Clerget 16X

The Clerget 16X was an experimental French 16-cylinder X engine built in about 1918.

16X
Type	X-type water-cooled piston engine
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Clerget-Blin
First run	1918

Design

Clerget-Blin are best known for their well engineered rotary engines produced from 1911 to the end of World War I in 1918, the first of their type to have independently operated inlet and exhaust valves.^[1][2][3] The experimental 16X was a departure from all of these; despite contemporary descriptions as a radial engine, it was in more modern terms an X-type, four stroke water-cooled petrol engine, essentially two 90° V-8 cylinder engines, one inverted, coupled to a common output shaft.^[1]

Specifications

Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I^[4][5]

General characteristics

• Type: 16-cylinder X-type piston engine, with four 4-cylinder banks separated by 90°. Single sparking plug on the upper side of each cylinder.
• Bore: 130 mm (5.1 in)
• Stroke: 130 mm (5.1 in)
• Displacement: 27.6 L (1,684.26 cu in)
• Length: 1,306 mm (51.42 in)
• Diameter: 512 mm (20.16 in)
• Dry weight: 340.2 kg (750 lb)

Components

• Valvetrain: Two overhead valves per cylinder, each operated via a long push-rod worked by one camshaft per cylinder bank. Side inlet and exhaust ports.
• Fuel system: Separate carburettors mounted between upper and between lower cylinder bank, each feeding their pairs of banks. Single sparking plug in upper side of each cylinder.
• Fuel type: Petrol
• Cooling system: Water, centrifugally pumped.

Performance

• Power output: 313 kW (419.74 hp) at 1,600 rpm
• Compression ratio: 5:1
• Specific fuel consumption: 0.48 L/kWh (0.079 imp gal/hph; 0.095 US gal/hph)
• Oil consumption: 0.038 L/kWh (0.0063 imp gal/hph; 0.0076 US gal/hph))