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Subject:Re: Supercharger
From:John Rodgers
Date:Mon, 25 Sep 2000 15:54:46 -0500

Like I said, it was way back in my aviation days. 40 years ago. and I haven't seen
one of those engines since about that time.  You are probably correct...Wright
instead of P&W. 18 instead of 36 cyl. But they all had near syrup buckets for
pistons. Basically big engine, lots of cylinders, and a power recovery system off
the exhaust. I'm pretty certain there were three turbines. It was some setup.

John Rodgers
88GL Driver with more Senior Moments than I care to think about.

Angus Gordon wrote:

> >Was just looking at this discourse on superchargers/supercharging and it
> >reminded of asupercharged  engine I ran into in my aviation days. It was found
> >on the Lockheed (as I remember) ?Super-Constellation, which had four engines.
> >The engine designation was a Pratt&Whitney R-3350-T. This engine was a
> >monster. It was an assembly of 4 banks or 9 cylinders each, bolted together
> >to  a common crankshaft. The exhaust system was a stainless steel collector
> >system that ran together forming three common exhaust point. At those points
> >were located 3 turbines driving superchargers for the fuel induction system.
> >Having these three "Turbosuperchargers" resulted in a 33% power recovery from
>
> Sorry for the non-Vanagon content, but it bothers me to see misinformation
> like this. The Constellation uses the Wright R-3350 engine which has 2 rows
> of 9 cylinders. The exhaust turbines mentioned are called Power Recovery
> Turbines, and are actually coupled via fluid drive back to the crankshaft
> to extract horsepower from the exhaust. I don't know the percentage
> involved but would guess they might supply up to about 20% of the available
> power.
>
> Ever wonder what percentage of information from the internet is correct?
>
> ================================
> Angus Gordon                       '89 Carat
> Delta, Ohio                            '86 Syncro