How a V1 Flying Bomb works

[old man emu]

Thought you might find this interesting.

 

 

[facthunter]

A smaller version of that was used in control line models, called a Dyna jet, in the 50's. Started with a car Pump and using a ford trembler coil for the ignition.. Ran on straight petrol.. Nev

[old man emu]

They are still creating interest and being used in miniature (model) aircraft.

[pmccarthy]

A Ford trembler coil weighs about a kilo. How does that work?

[old man emu]

8 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

A Ford trembler coil weighs about a kilo. How does that work?

It is connected externally simply to give that initial source of ignition. Once the fuel is ignited, the process is self-actuating and the external source is removed.

[facthunter]

You pull the HT lead away as you let the plane go. If the grass is wet you get shocks through you if you are unlucky..  The internal valves are reed valves and look like the petals of a flower over phone dial holes. face on.   The combustion chamber runs red hot. and the motor sits on top of the plane held there by straps at a suitable distance .  Nev

[rgmwa]

Noisy too.

 

 

Edited July 8 by rgmwa

[facthunter]

Yes they are. That one is running a little too hot for safety. It's not as well made as the dyna Jet.   Nev

[old man emu]

He had it all set up to measure the thrust but didn't. 

 

That engine looks like and off-the-shelf kit. Would you say that the tube should be made of thicker steel?

[old man emu]

Here's an interesting video about how the V1 played an important role in post-WWII missile development.

 

[facthunter]

It's made of stainless steel, I think but things like Inconel would be an upgrade. They don't run white hot. It's usually about cherry red and is mostly the combustion chamber which is a far better shaped thing than the one there..  Nev

[spacesailor]

My attempt to make one was an utter failure. 

I used " baked bean cans " , didn't last at all , then the petrol ignited.  

End of all our equipment. 

Back to making " bangers " much safer.  LoL

spacesailor

[facthunter]

Beans means Farts..  Nev

[onetrack]

A Fart engine? Sounds appropriate, judging by the exhaust note.

[spacesailor]

Much too thin to last that ' blowtorch ' heat .

Those tins were " riveted ' with the heads of nails ,as ' poprivets '  .were not on the market ,

even though they were invented by the Scotsman, Hamlton N Wylie in 1916 .

spacesailor

[spacesailor]

In the " war years " , lots of cars had  " fart  " bags on top of the car .

Horse and chicken  ( fertiliser ) was made into gas that powered the IC car.

spacesailor

[onetrack]

I've never seen any chicken or horse shit made into gas, to power transport - but I have seen "digesters" (equal to large septic tanks) fermenting pig shit to generate methane, that was utilised on the farm for heating or power.

 

During WW2, "gas producers" that utilised charcoal, were promoted by Govts, both here and in the U.K., and to a lesser extent, in the U.S. - to reduce the civilian use of petrol (which was strictly rationed in Australia and the U.K.).

Gas producers were manufactured by a sizeable number of manufacturers, both large and small, and fitted to both cars and trucks. The designs varied quite widely.

In some cases, people built trailer-mounted gas producers to take the weight off the vehicle. Charcoal-burning and sales of charcoal became quite a sizeable employment opening during WW2.

 

However, the slowness, fiddliness, and the need for regular and thorough cleaning of the gas producers, soon saw them fall out of favour, once petrol became freely available again.

 

International Harvester Australia manufactured a considerable number of gas producers, under licence from a British company, "Brush-Koela". The Brush company originated its gas producer design in India, and the word "Koela" was Hindu for charcoal.

 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/46748577?searchTerm=Brush-Koela

 

An International model D30 truck fitted with an IHA factory gas producer - https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1469499

 

An International D2 utility fitted with an IHA factory gas producer - https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/1469598

[spacesailor]

Ww1 they had gas bags on the car roof .

1971 , it was in Australia , in a can , in the car boot . Yes it is methane, 

Harold bates , BBC Interview. 

spacesailor

 

 

 

 

 

chicken shit gas bags on cars - Google Search

[old man emu]

Here's one that seems to have been bought in the late 1940s. Seems that the concept was well known and practical before the Germans further developed it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulsejet

 

 

[facthunter]

The dyna  jet was starred with a car tyre hand pump and a Ford "T" trembler coil.  The smaller these things are the higher pitched noise they make. It's a reed valve that lets the fuel/ air mix in at the front.  Nev

[ClintonB]

You would have to be careful running one here, especially in summer. I've seen old films of control lines comps in UK, at least it would be green grass there.

[facthunter]

There's always some fuel spilled too.  Nev

[willedoo]

I've got some plan drawings for a valveless pulsejet somewhere here. I bought the plans a few years ago but never got around to building it. From memory it was a Chinese design, about 50mm diameter and less than a metre long. They call them valveless only because they don't have a mechanical reed valve like the other type. The way the air compresses creates a valve effect but without moving parts.

[willedoo]

I've got a hot drum wood heater and it can sound and act a bit like a pulse jet when starting it up under certain condition. If you want to get the fire going quickly you can put in the kindling, some wood and newspaper then give it a good splash of diesel as a fire starter. The pulse jet effect happens if, once lit, the heater hatch is not open far enough to supply airflow to match the amount of combustion happening in the drum. The diesel cranks it along a fair bit with the exhaust going up the flue and air intake via the front lower vent and the slightly open door. If the door is not open far enough, the combustion starves for oxygen and blows back outside through the door and vent. This reduces the pressure inside the drum and I think it also stops exhausting through the flue momentarily allowing some O2 the enter from that source. This causes the flame trying to escape the front of the heater to retract back inside where the whole cycle starts over and repeats. Each cycle takes a split second creating that typical pulse jet buzzing sound and will keep doing it until the hatch is opened wider to balance the airflow and pressure.

 

Just as a safety warning - never use diesel or anything like it to restart a fire where the firebox has some embers and is still warm. Diesel is safe with a cold start of a wood heater but if restarting a hot or warm heater it can explode. In that case it will produce white smoke which is the tell-tale sigh that it's near flash point.

[onetrack]

Sounds like our diesel field-portable shower water heaters we had in the Army, we called them "Choofers" for that same reason, they'd do that "choofing" sound as the diesel burnt.

Our Army Engineer choofers were just a 200 litre drum laid horizontal, with a 1/4" feed pipe of dripping diesel feeding a firebox underneath them. They were just knocked up out of readily-available materials, they weren't a proper Army issue unit.

 

Funnily enough, I can't find any photos of them. The Yanks had an immersion heater that they used mainly for cleaning dixies, it was a proper military issue unit called the M67 - but they still got called a Choofer.

 

Edited July 19 by onetrack