hillbillywrench
Well-Known Member
i’ve had some free time for surfing lately and read up on some of the innovations of ww2 designers. I guess the weight alone would qualify some of it as HEAVY Equipment. Look at a Soviet V12 diesel: aluminum block iirc, one bank had a longer stroke, pre-start oiling system, and 38L displacement. The most common Sherman tank model had an air-cooled aircraft radial engine. And aircraft engines using (or trying to use) turbos, superchargers, direct injection, multi port fuel injection, and multi bank engines. The 6-71 2-stroke was a 1930’s design that was in production well into the 1980’s(?) with few major changes. All of this done before FEA, computer modeling, cnc machines, or even calculators. Horses were still commonly used on farms and steam power equipment was common as well. Tear into a 1940 piece of equipment (ag, industrial, or construction) and compare it to a 1950 model. Of course some of their mistakes are still being made (when will designers realize that Ease-of-maintenance, parts commonality, and extensive PRE-production testing are all good things.)(I realize that designers don’t have complete design freedom and are backed into a corner sometimes. It’s just frustrating sometimes.)
They didn’t always get it right the first time, and sometimes wasted resources on ill-conceived designs, but they did do some amazing work in a short time. My hat is off to them, the people who built the equipment, and the operators who used/repaired that equipment! A generation of innovators!
They didn’t always get it right the first time, and sometimes wasted resources on ill-conceived designs, but they did do some amazing work in a short time. My hat is off to them, the people who built the equipment, and the operators who used/repaired that equipment! A generation of innovators!