Bristol Proteus engine

The Proteus was the Bristol Aeroplane Company's first successful gas-turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered just over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). Proteus was a two spool, reverse flow gas turbine. Because the turbine stages of the inner spool drove no compressor stages, but only the propeller, this engine is sometimes classified as a free turbine. It was used mostly on the Bristol Britannia airliner, but saw some 3rd party use as well. Bristol Proteus engine at Bristol Industrial Museum, Bristol, England. ... Bristol Proteus engine at Bristol Industrial Museum, Bristol, England. ... The Bristol Aeroplane Company (formerly British and Colonial Aeroplane Company) began building primitive Bristol Boxkites in a former tram shed and became famous for the production of the war-time Blenhein and Beaufighter, the Brabazon airliner prototypes, the Britannia and Freighter and the Belvedere and Sycamore helicopters. ... This machine has a single-stage radial compressor and turbine, a recuperator, and foil bearings. ... A diagram showing how a turboprop works. ... The Bristol Type 175 Britannia was a medium/long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly a number of air routes across the British Empire. ... An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft (an aeroplane/airplane) initially designed for the transport of paying passengers, and usually operated by an airline company (which owns or leases the aircraft). ...

The original Proteus Mk.600 delivered 3,780 hp (2,820 kW), and was going to be used on the early versions of the Britannia and the Saunders-Roe Princess flying-boat. The versions on the Princess were mounted in a large frame driving a single propeller through a gearbox, and were known as the Coupled Proteus. The Coupled Proteus was also intended to be used on the Mk.II versions of the Bristol Brabazon, but this project was cancelled. Only three Princess' were built, and only one of them flew, and by the time the Britannia was ready for testing they had decided to use the later Mk.700 engines instead. The Saunders-Roe Princess was a very large flying boat aircraft built in the United Kingdom by Saunders-Roe, based in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. ... The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon was a huge airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1949 to fly a large number of passengers on transatlantic routes from England to the United States. ...

At this point the Proteus proved to have troubling icing problems, causing the engine and aircraft projects to be delayed while solutions were found. The Mk.705 of 3,900 hp (2,900 kW) was the first version to see widespread production on the Bristol Britannia 100 and some 300 series. The Mk.755 of 4,120 hp (3,070 kW) was used on the 200 series (not built) and other 300's, and the Mk.765 of 4,445 hp (3,315 kW) was used on the RAF's Series 250 aircraft. The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force branch of the UK Armed Forces. ...

Specifications

For Mk.705:

Cycle: (unknown)

Compression ratio: (unknown)

Power: 3,900 hp (2,900 kW)

Weight: (unknown)