An inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with cylinders aligned in one or several rows.
The term is ambiguous.
In automomotive the term 'inline' is mainly used to describe straight engines. Usually found in 4 and 6 cylinder configurations, the straight engine or inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no or only minimal offset. ...
In aviation the term is widely used in opposition to rotary piston engines, radial engines, straight engines, and V engines. For articles on non-piston rotary combustion engines, see also: Wankel engine Quasiturbine The rotary engine was a common type of internal combustion aircraft engine in the early years of the 20th century. ... Radial engine of a biplane. ... Usually found in 4 and 6 cylinder configurations, the straight engine or inline engine is an internal-combustion engine with all cylinders aligned in one row, with no or only minimal offset. ... A V engine is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine in which the pistons are aligned so that, if viewed along the line of the crankshaft, they appear to be in a V. Usually, two opposing pistons share one crank on the crankshaft. ...
A straight engine is considerably easier to build than an otherwise equivalent horizontally opposed or V engine because the cylinder bank can be milled from a single metal casting and it requires fewer cylinder heads and camshafts.
Inlineengines are also much smaller in volume than designs like the radial, and can be mounted in any direction.
This differs from a flat engine because it is essentially an inlineengine laid on its side.
Engines classified as inline are configured such that the cylinders are inline on a single bank and therefore typically utilize a longer crankshaft versus that of the V engine.
Inline 6 cylinder engines typically offer smooth power delivery, however this is not case with the 4 cylinder counterparts as they are inherantly out of 1st order balance.
Inlineengines that do match the displacement of a V engine will be much heavier due to the stroke, size and length of the required crankshaft.
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