Liberty L-825
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The Liberty L-6 was a six-cylinder
water-cooled Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and no ...
inline
aircraft 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 ...
developed in the United States during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.


Design and development

The Liberty L-6, which developed 200–215 hp, was built by the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corp. and Wright Aeronautical Corp. Since it was based on the same engine design as the more successful
Liberty L-12 The Liberty L-12 is an American Water_cooling#Internal_combustion_engines, water-cooled 45° V12 engine, V-12 engine, displacing and making , designed for a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of mass production. It was designed principally as ...
V-12 liquid-cooled aviation engine, the L-6's resemblance to the Mercedes D.III German aviation engine, the source for the Liberty V-12's own cylinder and valvetrain design, resulted in the American L-6 engine design bearing a close visual resemblance to the German straight-six aviation powerplant in a number of respects, with at least one L-6 even being mounted postwar into a captured
Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII is a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the '' Fokker-Flugzeugwerke''. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII ...
fighter for testing in the US. The Liberty L-6's smaller displacement of some 825 cu. in. (13.5 liters) versus the late-war German Mercedes D.IIIaü's 903 cubic inches (14.8 liters) do not seem to have handicapped the American straight-six design, however, as the "Liberty Six" possessed a 5.42:1 CR, while the D.IIIaü had only a 4.64:1 CR, explaining a good bit of the American powerplant's output level—in addition to the 735.5 watt level for German ''Pferdestärke'' metric horsepower, versus the then solely-American-based SAE organization's standard of almost 746 watts per one horsepower. Since the L-6 was too large for mail airplanes and other engines were available, the L-6 was canceled after only 52 had been built. In 1920 10 more L-6 engines were ordered, designated L-825, several of which were installed in the
Curtiss PN-1 The Curtiss PN-1 was an American single-seat night fighter biplane built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company using blueprints from the Engineering Division of the United States Army Air Service. Development Designed by the USAAC, the PN-1 wa ...
, (only two built), and the Engineering Division TW-1, (only six built).
Hall-Scott Hall-Scott Motor Car Company was an American manufacturing company based in Berkeley, California. It was among the most significant builders of water-cooled aircraft engines before World War I. History 1910–21 The company was founded in 1910 ...
also produced a six-cylinder engine using Liberty L-12 components, as the Hall-Scott L-6.


Specifications


See also


References

This article incorporates text from Liberty L-6
/span>, a public domain work of the United States Government. * {{Liberty aeroengines 1910s aircraft piston engines Straight-six engines