.RobNevin

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... Sopwith Pup - Interesting copper manifolds. WWI vintage - Le Rhône Rotary Engine - For most of the World War One, rotary engines like the Le Rhone were the lightest available for a given horsepower. An improved version of the Gnome rotary, the Le Rhone featured nine cylinders rotating around a fixed two-piece crankshaft. Its costly design used nickel and special alloy steel cylinders around pressed-in cast iron liners, with copper inlet manifolds and intake/exhaust valves driven by a single pivoted rocker arm. With no carburetor or throttle, it was normally run wide open. To vary the speed, the ignition was intermittently cut via a "blip switch" on the control column.