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Abstract
Towards the end of the Second World War, almost all British piston aero engines in both production and development, with the exception of the Merlin, were of sleeve-valve design. This situation was unique; no other country had so wholeheartedly embraced the sleeve valve. It is the author’s opinion that this situation existed as a direct result of the steadfast conviction of one man, Harry Ricardo. From the early 1920s to the Second World War Ricardo, with the backing of the Air Ministry, carried out a vast programme of sleevevalve research which initially encouraged and then supported the Bristol, Napier and Rolls-Royce Companies in the development and production of a range of sleeve-valve engines. It is not the intention of this paper to discuss the excellent work undertaken by these companies but rather to trace the early years of the fascinating self-confessed love affair between Harry Ricardo and the sleeve valve, as revealed in The National Archives documents relating to the Aeronautical Research Committee.
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Notes on contributors
E L Marshall
E. L. Marshall, C Eng MIMechE Ed Marshall has spent almost all of his working life in engine research. Following an Indentured Apprenticeship in Agricultural Engineering and service in the Royal Air Force, he joined British Petroleum Research, carrying out studies into the relationship between engines and their fuels. In 1978 he was elected to a Fellowship at Cambridge University where he spent a number of years investigating combustion in ‘lean burn’ engines. He returned to BP Research to set up and run a facility carrying out fundamental combustion studies in reciprocating engines, using Laser Doppler Anemometry. Upon retirement from BP he ran his own consultancy for ten years. He has published a number papers and technical articles and is the editor of a book on motor gasoline.
Correspondence to: E. L. Marshall. Email: [email protected]