The Lawrance J-1 was an engine developed by

Charles Lanier Lawrance Charles Lanier Lawrance (September 30, 1882 – June 24, 1950) was an American aeronautical engineer and an early proponent of air-cooled aircraft engines. Early life Lawrance was born on September 30, 1882 in Lenox, Massachusetts, the son of Fr ...

and used in American aircraft in the early 1920s. It was a nine-cylinder, air-cooled radial design.

Development

During World War I the Lawrance Aero Engine Company of New York City produced the crude opposed twins that powered the Penguin trainers, and the Lawrance L-1 60 hp Y-type radial.Janes Fighting Aircraft of World War I by Michael John Haddrick Taylor (Random House Group Ltd. 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA, 2001, ), p. 290 After the end of World War I, the Lawrance engineers worked with both the Army and the Navy in developing their L-1 onto a nine-cylinder radial engine, which became the 200 hp Model J-1. It was the best American air-cooled engine at the time and passed its 50-hour test in 1922. The U.S. Navy badly needed light, reliable engines for its carrierborne aircraft. As a means of pressuring Wright and other companies into developing radial engines, it gave a contract to Lawrance for 200"A History of Aircraft Piston Engines" by Herschel Smith, (Sunflower University Press Manhattan, Kansas, 1981, ), 255pp. of the J-1 radial and ceased buying the liquid-cooled Wright-Hispano engines. At the urging of the Army and Navy the Wright Aeronautical Corporation bought the Lawrance Company, and subsequent engines were known as Wright radials. The Wright Whirlwind had essentially the same lower end (crankcase, cam, and crankshaft) as the J-1.

Applications

Dayton-Wright XPS-1 The Dayton-Wright XPS-1 was an American single-seat fighter interceptor aircraft built by the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company. Design and development In response to a United States Army Air Service Pursuit Alert (Special) requirement for an int ...

Naval Aircraft Factory N2N The Naval Aircraft Factory N2N was an American two-seat open-cockpit primary training biplane designed and built by the Naval Aircraft Factory. The N2N could be fitted with twin-floats and was powered by a 200 hp Lawrance J-1 The Lawran ...

Naval Aircraft Factory TS-1 The Naval Aircraft Factory TS-1 was an early biplane fighter aircraft of the United States Navy, serving from 1922 to 1929. Development While the Vought VE-7s were serving the Navy well in the early 1920s, they were not originally designed a ...

* Huff-Daland TA-2 trainer prototype - one example only re-engined *

Huff-Daland TA-5 Huff-Daland was an American aircraft manufacturer. Formed as Ogdensburg Aeroway Corp in 1920 in Ogdensburg, New York by Thomas Huff and Elliot Daland, its name was quickly changed to Huff-Daland Aero Corp and then in 1925 it was changed again to ...

trainer prototype * Huff-Daland TA-6 trainer prototype * Huff-Daland HN-2 naval trainer

Engines on display

The New England Air Museum in

Windsor Locks Windsor Locks is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 12,613. It is the site of Bradley International Airport, which serves the Greater Hartford-Springfield region and occupies approxim ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, has a Lawrance J-1 on display.. The section "Images from Kimble D. McCutcheon" has photos of the museum's J-1.

Specifications (J-1)

References

External links

Wright J-5 "Whirlwind"
(PDF), by Kimble D. McCutcheon, from the Aircraft Engine Historical Society (AEHS).

of "Air-Cooled Aircraft Engine Cylinders", by George Genevro, also from AEHS. * A detailed contemporary discussion of the Lawrance engine from ''Flight'' magazine. * {{Wright/Lawrance aeroengines 1920s aircraft piston engines Aircraft air-cooled radial piston engines J-1