Minerva

[Jjr]

Hai
The Belgium Car factory Minerva from Antwerp, designed and build and aero engine of 140 hp.
The engine was also named as Minerva-Knight.
As far as I know there were only build a few and where used in the RSV 26/140 aeroplane, the production received Hispano-Suiza.
All kind of information about this engine is welcome but I hope there is someone who can help me with the diemensions sutch as lenght, wide, height.
Thanks
Jjr

 

[Hardrada55]

EarlyEnginesF

 

[Apophenia]

...The engine was also named as Minerva-Knight...

As Hardrada55's Engine History link says, this engine was derived from Minerva's sleeve-valve auto engines. AFAIK, Minerva-Knight refers to all of their [moteurs sans soupapes], not just to the aircraft engine.

 

[fortrena]

If I may, from the looks of it, the Minerva V-8 was to be used on Stampe & Vertongen RSV 26 training biplane. Its cost, however, was seemingly much higher than that of French-made (war surplus??) Hispano-Suiza 8B engines. The Belgian government all but forced Stampe & Vertongen to redesign its RSV 26 so that it could use the cheaper engine.

Incidentally, around 1932-33, Minerva was involved in the production of at least one prototype of a 600 hp water cooled engine developed by Francois Baudot, apparently the former chief engineer at Blériot Aéronautique. That 32 cylinder powerplant, known as the Baudot Complex, consisted of 4 banks of cylinders linked to a single gearbox, itself linked a set of counter rotating coaxial propellers. Planned for use on a racing plane designed for the 1933 edition of Deutsch de la Meurthe Cup, the Caudron C. 370, an airplane which might not have been tested, if it got completed at all, the engine itself might not have been tested in flight, if it got completed at all, thanks to insufficient funding. From the looks of it, the engine in question had a total capacity of less than 490 cu in, which meant that each cylinder was really tiny and seemingly ran really fast (up to 6,000 rpm?).

That same engine might have been the one planned for use in another racing plane which was to be used in that same 1933 race, the Payen SP 250., a delta wing machine which was not test flown and was seemingly not built at all.

 

[Jjr]

Thanks both.
My interrest concerns the Minerva V-8.
I found also that the Hispano's where war surplus, but the condition was not so good.
If some one has more information about the V-8 and also dimensions (lenth.wide,height)?
Thanks
Jjr