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1935 Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp
Description
At the end of World War I, aviation had an engine problem that limited the development of bigger and more reliable aircraft. The two types of aircraft engines each had obstacles for which no solution yet existed. For liquid-cooled engines, the weight of the radiator and coolant reduced the carrying capacity of the airplane and added more equipment that could fail. Rotary engines achieved cooling without a radiator by having the entire engine spin while operating. It saved…
At the end of World War I, aviation had an engine problem that limited the development of bigger and more reliable aircraft. The two types of aircraft engines each had obstacles for which no solution yet existed. For liquid-cooled engines, the weight of the radiator and coolant reduced the carrying capacity of the airplane and added more equipment that could fail. Rotary engines achieved cooling without a radiator by having the entire engine spin while operating. It saved weight, but meant the pilot was always fighting the plane’s desire to turn in the direction of the engine’s spinning.
The beginning of the solution was created by Charles Lawrance, an independent engineer who worked in the Eiffel Tower’s aeronautics laboratory prior to World War I. In 1917, Lawrance returned to the United States and created an air-cooled radial engine with the same horsepower as the heavier, liquid-cooled Wright Model E. The US Navy ordered 50 of Lawrance’s revolutionary engines, but he did not have the capacity to produce them. When the Navy asked other engine makers to produce Lawrance’s design, they refused. Wright Aeronautical agreed to make the engine only after the Navy threatened to stop buying Wright Model Es. Wright then merged with Lawrance to combine his design skills and their manufacturing scale.
Lawrance’s radial engine was light and powerful, but did not produce enough power for the bigger, faster airplanes that the industry wanted. By 1924, Frederick Rentschler, President of Wright Aeronautical, was frustrated that the company’s board of directors would not approve the funding needed to develop more powerful air-cooled engines. He resigned his position to find an organization that would take the risk,and joined forces with the Pratt & Whitney Company of Hartford, CT. Pratt & Whitney made production equipment for other manufacturers with products like sewing machines, guns, and bicycles. The company allocated space in their factory for development and invested $1M to prepare for mass production of Renstchler’s non-existent engine. Rentschler was able to attract the talent necessary to develop a 650 pound engine producing 425 hp in under six months.
The new engine, the “Wasp”, was popular with both military and civilian aviation markets. In just five years, Pratt & Whitney produced 60% of the engines on the market.
In 1930, Pratt & Whitney debuted the Twin Wasp. Where the original Wasp was 9 cylinders in a single circle, the Twin Wasp was 14 cylinders in two rows of 7 cylinders each. With this arrangement, Pratt & Whitney increased the power output to 800 horsepower!
The engine was used on a huge variety of civilian and military aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. By the end of World War II, Pratt & Whitney produced over 170,000 Twin Wasps, which makes it the most produced engine type in aviation history.
Year:
1935
Make / Manufacturer:
PRATT & WHITNEY
Model:
R-1830 Twin Wasp
Donated By:
Boston Museum of Transportation
Engine Type:
Gasoline