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Cosmos Mercury

Mercury
The Cosmos Mercury
Type Radial aero engine
Manufacturer Cosmos Engineering
Brazil Straker
Designer Roy Fedden
First run July 1917
Major applications Bristol Scout F

The Cosmos Mercury was a fourteen-cylinder twin-row air-cooled radial aeroengine. Designed by Roy Fedden of Cosmos Engineering, it was built in the United Kingdom in 1917. It produced 347 horsepower (259 kW). It did not enter production; a large order was cancelled due to the Armistice.

Design and development

Built at Bristol by Brazil-Straker under the direction of Roy Fedden, the Mercury featured an unusual crankshaft and connecting rod arrangement that dispensed with the more normal design of a single master rod linking to individual rods for each cylinder. It was said to run well without vibration and set an unofficial time to climb record while fitted to a Bristol 21A Scout F.1, the aircraft achieving 10,000 ft (3,000 m) in 5.4 minutes and 20,000 ft (6,000 m) in 16.25 minutes.[1]

An Admiralty order for 200 engines was placed in 1917 but was later cancelled by Lord Weir due to the end of World War I, it is also stated that Lord Weir had a preference for the ABC Dragonfly.[2]

The name was re-used by Fedden for the later nine-cylinder Bristol Mercury radial engine.

Applications

Specifications (Mercury)

Data from Lumsden.[1]

General characteristics

Components

Performance

See also

Comparable engines

Related lists

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Lumsden 2003, p.92.
  2. ^ Gunston 1989, p.44.

Bibliography

  • Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9
  • Lumsden, Alec. British Piston Engines and their Aircraft. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-85310-294-6.