, shifting its focus toward automobile engine manufacture.[6][7] In 1910, the company supplied its first automobile engine to Velie,[14] and during the early post-World-War-I era, the company was a major supplier to Auburn (which produced the Auburn, Cord, and Duesenberg lines).
By 1920, Lycoming was producing 60,000 engines a year, with a 2,000-strong workforce. To handle the capacity, a new foundry complex was built in Williamsport that year.[15] Eventually Lycoming became Auburn's principal supplier, and in 1927 Errett Lobban Cord bought the company,[14] placing it under his Auburn Manufacturing umbrella group.
Among the engines Lycoming produced for Cord was an L-head straight-eight engine of 298.5 cu. in. displacement that produced 125 horsepower. This was used in the Cord L-29. Lycoming also produced a double overhead cam straight 8 used in the legendary Duesenberg J series. This powerplant produced 265 horsepower, six times the power of a contemporary Model A Ford. A supercharged version, generating 325 horsepower, was installed in the Duesenberg SJ and SSJ models.
In 1929, Lycoming produced its first aviation engine, the nine-cylinder R-680radial.[6] This was a fairly successful design, and was used widely in light aircraft, including Cord's Travel Air.
In the 1930s, Lycoming made a number of attempts to develop successful high-power aircraft engines. The 1200 hp (895 kW)O-1230 was Lycoming's attempt to produce an engine based on the United States Army Air Corpshyper engine concept, and used a variety of features to produce nearly 1 hp/in3 (46 kW/L) of engine displacement. However, by the O-1230's entry into service, it had been surpassed by other designs and the US$500000 investment was not recouped.
Another attempt was made to rescue the design by stacking two O-1230s to make the 2300 hp (1700 kW)H engineH-2470 but the only design to use it, the Vultee XP-54, never entered production. The Curtiss XF14C was originally intended to be powered by the H-2470, but the engine's poor performance led to the adoption of an alternative radial engine on the prototype. (The XF14C did not enter production.)
Undeterred by the O-1230/H-2470's failure, Lycoming turned to an even larger design, the 36-cylinder XR-7755, the largest aviation piston engine ever built. This design also experienced problems, and was only ready for use at the very end of World War II, when the aviation world was turning to turbojets and turboprop engines to power future large aircraft.[16] There was apparently some interest in using it on the Convair B-36 Peacemakerbomber, but the 28-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major four-bank radial was used instead.
Through the 1920s and -30s, Lycoming had still been supplying automotive manufacturers with engines. However, these clients each slowly went out of business or switched to Continental engines for their vehicles. By 1931, the company was supplying automotive engines to only three companies: Auburn, Cord and Duesenburg, still all under the control of Cord.[15] These companies closed their doors in 1937,[17] after which Lycoming switched to exclusively designing and producing engines for aviation.[15] In the meantime, the Smith Engineering Corporation, an early manufacturer of controllable pitch propellers had been purchased by Cord and moved to Williamsport.[18][19]
In 1939 Cord re-organized all of his aviation holdings into the AVCO group, at which point the engine manufacturing company became "AVCO Lycoming". It also leased the government-owned Stratford Army Engine Plant in Stratford, Connecticut, and produced Wright radials under license. After the war, this plant was converted to produce the T53turboshaft engine, one of its more successful designs. From this point on the piston and turbine engine lines remained separate, with the piston lines being built in the original Williamsport factories, and turbines in Stratford.
By 1961, Lycoming produced 600 to 700 engines per month.[16] Its most successful post-war products were a series of air-cooledflat-4 and flat-6general aviation engines. Most famous among these are the O-320 and O-360 four-cylinder engines, and the O-540 six-cylinder engine.[20][21] Many light aircraft are powered by versions of these engines, with power ratings in the 100–360 hp (75–270 kW) range. Engines in this series also include the O-235 four-, O-580 six- and O-720 eight-cylinder engines, and the advanced turbocharged and fuel-injected450 hp (340 kW)TIGO-541 variant of the venerable (carbureted) O-540.
In the early 1980s, the general aviation market suddenly diminished and Lycoming's piston engine business was significantly impacted. Attempts were made to move some of the turbine production to Williamsport, but this led to a series of quality control problems and eventually it was abandoned.
Another attempt to rescue Williamsport was made in introducing the "radical" SCORE engine, a Wankel engine originally developed through a joint venture between Curtiss-Wright and John Deere. Curtiss-Wright lost interest in the design just as it was maturing and sold its interests in the project to Deere, which brought in Lycoming to sell the developed engine into the aviation markets. It was guaranteed a startup run by Cessna, also owned by Textron. Just as production was ready to start, Cessna announced it was halting its small-aircraft business for an indefinite period, and SCORE was cancelled. The remains of the Deere licenses were later purchased by Rotary Power International, which briefly produced a 340 hp (254 kW) version.
Textron purchased the company in 1985.[22] In 1994, Textron sold the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division, located in Stratford, Connecticut, to AlliedSignal, who merged it with the Garrett Engine Division of AlliedSignal as part of AlliedSignal Aerospace, later becoming part of Honeywell Aerospace in 1999.[23] Textron retained piston engine production in Williamsport.
Lycomings continue to power new light aircraft by fellow Textron division, Cessna Aircraft,[24] and by Piper,[25]Cirrus,[26]Diamond,[27] and others. Lycomings remain the most popular line of engines for U.S. Experimental / Amateur-Built (E/A-B) aircraft, surpassing the 5 next-most-popular brands, combined.[28]
Lycoming was one of the principal pioneers of turbine engines -- turboshaft to be precise—for medium- and heavy-lift helicopters, some of which have found other applications as well. Its 1,400 horsepower (1,000kW) T53 hybrid free turbine / shaft turbine engine initially powered the Bell UH-1 "Huey", and Lycoming's 4,000 horsepower (3,000kW) T55 is the main power for the twin-turbine, twin-rotor Boeing CH-47 Chinook. Lycoming turbines have powered other helicopters, also.[2][3][4][31]
Variants and derivatives have powered various turboprop and turbofan aircraft, as well, including the OV-1 Mohawk military aircraft, BAe 146 jetliner, Canadair Challenger business jet, and others.[2][3][4][31]
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many small UAVs have used electric motors.
The Cessna 182 Skylane is an American four-seat, single-engined light airplane built by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas. It has the option of adding two child seats in the baggage area.
Continental Aerospace Technologies is an aircraft engine manufacturer located at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was originally spun off from automobile engine manufacturer Continental Motors Company in 1929 and owned by Teledyne Technologies from 1969 until December 2010. The company is now part of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which is a Government of the People's Republic of China state-owned aerospace company headquartered in Beijing.
The Beechcraft Musketeer is a family of single-engined, low-wing, light aircraft that was produced by Beechcraft. The line includes the Model 19 Musketeer Sport, the Model 23 Musketeer, Custom and Sundowner, the Model 23-24 Musketeer Super III the retractable gear Model 24-R Sierra and the military CT-134 Musketeer.
The Mil Mi-34 is a light helicopter designed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant in either a two or four seat configuration for utility and training. It was first flown on 17 November 1986 and introduced at the Paris Air Show in 1987. The Mi-34 entered production in 1993, and is capable of performing aerobatic manoeuvres, including rolls and loops.
The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower, with the basic O-360 producing 180 horsepower.
The Stinson Reliant is a popular single-engine four- to five-seat high-wing monoplane manufactured by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan.
The Lycoming XR-7755 was the largest piston aircraft engine ever built in the United States, with 36 cylinders totaling about 7,750 in³ (127 L) of displacement and a power output of 5,000 horsepower (3,700 kilowatts). It was originally intended to be used in the "European bomber" that eventually emerged as the Convair B-36. Only two examples were built before the project was terminated in 1946.
Avco Corporation is a subsidiary of Textron, which operates Textron Systems Corporation and Lycoming.
The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of 541.5 cubic inches (8,874 cc) displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O-360.
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The Partenavia P.64B/P.66B Oscar is an Italian two/four-seat, single-engined, high-wing monoplane built by Partenavia.
The Boisavia B.60 Mercurey was a series of four-seat light aircraft developed in France shortly after World War II.
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The Firestone XR-9, also known by the company designation Model 45, was a 1940s American experimental helicopter built by the Firestone Aircraft Company for the United States Army Air Forces. Only two were built.
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The Lycoming IO-580 engine is a horizontally opposed, six-cylinder aircraft engine featuring three cylinders per side, manufactured by Lycoming Engines.
The Lycoming IO-233 is a non-certified four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engine that produces between 100 hp (75 kW) and 116 hp (87 kW).
Aviation in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania has dated back well over a 100 years. The first flight occurred in 1910 in Campian Hills.
1 2 3 Angelucci, Enzo: Airplanes: From the Dawn of Flight to the Present Day, 1982 ed., Greenwich House / Arlington House, U.K.; retrieved August 8, 2023.
1 2 3 Young, Warren R., et.al.: The Helicopters, 1982, from the "Epic of Flight" series, Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia, USA (cross-referenced with Angelucci's book)
1 2 3 Kevin McQuown. "Lycoming County's Old Days". Williamsport Area High School Website. Williamsport Area School District. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
1 2 John W. R. Taylor, ed.: "AVCO Lycoming" in "USA: Engines", Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1966-1967, 1967, pp.517 et. seq., Jane's, Bucks, England, U.K. / McGraw-Hill, New York, USA
Gunston, Bill (2006). World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines, 5th Edition. Phoenix Mill, Gloucestershire, England, UK: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN0-7509-4479-X.
Leyes II, Richard A.; William A. Fleming (1999). "10". The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. p.725. ISBN1-56347-332-1.
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