The Alvis Pelides was an unflown

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

air-cooled

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...

aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Aircraft using power components are referred to as powered flight. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbin ...

first developed in 1936. The Pelides Major was a projected but unbuilt development as were the Alcides, Alcides Major and the Maeonides Major, the

Alvis Alvis is a given name and a surname (close to the uncommon Scottish surname Alves). Alvis may also refer to: *Alvi, a Muslim community in South Asia, who claims descent from the fourth Rashidun caliph, Ali ibn Abi Talib *Alvis Car and Engineering ...

aircraft engine range taking their names from

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Design and development

The Pelides was the first aero engine of Alvis design; the company had previously only built the French

Gnome-Rhône Mistral Major The Gnome-Rhône 14K ''Mistral Major'' was a 14-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial engine. It was Gnome-Rhône's major aircraft engine prior to World War II, and matured into a highly sought-after design that would see licensed production t ...

under license. With the two companies working closely together the 14 cylinder radial layout of this engine retained

metric Metric or metrical may refer to: Measuring * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics ...

dimensions but substituted metric

screw thread A screw thread is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a cylinder or cone in the form of a helix, with the former being called a ''straight'' thread and t ...

s with British fasteners such as BSF and Whitworth. Material specifications were different as were the detail design of internal parts such as the

crankpin A crankpin or crank pin, also known as a rod bearing journal, is a mechanical device in an engine which connects the crankshaft to the connecting rod for each cylinder. It has a cylindrical surface, to allow the crankpin to rotate relative to th ...

. The Pelides passed a 50-hour

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

type test in 1937 where it produced 1,065 hp (794 kW) but no aircraft application was found and only 15 engines were built. The onset of the Second World War caused the abandonment of any further development of the Pelides and its related designs.Lumsden 2003, p.56.

Variants (projected)

;Pelides: 2-row 14-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, d/d, 13:19 or 0.5:1. ;Pelides Major:The Pelides Major was a version retaining the same dimensions as the Pelides but with improvements to the

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

, only built in small quantities for testing at . ;Alcides:The Alcides of 1937 was a powerful supercharged 18-cylinder two-row radial engine, with a power output of . 2-row 18-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, d/d, 13:19 or 0.5:1. ;Alcides Major:The Alcides Major was an improved supercharged version of the Alcides. ;Maeonides Major:Also designed in 1937, the supercharged Maeonides Major was effectively a smaller version of the Pelides with a power output of . 2-row 14-cylinder radial, (bore x stroke), , LH or RH, 5:7.

Specifications (Pelides)

References

Notes

Bibliography

''Flight'' magazine - 15 April 1937 (Flightglobal.com)
* Gunston, Bill. ''World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines''. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. * Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. .

External links

{{Alvis aeroengines Aircraft air-cooled radial piston engines Pelides 1930s aircraft piston engines