> As for the rest of your interesting article, I'll note only that there
> were also several corresponding developments after the period of time
> you mention, notably the thin-walled lead-indium bearing replacing
> the babbitted white-metal bearing of the vintage you describe. The
> thin-wall bearings were pioneered by Vandervell, and used what was at
> the time considered to be a ridiculously thin layer of lead-indium on
> a copper shell.
The Vandervell bearings, according to my dim recollection of articles
in auto rags long gone by, were pioneered in racing application on the
VanWall, a very nice "what would be retro now" open-wheeled racer of the
Champ car variety. The Van part of the name was short for Vandervell,
the Wall part I don't seem to have on my rapid-recall stack...
> The Hirth roller bearing crank is another way to achieve high BMEP
> and RPM levels, but at a very high cost.
Yet another method, used for very high RPM and specific output, is
the crank-pumped, premix or oil-injected two-stroke mechanism, which
it might be argued is also a low-pressure or no-pressure oiling system.
The highly mobile gasoline serves to wash the oil into the crevices and
journals quite effectively, with the disadvantage of having to deal with
oil smoke emissions somehow (like, uh, venting it to the atmosphere...).
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John R. Lupien
lupienj@wal.hp.com
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