Object Details
- Designer
- Lawrance Aero Engine Corp
- Manufacturer
- Wright Aeronautical
- Physical Description
- Type: Reciprocating, 9 cylinders, radial, air cooled
- Power rating: 149 kW (200 hp) at 1,800 rpm
- Displacement: 12.9 L (788 cu in.)
- Bore and Stroke: 114 mm (4.5 in.) x 140 mm (5.5 in.)
- Weight: 218 kg (480 lb)
- Summary
- Charles Lawrance started designs for an air-cooled engine in 1915, designing his first 149 kW (200 hp) J-1 for a 1921 Navy contract. The Navy wanted a better engine for use on aircraft carriers, needing a compact lightweight engine not plagued with water leakage problems. After Lawrance’s company was absorbed by Wright Aeronautical in 1923, the J-1 progressed through stages, as the Whirlwind J-3, J-4, J-5, and J-6 series. Used in Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, the J-5 was the most famous.
- The Wright J-4 incorporated improvements based on service with preceding models. J-4 engines powered such aircraft as the Fairchild FC-1 and FC-2, Fokker Universal, Laird Commercial LC-B200, Stearman C2B and C3B, and Stinson Detroiter SB-1.
- This Wright J-4 engine was the first type of engine that Northwest Airlines used in its original Contract Air Mail and Passenger run between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Chicago, Illinois, in October 1926 with a Stinson Detroiter four-place biplane.
- Credit Line
- Gift of Northwest Orient Airlines
- April 2, 1926
- Inventory Number
- A19650270000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- PROPULSION-Reciprocating & Rotary
- Dimensions
- Diameter 111.8 cm (44.0 in.), Length 86.4 cm (34.0 in.)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19650270000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv977a14b30-a981-4533-9db0-ed5089b2d229
