Bristol Engine Co: Titan
Note: This is a sub-section of Bristol Engine Co
The Bristol Titan was a five cylinder air cooled radial engine produced by the Bristol Engine Co. It had the same size cylinders as the earlier Mercury engine, 5.75 in x 6.5 in and produced between 200-240hp. The Bristol Titan also used a Farman style reduction gear produced by Gnome-Rhône.
The major significance of the Titan was that it was licensed to Gnome-Rhône and became the pattern for the Gnome-Rhône 5K. In 1927 Gnome-Rhône was looking for ways out of its licence agreement with Bristol for the Jupiter engine of 1920 and began to produce the Gnome-Rhône 5K without royalties.
The Gnome-Rhône 5K was built in much greater numbers than the original Bristol Titan. Gnome-Rhône was not satisfied with simply producing Bristol designs under licence, and started a major design effort based around the mechanicals of the Titan engine. The results were introduced in 1927 as the K-series, spanning the 260 hp (190 kW) Gnome-Rhône 5K Titan, the 7-cylinder 370 hp (270 kW) the Gnome-Rhône 7K Titan Major, and the 9-cylinder 550 hp (405 kW) Gnome-Rhône 9K Mistral. With the introduction of the K-series, Gnome-Rhône finally ended royalty payments to Bristol.
By 1930 they had delivered 6,000 Jupiters, Mistrals and Titans, making them the largest engine company in France.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia