Propulsion Collection

Rolls-Royce Merlin R. M. 14S. M. Mk 100 V-12 Engine, 1944. Creator: Rolls-Royce
Formed in 1906 to produce automobiles, Rolls-Royce was asked to begin designing and building aircraft engines at the outbreak of World War I in 1914

H. M. S. Pincher - Algerine-Class Fleet Minesweeper
H.M.S. Pincher (J294 - later M294) - Algerine-Class Fleet Minesweeper fitted with Turbine propulsion machinery - commissioned in 1943, built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast. Date: circa 1950s

Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn and and its moon Titan

Space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Cape Canaveral, Florida, April 5, 2010 - Space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on the STS-131 mission

Gears and cogs in the clockwork of a historical pendulum clock, detail, regulator

HMS Habbakuk in section
Illustration showing a cross section of the top secret design for HMS Habbakuk a giant aircraft-carrier built of ice and wood pulp, which was proposed as a secret weapon in the Second World War

Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon from the Royal Air Force at full afterburner during takeoff
Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon from the Royal Air Force taken at full afterburner during takeoff at the Farnborough Air Show 2010

D Napier and Son - Deltic
General arrangement of Deltic 18-11B MTB Driving End

Launch of Vostok 1 spacecraft, 1961
Launch of Vostok 1 spacecraft. Close-up of the exhaust flames of the rocket launching Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968) into orbit from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 12 April 1961

Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker from Myrhorod Air Base, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Saturn V rocket launch, artwork. The Saturn V was the launch vehicle for NASAs Apollo program of manned missions to the Moon. The Apollo program took place between 1961 and 1975

Curtiss OXX-6, V-8 Engine, ca. 1916. Creator: Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Among the most successful early engines marketed in the United States were those designed and built by aviation pioneer and inventor Glenn Curtiss

Space shuttle Atlantis twin solid rocket boosters ignite to propel the spacecraft
Cape Canaveral, Florida, May 14, 2010 - Space shuttle Atlantis twin solid rocket boosters ignite to propel the spacecraft off Kennedy Space Centers Launch Pad 39A and into orbit

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center
September 9, 2006 - The Space Shuttle Atlantis and its crew lift off from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida

Smoke envelops the Delta II rocket
Cape Canaveral, Florida - Smoke envelops the Delta II rocket with the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, aboard as it launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

RAF personnel completing Thor missile training course
RAF personnel, completing a 13-week training course on the Thor propulsion system at Rocketdyne. From left: Chief Technician Sidney Allen, Junior Technician Graham R.J

Liberty L-8 (Packard) V-8 Engine, 1917. Creator: Packard Motor Car Company
The Libertys purpose was American mass production of standard units when the U.S. entered World War I. Co-designed in a week in mid-1917 by Jesse Vincent of Packard Motor Car

Junkers Jumo 207 D-V2 In-line 6 Diesel Engine, ca. World War II. Creator: Junkers
Dr. Hugo Junkers started development of his Diesel aircraft engines in a small factory at Dessau, Germany in 1911. His early engines functioned on the two-stroke cycle principle with

Nakajima Mamoru 11, Radial 14 Engine, Circa World War II. Creator: Fuji Koku Keiki
Nakajima provided Japan with its first large radials by building licensed Bristols beginning in the late 1920s, and Gnome-Rhone engines beginning in 1936

Original marine steam engine invented by Symington
The original marine steam engine invented by William Symington, 1787, placed on the deck of a pleasure boat, producing a speed of five miles per hour. Date: 1787

Roller skating with goat propulsion, Henry cartoon by Carl Anderson Date: 1936

Armstrong Whitworth AW. 650 Argosy T. 2 9Q-COA
(ex Royal Air Force) Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy T.2 9Q-COA Jason (msn 6791, ex XR136), of O.R.A.S. (Otrag Range Air Services) at East Midlands Airport, in November 1977

D Napier and Son - Special projects
Helicopter gas generator integral with rotor

Wright Vertical 4, In-line 4 Engine, 1906. Creator: Wright Company
The Wright vertical four-cylinder engine was designed by Orville Wright in 1906. These engines, of which more were built than any other Wright Brothers engine model

Sterling (Sunbeam) Cossack, V-12 Engine, 1917. Creator: Sterling Engine Company
The Sunbeam Motor Car Co. Ltd of Wolverhampton, England began producing successful automobiles in 1910. Applying the expertise of French Chief Engineer Louis Coatalen

Roberts 4X In-line 4 Engine, 1912. Creator: Roberts Motor Company
An important objective of the Roberts Motor Company design was light weight, which was achieved through the extensive use of aluminum and magnesium alloys in the cylinders and crankcase

Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII, V-12 Engine, Circa 1917-1922. Creator: Rolls-Royce
The Eagle was the first production Rolls-Royce aircraft engine to be used in service during World War I. Resulting from a 1914 British Admiralty requirement for an engine of about 186 kw (250 hp)

Clerget 9 A Diesel, Radial 9 Engine, ca. 1928. Creator: Panhard-Levassor
Pierre Clerget was inspired by the Gnome to produce a supposedly improved rotary engine in 1911. It was a 7-cylinder, 11.88 liter (725 cu in) engine rated at 60 kW (80 hp) at 1, 200 rpm

Curtiss Ricardo R-6, In-line 6 Engine, ca. 1921. Creator
Among the most successful early engines marketed in the United States were those designed and built by aviation pioneer and inventor Glenn Curtiss in his factory at Hammondsport, New York

Curtiss V-4, V-12 Engine, Circa 1915. Creator: Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Toward the end of 1915, Curtiss conducted a design study for a large aircraft engine of 224 kW (300 hp) or more. The objective was a power plant for large seaplanes

Curtiss C-4 or D-4, In-line 4 Engine, ca. 1907. Creator
This engine, built by the Glenn H. Curtiss Manufacturing Company of Hammondsport, New York, about 1907 is believed to be a Model C-4 or D-4 engine

Roberts 4X, In-line 4 Engine, 1911. Creator: Roberts Motor Company
The Model 4X engine was built by the Roberts Motor Company of Sandusky, Ohio. An important design objective was light weight

BMW Model IIIA In-line 6 Engine, 1918. Creator: BMW
The Daimler-Benz companys virtual monopoly on the production of aircraft engines in Germany stifled research and development of other engines

Curtiss V-X, V-8 Engine, Circa 1915. Creator: Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Among the most successful early engines marketed in the United States were those designed and built by aviation pioneer and inventor Glenn Curtiss in his factory in Hammondsport, New York

Packard B-12 (Model 905), V-12 Engine, Circa 1916. Creator: Packard Motor Car Company
The Model 905 was the second of the early aircraft engine designs of the Packard Motor Car Company, located in Detroit, Michigan

Hitachi Hatsukaze 11, Ha 11 Model 11, Inverted In-line 4 Engine, 1941
The Japanese conglomerate Hitachi manufactured aircraft engines from about 1929 until the end of World War II, with a concentration on low-power seven and nine cylinder radials

Curtiss Chieftain H-1640, Radial 12 Engine, ca. 1928. Creator
Among the most successful early engines marketed in the United States were those designed and built by aviation pioneer and inventor Glenn Curtiss of Hammondsport, New York

Curtiss K-12, V-12 Engine, ca. 1918. Creator: Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
In 1916 Curtiss engineer Charles Kirkham began designing an engine to compete with the Wright Corporations Hispano-Suiza. By late 1917, the prototype K-12 (K for Kirkham) was bench tested

Hispano-Suiza 12YCRS V-12 Engine, ca. 1932. Creator: Hispano-Suiza
Marc Birkigt, an inventor of Swiss origin, developed Hispano-Suiza (meaning Spanish-Swiss) engines, and first manufactured them in Barcelona for use in automobiles

Union Type 1-6, In-line 6 Engine, ca. 1917. Creator: Union Gas Engine Company
The Union Gas Engine Company of Oakland, California began producing marine engines in 1885, and started experimental construction of an aircraft engine in 1915

Liberty 12 Model A (Packard), Moss Turbosupercharged, V-12 Engine, October 31, 1918
The Liberty engine was Americas most important contribution to aeronautical technology during World War I. Jesse G. Vincent of Packard and Elbert J

Packard 1A-2775 X-24 Engine, Circa 1927. Creator: Packard Motor Car Company
The Packard Motor Car Company produced the worlds first quantity-production 12-cylinder automobile in in 1916, and belief in that engine carried over to aviation in the following year

Mitsubishi Ha 42 Model 41 Ru (Ha 214 Ru), Radial 18 Engine, ca. World War II
Mitsubishi was the first and largest series producer of Japanese engines during World War II, with a 1937 Pratt & Whitney arrangement possibly contributing to this success

Thomas-Morse Model 8, V-8 Engine, 1917. Creators: Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
The Thomas brothers of Upstate New York began experimenting and flying Curtiss-type aircraft in 1908, and developed their own aircraft in the 1909-10 period

Rolls-Royce Condor IA, V-12 Engine, 1921. Creator: Rolls-Royce
Following its success as an automobile manufacturer, Rolls-Royce, Ltd. began design and development of aircraft engines at the request of the British Admiralty at the beginning of World War I

Curtiss Conqueror V-1570-53 (G1V-1570-F), V-12 Engine, ca. 1928
Glenn Curtiss of Hammondsport, New York, who built and raced bicycles early in the twentieth century, later raced, designed and built motorcycles and motorcycle engines

Royal Aircraft Factory RAF-1a, V-8 Engine, ca. 1914. Creator: Royal Aircraft Factory
During World War I several types of aircraft engines were designed and developed by the Royal Aircraft Factory, a government facility located in Farnborough, England

Maybach In-line 6 Engine, ca. 1916-1917. Creator: Maybach Motorenbau
This World War I engine, built by Germanys Maybach, was of the type that powered the Zeppelin, Schutte-Lanz, and Parseval airships or airplanes such as the Rumpler C4 and C5

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"Propulsion: Unleashing the Power of Movement" From the roaring engines of D Napier and Son's iconic Deltic to the silent thrust of Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn and its moon Titan, it has always been at the heart of human endeavors, and is a force that propels us forward, defying gravity and pushing boundaries. Witness the sheer might as an Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon from the Royal Air Force ignites its afterburner during takeoff, leaving behind a trail of raw power. Just like when Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it symbolizes our relentless pursuit to explore beyond our earthly confines. But propulsion isn't limited to space exploration alone; it permeates every aspect of our lives. Look closely at HMS Habbakuk in section - a floating fortress powered by innovative engineering marvels. Even within the intricate gears and cogs of a historical pendulum clock lies evidence of mankind's quest for efficient movement. Cast your gaze back to history as Vostok 1 spacecraft soars into space in 1961, marking humanity's first steps towards conquering new frontiers. Witness how Space Shuttle Atlantis' twin solid rocket boosters ignite with thunderous force, propelling it towards unimaginable heights. The launch pad trembles beneath us as we behold Saturn V rocket ascending majestically into space – an artwork painted across the sky itself. And let us not forget Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 Flanker slicing through air with grace or RAF personnel completing Thor missile training course – their dedication fuels progress. In this vast universe where possibilities are infinite, propulsion becomes our ally in shaping destiny. As Space Shuttle Atlantis gracefully lifts off from Kennedy Space Center once more, we are reminded that propulsion is not just about physical motion but also about unleashing dreams and aspirations that defy all limits.