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The Sunbeam Cossack was a British 12-cylinder
aero engine An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
that was first run in 1916. The Cossack spawned a family of engines from
Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...
.


Design and development

As the First World War raged through 1914 and 1915, The Admiralty demanded engines with more power for its existing and future aircraft. The problem was exemplified by the Short Type 184 seaplanes of the RNAS, powered by
Sunbeam Mohawk The Sunbeam Crusader, originally known as the Sunbeam 150 hp, Sunbeam 110 hp or Sunbeam 100 hp (variations on the engine may also have been referred to as Sunbeam 120 hp or Sunbeam 135 hp), was an early British, side-va ...
engines, which could barely lift the standard air-dropped torpedo with crew reduced to two and minimal fuel. An engine with a base rating of at least was demanded by the Admiralty. Responses came from Rolls-Royce with the
Rolls-Royce Eagle The Rolls-Royce Eagle was the first aircraft engine to be developed by Rolls-Royce Limited. Introduced in 1915 to meet British military requirements during World War I, it was used to power the Handley Page Type O bombers and a number of o ...
and Sunbeam with the Sunbeam Cossack. Louis Coatalen designed the Cossack as a twin overhead camshaft 60° V-12, with four valves per cylinder, bore of and stroke of . Output from the Cossack was at 2,000rpm, with a running weight of , driving a large diameter propeller through a 2:1 reduction gear. Construction of the Cossack was largely of aluminium alloy with cast-iron cylinder blocks and integral heads in groups of three. Large orders were placed for the Cossack but deliveries were very slow, with only eleven, largely hand-built, engines delivered from March 1916 to September 1916. The end of Sunbeam Gurkha production in October 1916 freed up factory resources to allow up to thirty engines a month to be delivered until Cossack production ended in December 1917 after 350 deliveries. Development of the basic engine produced the Sunbeam Cossack II with four magnetos, to counter the unreliability of British contemporary magnetos, and a compressed-air or hand driven starter, rated at . Late in the First World War Britain's airship aspirations were boosted by the order for the
R36 R36 or R-36 may refer to: Roads * R36 road (Belgium) * R36 (South Africa) Other uses * R36 (airship), a British airship * R-36 (missile), a family of Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles * R36 (New York City Subway car) The R36 was a ...
, R37 and R38. All three airships were powered a variety of engines including the Sunbeam Cossack III a derivative of the Cossack with a flywheel, hand or air starter, engine controls and magnetos mounted directly on the engine for access by the engine mechanics. The Cossack 3 was designed with a water-cooled exhaust and speed governor. The overhead camshaft was gear driven from the crankshaft.''Flight'' 8 July 1920 p732
/ref> Only 14 Cossack IIIs were built due to the cancellation of the post-war British airships.


Amazon

In similar fashion to other engine families designed by Coatalen the Cossack spawned a straight-six derivative in the Amazon, in effect half a Cossack, retaining the 110 x 160mm bore/stroke, overhead camshaft, four poppet valves per cylinder and cast-iron cylinder blocks in groups of three. An output of from for a running weight of led to a high power to weight ratio. Despite the high output the Amazon was little used in Britain, with only possible use aboard Coastal airships and some supplied to the Imperial Russian Air Service. Amazon production totalled 77 out of an order for 100, 23 of which were cancelled. A non-aviation use version of the Amazon was produced as the Sunbeam Amazon II, fitted with hand and/or compressed-air starters and single magneto ignition system.


Saracen

Development paths favoured by Coatalen included increasing the bore and Aluminium alloy cylinder blocks. Aluminium alloy cylinder blocks and the bore increased to , the capacity increased to to produce the Sunbeam Saracen straight-six. Delivering at 2,000 rpm, driving a propeller through a 2:1 reduction gear. When submitted to the
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of the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was a United States federal agency founded on March 3, 1915, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958, the agency was dissolved and its assets ...
the Saracen faced stiff competition from the
Beardmore 160 hp The Beardmore 160 hp is a British six-cylinder, water-cooled aero engine that first ran in 1916, it was built by Arrol-Johnston and Crossley Motors for William Beardmore and Company as a development of the Beardmore 120 hp, itself a lic ...
and Hispano-Suiza 8 and did not attract any orders. Only prototypes of the Saracen were built.


Viking

To extract more power from the Cossack lineage Coatalen designed a W-18 version known as the Sunbeam Viking. This engine used Cossack blocks in a W arrangement with 60° between banks having a capacity of giving at a propeller speed of 900 rpm. Orders for 50 engines were received, intended to power the large AD Seaplane Type 1000 aircraft, but most of the nine engines produced were fitted to motor boats, the remaining 41 being cancelled.


Matabele

The final fling of the Cossack family was the Sunbeam Matabele, retaining the Aluminium alloy blocks and bore of the Saracen the V-12 Matabele delivered at 2,000rpm through a 1.63:1 reduction gear from . Developed in two versions, the Sunbeam Matabele I, for aviation use, was fitted with four magnetos to provide redundancy for the dual ignition system, whilst the Sunbeam Matabele II was only fitted with two magnetos supplying a single ignition system for non-aviation use. Used mainly in Airco DH.4 bombers, the Matabele also found favour as a power-boat and speed-record car engine. No Matabeles were built during the First World War, but prototypes and at least eight production engines were built after the war for various applications.


''Sunbeam 1000 hp''

The Matabele engine is best known today for powering the Sunbeam 1000 hp land speed record car, the first car to exceed 200 mph. After taking the land speed record at with the Sunbeam Tiger, Segrave realised that his small, lightweight racing car would be inadequate to hold the record against the aero-engined
leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to so ...
s now appearing in the contest. The S.T.D. Motors team was short of funds and so little new development was possible. A pair of Matabele engines were found in the Sunbeam works at
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 United ...
, previously from the ill-fated ''
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'' powerboat. As the Sunbeam 1000 HP is reported as having 4 magnetos per engine,National Motor Museum guidebook, Beaulieu these would appear to be Matabele I, rather than Matabele II engines. On 29 March 1927, the Sunbeam became the first car to exceed 200 mph. Although loudly trumpeted as the "1000 HP" Sunbeam, the actual power was somewhere around 900 bhp. The installation of these engines was somewhat unorthodox, necessitated by the limited funds for new work. The rear engine was started first by
compressed air starting Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression *Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a c ...
, then the front engine was started through a mechanical friction clutch. Once synchronised, they were locked together with a dog clutch for the record attempt. The car's last run was a demonstration circuit at Brooklands, running at slow speed on only one engine, with this dog clutch disconnected.


Variants

;Cossack I :The basic production V-12 engine with cast-iron blocks, bore and single ignition system fed by two magnetos. Rated at at 2,000rpm. ;Cossack II :An improved Cossack with dual ignition system and hand / compressed air starter. Rated at at 2,000rpm. ;Cossack 3 :Built for airship use. Produced 350 hp at 2,000 rpm and weighed dry. ;Amazon :A straight six version of the Cossack retaining the dual ignition system, bore and stroke and cast-iron blocks in groups of three. Rated at at 2,000rpm. ;Amazon II :A non-aviation use version of the Amazon with single ignition system. Rated at at 2,000 rpm. ;Saracen :In the Saracen, Coatalen increased the bore to and changed construction to Aluminium alloy blocks. Rated at at 2,000 rpm the Saracen failed to gain any orders, only prototypes being built. ;Viking :The Viking was a W-18 using the blocks of the Cossack and retaining its attributes. Intended for the AD.1000 floatplane for the RNAS. Production of the 50 ordered was halted after nine had been built; those not used in the sole AD.1000 built were fitted to motor-boats. ;Matabele I :The Matabele I was a v-12 engine with similar aluminium alloy blocks to the Saracen, as well as the larger bore of , rated at at 2,000 rpm. Intended for general aviation use the Matabele I had a dual ignition system with four magnetos. ;Matabele II :For non-aviation use the Matabele II had a single ignition system and compressed-air / hand starters. This engine found favour powering motor-boats.


Applications

* AD Seaplane Type 1000 (Cossack and Viking) *
Short Type 310 The Short Type 320, also known as the Short Admiralty Type 320, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo-carrying "folder" seaplane of the First World War. Design and development The Short Type 320 was designed to meet an ...
(Cossack) *
Porte Baby FB.2 The Felixstowe Porte Baby (also known as the Porte F.B.2) was a British reconnaissance flying boat of the First World War, first flying in 1915. Design and development The Porte Baby was designed by John Cyril Porte RN at the naval air statio ...
(Cossack) * Felixstowe F.3 (Cossack) * Handley Page Type O/400 (Cossack) *
Tellier Flying boat Tellier is a surname, and may refer to: * Charles Tellier (1828–1913), French compressed air engineer * Joseph-Mathias Tellier (1861–1952), Quebec Conservative Party * Léon Tellier, French Olympic sailor * Lionel Tellier (1905–1973), Canadia ...
(Cossack) *
HM Airship R36 ''R.36'' was a British airship designed during World War I, but not completed until after the war. When she first flew in 1921, it was not in her originally intended role as a patrol aircraft for the Royal Navy, but as an airliner, the first ai ...
(Cossack III) *
HM Airship R37 HM or hm may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''HM'' (magazine), a Christian hard rock magazine * Hidden Machine, a type of item in Pokémon Businesses * H&M, a Swedish clothing company * Hindustan Motors, an automobile manufacturer of India ...
(Cossack III) Airship scrapped when 95% complete *
HM Airship R38 The ''R.38'' class (also known as the ''A'' class) of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of the First World War, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea. Four similar airships w ...
(Cossack III) (R38 class discontinued) * Coastal class blimp C-14 (Amazon?) * Thorneycroft Coastal motor-boats (Viking) * Airco DH.4 (Matabele II) *
Sunbeam Despujois I A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered su ...
– motor boat (Matabele II) *
Sunbeam Despujois II A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered sunl ...
– motor boat (Matabele II) *
Sunbeam Despujois IV A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of particle-scattered su ...
– motor boat (Matabele II) * Sunbeam Despujois V – motor boat (Matabele II) * ''
Maple Leaf VII ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since h ...
'' – Sir
Edward Mackay Edgar Sir Edward Mackay Edgar, 1st Baronet (27 February 1876 – 7 October 1934) was a Canadians, Canadian-United Kingdom, British banker. Mackay Edgar was born in Montreal and educated at McGill University. He became a member of the Montreal Stock Exch ...
's 1921 Saunders- built motor boat (Matabele II) * Sunbeam 1000 hp – speed record breaking car (Matabele I)


Specifications (Cossack II)


See also


References


Bibliography

* * Lumsden, Alec. ''British Piston Engines and their Aircraft''. Marlborough, Wiltshire: Airlife Publishing, 2003. . * Brew, Alec. ''Sunbeam Aero-Engines''. Airlife Publishing. Shrewsbury.


External links


Sunbeam Overhead Cam Engines
{{Sunbeam aeroengines
Cossack The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
1910s aircraft piston engines