Text: The First Jet Engine - a Short History of Early Engines

Exercise 5. After reading this information about famous inventors and their inventions, try to find more and realize it in your own projects.

Sir Isaac Newton in the 18th century was the first to theorize that a rearward-channeled explosion could propel a machine forward at a great rate of speed. This theory was based on his third law of motion. As the hot air blasts backwards through the nozzle the plane moves forward.

Henri Giffard built an airship which was powered by the first aircraft engine, a three-horse power steam engine. It was very heavy, too heavy to fly.

In 1874, Felix de Temple, built a monoplane that flew just a short hop down a hill with the help of a coal fired steam engine.

Otto Daimler, in the late 1800's invented the first gasoline engine.

In 1894, American Hiram Maxim tried to power his triple biplane with two coal fired steam engines. It only flew for a few seconds.

The early steam engines were powered by heated coal and were generally much too heavy for flight.

American Samuel Langley made a model airplanes that were powered by steam engines. In 1896, he was successful in flying an unmanned airplane with a steam-powered engine, called the Aerodrome. It flew about 1 mile before it ran out of steam. He then tried to build a full sized plane, the Aerodrome A, with a gas powered engine. In 1903, it crashed immediately after being launched from a house boat.

In 1903, the Wright Brothers flew, The Flyer, with a 12 horse power gas powered engine.

From 1903, the year of the Wright Brothers first flight, to the late 1930s the gas powered reciprocating internal-combustion engine with a propeller was the sole means used to propel aircraft.

It was Frank Whittle, a British pilot, who designed the first turbo jet engine in 1930. The first Whittle engine successfully flew in April, 1937. This engine featured a multistage compressor, and a combustion chamber, a single stage turbine and a nozzle.

The first jet airplane to successfully use this type of engine was the German Heinkel He 178. It was the world's first turbojet powered flight. General Electric for the US Army Air Force built the first American jet plane. It was the XP-59A experimental aircraft.

Exercise 6. Do you know the history of the aircraft engine construction in Russia? Complete the dialogue.

1. …?

2. The aircraft engine construction began in Russia at the end of the 19^th century with Mozhaisky’s steam engine and the steam turbine of the Russian engineer Kuzminsky.

1. …?

2. As far as I know Kuzminsky’s engine consisted of an air compressor, a combustion chamber and a multistage turbine.

1. … ?

2. Such Russian scientists as V.Tatarinov, A.Ufimtsev, S.Grizodubov, B.Lutsky worked at the development of aircraft piston engines.

1. … ?

1. The first piston engines had from 3 to 8 cylinders and produced 20-80 horse powers.

1. … ?

1. In 1924 the M-11 air-cooled engine designed by Shvetsov went into serial production. It had high reliability, small size and weight and low coast.

1. … ?

1. The U-2 (Po-2) training aircraft were powered by the M-11 engines for a long time.

1. … ?

b. Such names as V.Klimov, A.Kuznetsov, A.Mikulin, A.Shvetsov, A.Lulka have become famous in our country as well as abroad.

1. … ?

1. They constructed powerful and reliable turbojet and turboprop engines.

a. … ?

b. The PS-90 turbofan engine designed by P.Solovyev is the best aircraft engine in the world.

Exercise 7. Fill in the gaps with the word-combinations in the right column.

The heart of the power plant is the…. Jet engines fall into…. The jet is produced by the… in the compressed air. Jet engines fall into two main classes: … engines and …engines. When used a… produces high pressure and high temperature gas. Rocket engines are used as… for missiles and research rockets, and as… of guided missiles. The rocket engine carries the complete supply of… or …(oxidizer and fuel). There are two basic types of rocket engines: … and …rocket engines. The … is more complicated than the ramjet. Turbojet, turboprop and turbofan engines belong to the family of …. . The majority of modern turbojets are equipped with … compressors. The turboprop engine uses propeller to provide most of its … .

working fluid thrust solid propellant rocket pulsejet engine propellant main power plants liquid propellant jet engine two main classes gas turbine engines engine combustion of the fuel boosters axial air-breathing