The Rolls-Royce Meteorite, also known as the Rover Meteorite, was a

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

British V8 petrol or diesel engine was derived from the

Rolls-Royce Meteor The Rolls-Royce Meteor later renamed the Rover Meteor is a British tank engine that was developed during the Second World War. It was used in British tanks up to 1964. It was a result of co-operation between Leyland Motors and Rolls-Royce who bet ...

tank engine.

Development

In 1940 William Robotham who led a chassis design and development division at Clan Foundry in

Belper Belper () is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. Along with Belper, the parish includes the village of Milford and the hamlets ...

, and Henry Spurrier, a director

Leyland Motors Leyland Motors Limited (later known as the Leyland Motor Corporation) was an English vehicle manufacturer of lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company diversified into car manufacturing with its acquisitions of Triumph and Rover in 1960 a ...

, began investigating the use of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

aero engines as

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

power-plants. Both men felt that continued use of the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

's preferred Nuffied Liberty to be a retrograde step in the development of British tanks. The Liberty had been designed in 1917 and by this time was only able to produce a maximum power output of . Their requirements were the engine had to fit into the same engine compartment as the Liberty, and their aspiration was it would offer a

power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement ...

of for the proposed British tank designs. Initially Robotham and Spurrier investigated the use of a naturally aspirated version of the Rolls-Royce Kestrel engine. The Kestrel presented a number of advantages, it was not in great demand by the Royal Air Force and it occupied less space than the Liberty, although bench tests showed it would fall short of their desire power requirements. The next engine investigated by Robotham and Spurrier was a modified version of the

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British Coolant#Liquids, liquid-cooled V12 engine, V-12 Reciprocating engine, piston aero engine of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) Engine displacement, capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce designed the engine an ...

, which had the same displacement as the Liberty, due to its different bore and stroke it was more compact. This was to become the

which went on to power the

Cromwell tank The Cromwell tank, officially Tank, Cruiser, Mk VIII, Cromwell (A27M), was one of the series of cruiser tanks fielded by Britain in the Second World War. Named after the English Civil War–era military leader Oliver Cromwell, the Cromwell was ...

. In 1943 design and production leadership responsibilities for the Meteor were transferred to Morris and at the end of the war, all Meteors were produced by Morris. After the war, Rover wanted to develop a range of heavy duty engines using common parts, so they devised the Meteorite by removing four cylinders from the Meteor. Meteorites were produced alongside Meteors in Rover's Ministry of Supply factory at Acocks Green.

Design

The Meteorite was a V-8 engine. It retained the 60° V and bore and

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

of the Meteor. The Meteorite's

crankcase A crankcase is the housing in a reciprocating engine, piston engine that surrounds the crankshaft. In most modern engines, the crankcase is integrated into the engine block. Two-stroke engines typically use a crankcase-compression design, res ...

cylinder block In an internal combustion engine, the engine block is the structure that contains the cylinders and other components. The engine block in an early automotive engine consisted of just the cylinder block, to which a separate crankcase was attach ...

and

cylinder head In a piston engine, the cylinder head sits above the cylinders, forming the roof of the combustion chamber. In sidevalve engines the head is a simple plate of metal containing the spark plugs and possibly heat dissipation fins. In more modern ...

s were all cast from

aluminium alloy An aluminium alloy ( UK/IUPAC) or aluminum alloy ( NA; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There ...

. The engine was lubricated from a

dry sump A dry sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in Four-stroke engine, four-stroke and large Two-stroke engine, two-stroke Reciprocating engine, reciprocating internal combustion engines. The dry sump system uses two or more o ...

, this had the advantage of allowing the engine to be operated at extreme angles without starving for oil. Like the Meteor, originally the Meteorite ran on

petrol Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...

, but when fitted with CAV indirect-injection equipment and with a higher compression ratio it was converted into a

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

. Diesel versions were fitted with a flame heater to permit starting in cold conditions.

Applications

The Meteorite is principally remembered for powering earlier versions of the Thornycroft Antar. The prototype Antar produced in 1949, and the first production Antars produced from 1950, were built for operation in the Middle East by the Iraq Petroleum Company. These trucks were powered by the Meteorite Mk 101 diesel which produced at 2,000

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

. In testing conducted in 1950 at Bagshot Heath, the engine was said to perform extremely well. In practice, when operated by native Syrian drivers who were said to be without any mechanical knowledge and merciless in their operation of the trucks, the engines soon suffered from poor reliability. After Rover compiled a report that detailed serious neglect of the engines, including being driven too fast and sometimes being operated without any oil or coolant, a rigorous maintenance schedule was introduced and reliability was restored. The first version of the Antar operated by the British Army, the Antar Mk 1 (designated FV12001), was a tank transporter powered by the twin-

carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Vent ...

Mk 204 petrol Meteorite. Designed to operate on 68/70 octane petrol, the Mk 204 produced at 2000 rpm and of torque at 1200 rpm. Fuel economy of the Mk 204 Meteorite powering a fully loaded Antar Mk 1 was as little as . The Meteorite Mk 204 also powered the Antar Mk 2 (designated FV12002/FV12003), but it was replaced in the Antar Mk 3 from 1961 by a Rolls-Royce IL8 cylinder

supercharged 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. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...

diesel engine which offered improved economy and performance. The Valiant II assault tank was to be powered by a petrol Meteorite of between . In 1947–1948 a powerful land clearing

bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, ...

was developed at the Fighting Vehicles Proving Establishment for the Tanganyika groundnut scheme. It utilised

Centurion tank The FV4007 Centurion was the primary main battle tank of the British Army during the post-World War II period. Introduced in 1945, it is one of the most successful post-war tank designs, remaining in production into the 1960s, and seeing comba ...

automotive components and was powered by a Meteorite engine. The single Leyland FV1000 'Brontosaurus' heavy tank transporter prototype produced in 1951 was powered by a petrol Rover Meteorite Mk 202A. The two Leyland FV1200 series FV1201 heavy

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two m ...

prototypes produced in 1953 were each powered by petrol Rover Meteorite.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* http://www.rrec.org.uk/History/Clan_Foundry_Belper.php {{Aero-derivative engines Aero-derivative engines Marine engines

Meteorite A meteorite is a rock (geology), rock that originated in outer space and has fallen to the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the original object enters the atmosphere, various factors such as friction, pressure, and chemical ...

Gasoline engines by model Diesel engines by model V8 engines