The Franklin Engine (1928)

[hambone]

[album]344[/album]

Franklin Engine Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Franklin Engine Company was a manufacturer of aircraft engines. Their designs were used primarily in the civilian market, both in fixed wing and helicopter designs. They were briefly directly towards automobile engines as part of the Tucker Car Corporation, returning to aviation when that company failed. The company was later purchased by the Government of Poland.
Originally formed as the H. H. Franklin Co. in 1902, located in Syracuse, New York, USA. Barely surviving bankruptcy in 1933, the company was purchased by a group of ex-employees and renamed Aircooled Motors in 1937. While the company kept the name of "Aircooled Motors," their engines continued to be marketed under the Franklin name.[1] Engineers Carl Doman and Ed Marks kept the company alive through the depression by manufacturing air-cooled truck and industrial engines.
During World War II Aircooled Motors was very successful producing helicopter and airplane engines. Several aircraft carried their engines, including the Aero-Flight Streak, Bartlett Zephyr, Bell 47, Bellanca Cruisair, Brantly B-1, Goodyear Duck, H-23 Raven, Hiller 360, Piper J-3F Cub, Seibel S-4, Sikorsky S-52, Stinson Voyager, Taylorcraft 15, Temco TE-1B, and the YT-35 Buckaroo.

Aircooled Motors was purchased by Republic Aviation Company in 1945 to produce engines for its Republic Seabee light amphibious aircraft. After the war demand for the engines dropped dramatically and Republic was unsure of the company's future.
In 1947 Aircooled Motors was purchased for the price of $1.8 million by the Tucker Car Corporation to produce an engine for the 1948 Tucker Sedan.[2] After purchasing Aircooled Motors, Tucker cancelled all of the company's aircraft contracts so that its resources could be focused on making automotive engines for the Tucker Corporation. This was a significant event, since at the time of Tucker's purchase Aircooled Motors held over 65% of postwar U.S. aviation engine production contracts. For this reason, when the Tucker Car Corporation failed amidst allegations of stock fraud, Aircooled nearly failed with it.
Tucker and the Tucker family continued to own the firm until 1961, when the family sold it to the Aero Industries, which restored the name of the Franklin Engine Company.
In 1975 the government of Poland bought the company and moved it to Rzeszów, first under the name PZL-Franklin and later simply PZL-F.

[Hippie]

Back before permanent anti-freeze, this would be an exceptional thing to have out there on the farm in January.

[JLT]

Back before permanent anti-freeze, this would be an exceptional thing to have out there on the farm in January.

Particularly upstate New York farms.

I remember driving around Syracuse with my father, who was born and raised there. He pointed out the block that used to have the Franklin factory. I think he may have applied for a job as a machinist there at one point (it's too late to ask him now, unfortunately). There's still a lot of interest in the Franklins in the Syracuse area, with various antique car shows featuring them.

[Amskeptic]

Back before permanent anti-freeze, this would be an exceptional thing to have out there on the farm in January.

Particularly upstate New York farms.

I remember driving around Syracuse with my father, who was born and raised there. He pointed out the block that used to have the Franklin factory. I think he may have applied for a job as a machinist there at one point (it's too late to ask him now, unfortunately). There's still a lot of interest in the Franklins in the Syracuse area, with various antique car shows featuring them.

Check out the Adams Farwell. A horizontal air-cooled radial 3 or 5 cylinder engine with the crankshaft bolted to the car. You started it by grabbing an intake pipe and yanking the hell out of it. Spun around in a blur in the back of the car. Had excellent mixture control as the centrifugal force threw the charge at the plugs. Totally crazy and cool.

[Hippie]

^^^ I'll bet the gyroscope effect did funny things in cornering...of course at 15 mph maybe not.
I know they used this design on some WWI aircraft where the prop was bolted to the crankcase and the crank to the fuselage. Now there were real historically documented complaints about left vs. right maneuvering in combat.

[Amskeptic]

^^^ I'll bet the gyroscope effect did funny things in cornering...of course at 15 mph maybe not.
I know they used this design on some WWI aircraft where the prop was bolted to the crankcase and the crank to the fuselage. Now there were real historically documented complaints about left vs. right maneuvering in combat.

Quick mind there, Hippie, that was my question with the inertia flywheel bus design I did. Horizontal spin would smooth out the road. Cornering would have no effect.
Colin

[Hippie]

...that was my question with the inertia flywheel bus design I did. Horizontal spin would smooth out the road. Cornering would have no effect.
Colin

Do tell?

I thought about using a semielliptical tube--sort of like an ox yoke shape--and pumping mercury around inside of it.
Think about no wheel drive. Inertia power only like kicking back your legs while hanging off the back of a shopping cart when you were a kid. You got going without touching the ground.
Forget snow tores, at least. Just shove the lever forward and roll up that icy hill using the tires only as a means to hold the chassis off the ground.

[Mike Boell]

Hambone,
My uncle here in Clackamas has a 1923 Franklin touring car. We went to Bellingham, Washington about 10 years ago and I brought it back on my flatbed trailer. It is now all restored and quite an amazing car. The frame rails are 4X4 lumber as well as the rest of the car body is made of wood and aluminum skinned.
If ever you want to come out and see it I'll give him a call.
Mike

[hambone]

Wow! I'd also like to see the rest of your collection some day.

[glasseye]

The idea of rotating the cylinders and keeping the crankshaft fixed is pretty neat. The Bristol Hercules radial engine installed some of the Handley-Page Halifax variants used the same design principles. Excellent cooling, even while taxiing, according to my dad.

[Amskeptic]

The idea of rotating the cylinders and keeping the crankshaft fixed is pretty neat. The Bristol Hercules radial engine installed some of the Handley-Page Halifax variants used the same design principles. Excellent cooling, even while taxiing, according to my dad.

Damn skippy, sonny, why as a matter of fact, the cold fuel mixture also favored the spark plugs like a Honda CVCC stratified charge engine of some fifty years later, due to centrifugal force, those were the days boy . . .

[Hippie]

Excellent point, but I don't think they were concerned about the benefits of a leaner than normal main fuel-air mixture in those pre-emissions days. Nevertheless, they were concerned about range, so maybe they were.

[Amskeptic]

Excellent point, but I don't think they were concerned about the benefits of a leaner than normal main fuel-air mixture in those pre-emissions days. Nevertheless, they were concerned about range, so maybe they were.

They were much more focused on a successfully introduced rich cold mixture, it was noted that the engine started and ran easily. Back then, just getting the damn thing to start on a tug of the cylinder assembly was all that they were concerned with. Also, rich mixture did not affect the cylinder walls so much, no liquid gasoline pouring past the rings into the crankcase.
Colin

[Mike Boell]

Since this thread has already fallen off the Franklin engine topic some and onto engines, I must post this odd engine.
After watching it run it is no wonder there were not many made.
Mike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqdIdbom1pk