4 ms·
> have to hand-crank a tiny air compressor just to start a small emergency generator Similarly, the US Navy maintains banks of pressurized air flasks to air-st
by kryogen1c 1y ago
> have to hand-crank a tiny air compressor just to start a small emergency generator
Similarly, the US Navy maintains banks of pressurized air flasks to air-start emergency diesels. Total Capacity being some multiple of the required single-start capacity
- sgarland 1y agoOn a sub, anyway, the diesel is always started with air, not just in emergencies. Makes a cool sound as it comes up.
- iancmceachern 1y agoI understand some old radial airplane engines were started with what were essentially shotgun cartridges
- pacificmint 1y agoThey’re called Coffman engine starters [1]. Random fact: Those starters are a plot point in the 1965 film The Flight of the Phoenix, where the protagonists are trying to start a plane that’s stranded in the Sahara, but only have a small supply of starter cartridges left. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffman_engine_starter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffman_engine_starter
- iancmceachern 1y agoLove that movie!
- _whiteCaps_ 1y agoNot just radials. The Napier Sabre H24 engine in Typhoons used cartridges as well.
- swiftcoder 1y agoI lived for a while on a sailboat equipped with an ancient Saab tractor engine (8 whole horsepower!). Was designed for cartridge starts in cold weather, though someone had fitted an electric starter by the time I saw it