Bristol Engine Co

The Bristol Engine Company manufactured aeroengines.

General

The company was originally a separate entity called Cosmos Engineering which in turn formed from the pre-First World War automobile company, Brazil-Straker.

• In 1917 Cosmos was asked to investigate air-cooled radial engines, producing what would become the Bristol Mercury, a 14 cylinder two-row (helical) radial, which they launched in 1918. This engine saw little use, but a smaller and simpler 9 cylinder version known as the Bristol Jupiter was clearly a winning design.

• With the post-war rapid contraction of military orders Cosmos Engineering went bankrupt, and the Air Ministry let it be known that it would be a good idea if the Bristol Aeroplane Co purchased them.

• The Jupiter competed with the Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar through the 1920s, but Bristol put more effort into their design, and by 1929, the Jupiter was clearly superior.

• In the 1930s they developed a new line of radials based on the sleeve valve principle, which would develop into some of the most powerful piston engines in the world, and could continue to be sold into the 1960s.

• In 1956 the division was renamed Bristol Aero Engines

• 1958 It then merged with Armstrong Siddeley to form Bristol Siddeley as a counterpart of the airframe-producing company mergers that formed BAC.

• In 1966 Bristol Siddeley was purchased by Rolls-Royce, leaving the latter as the only major aero-engine company in Britain.

• Rolls-Royce continues to produce aircraft engines as Rolls-Royce plc. A number of Bristol Siddeley engines of Bristol heritage continued to be developed by Rolls-Royce; notably the Olympus turbojet and the Pegasus. The classical names favoured by Bristol indicated their heritage in a Rolls-Royce lineup named after British Rivers

List of Models

Bristol Engine Company Engines
Name	Dates produced	Number Produced	Detail
Aquila	1934-	-	The Aquila was a 9-cylinder one-row radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Co starting in 1934. It saw little use, as its power range was already covered by existing designs. Its primary use was to supply mechanicals to a 14-cylinder version, the Taurus. . . . More Information
Centaurus	1942	-	The Centaurus was the final development of Bristol Engine Co's series of sleeve valve radial aircraft engines, an 18-cylinder two-row design that eventually delivered over 3,000 hp (2.2 MW). . . . More Information
Cherub	-	-	-
Draco	-		The Bristol Draco was an air-cooled 9-cylinder radial engine. It was essentially a version of their Jupiter engine converted to use a fuel injection system. . . . More Information
Hercules	1939-	57,400	The Bristol Hercules was a 14-cylinder two-row radial aircraft engine designed by Sir Roy Fedden and production started in 1939. It was the first of their sleeve valve designs to see widespread use, powering many aircraft in mid-World War II. . . . More Information
Hydra	-	2	The Hydra was an experimental 16-cylinder, twin row radial aircraft engine. It is a relatively rare example of a radial with an even number of cylinders. . . . More Information
Jupiter	1918-30		The Bristol Jupiter was a British 9-cylinder one-row piston radial engine built by Bristol Engine Co. Originally designed late in World War I, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turned it into one of the finest engines of its era. It was widely used on many aircraft designs though the 1920s and 30s. . . . More Information
Lucifer	1920s		The Bristol Lucifer was a three-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine for aircraft built in the UK in the 1920s. It produced 100 hp (75 kW). . . . More Information
Mercury	1930-40s	-	The Bristol Mercury was a 9-cylinder one-row piston radial engine used on British aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. . . . More Information
Pegasus	1930-40s		The Bristol Pegasus was a 9-cylinder one-row air-cooled radial engine used in the 1930s and 1940s aircraft. Bristol chose to reuse the name many years later for the engine used in the Hawker Siddeley Harrier; that engine later became known as the Rolls-Royce Pegasus. . . . More Information
Perseus	1932		The Perseus was a nine cylinder one-row radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1932. . . . More Information
Phoenix	1928-32	Few	The Phoenix was a version Pegasus engine, adapted to run on the Diesel cycle. . . . More Information
Taurus	1936-		The Taurus was a 14-cylinder two-row radial aircraft engine. It was developed by adding cylinders to the existing Aquila design, creating a design that produced just over 1,000 horsepower (750 kW) with very low weight. . . . Taurus
Titan	1927	-	The Bristol Titan was a five cylinder air cooled radial engine. It had the same size cylinders as the earlier Bristol Mercury engine, 5.75 in x 6.5 in and produced between 200-240hp. . . . More Information
Bristol Engine Company Engines

Sources of Information

[1] Wikipedia