Intercooling: Superchargers & Turbochargers

[KJ_Lesnick]

I've been searching Google left and right and I can't seem to find a concrete year or date that specifies when intercoolers were first used in turbochargers let alone superchargers.  Does anybody know any of the following

1: When was the first turbocharger developed which featured an aftercooler/intercooler in
A: The United States
B: Great Britain
C: Anywhere

2: When was the first supercharger developed which featured an aftercooler/intercooler in
A: The United States
B: The United Kingdom
C: Other?

[Hobbes]

This source has 1942 as the earliest use of the word 'intercooler": http://www.wordola.com/wusage/intercooler/all.html#

Rolls-Royce first used the intercooler around 1941 in the Merlin 60 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin)

The principle was used much earlier in air compressors (1910, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercooler)

[sagallacci]

Certainly, there were intercoolers in the '30s for turbosuperchargers, as various US aircraft were testing them and began fitting them into production, specifically the B-17, most successfully, and with some work, the P-38. As  design/concept, the idea likely goes back much further, with R&D going back to the '20s.
Intercoolers for more conventional supercharged engines? The Merlin is the first that I can find good info on, though any number of other engines, notably German Vs, at least tested them(Jumo 222 had them as standard but was not a real production engine), though instead used methanol-water injection for similar effect. Later Allison V-1710s had them, but more as inspired/copied from the Merlin.

[KJ_Lesnick]

Certainly, there were intercoolers in the '30s for turbosuperchargers, as various US aircraft were testing them and began fitting them into production, specifically the B-17, most successfully

Not to be overly questioning, but are you sure it had an intercooler from the outset?

Intercoolers for more conventional supercharged engines? The Merlin is the first that I can find good info on

Yeah...

[sagallacci]

My impression was that turbos and intercooling was the intent for the mature configuration, and it was simply that the hardware needed to catch up with the intent. As previously mentioned, intercooled turbos had been on the drawing boards and in prototype use for a good while before, and the B-17's expected performance envelope was exactly that kind of application. 

[KJ_Lesnick]

sagallaci

So the B-17 had an intercooler in it's turbo?  To clarify

[dogsbody]

[jcf]

Sanford Moss used the aftercooler/intercooler early in his GE work:

circa 1920-21

Frank Lockhart designed and built an intercooler that he used on his Miller 91 in 1927:


The problem of supercharging raising the temperature of the pressurized air-fuel mix was understood
very early in the development of the technology.

[eatthis]

is the classification the same as it is on cars? ie if its engine driven its a supercharger and if its exhaust gas driven its a turbocharger?

that looks like a turbo to me

[Hobbes]

is the classification the same as it is on cars? ie if its engine driven its a supercharger and if its exhaust gas driven its a turbocharger?

As far as I know, yes. But early on, the nomenclature hadn't settled down yet so you occasionally see things like the 'turbosupercharger' in this drawing.

[PR19_Kit]

is the classification the same as it is on cars? ie if its engine driven its a supercharger and if its exhaust gas driven its a turbocharger?

that looks like a turbo to me

Yes, the classification is the same as in the automotive industry and that looks like a turbo because it is one.  

A Merlin has a supercharger, but unlike most production car engine superchargers it's gear driven directly off the back of the crankshaft and not belt driven. The Merlin supercharger is that enormous pancake shaped thing right at the back of the engine.

[jcf]

Turbo-supercharger is the original, and correct, technical term, shortened to turbocharger or
turbo for convenience.

Most of supercharged Miller racing engines used a centrifugal blower, similar to those
commonly used on aircraft engines, rather than the Roots type blower used on the
Blower Bentleys and a gazillion hotrods and dragsters.

[eatthis]

my car has a centrifugal supercharger and its driven off the main seprentine belt
i much prefer them to turbo chargers and roots/screw type superchargers it just drives so much nicer

[PR19_Kit]

my car has a centrifugal supercharger and its driven off the main seprentine belt
i much prefer them to turbo chargers and roots/screw type superchargers it just drives so much nicer

Does it indeed? What sort of car is that then?

Turbos, scroll type superchargers and centrifugal superchargers give very different driving characteristics to the cars they are fitted to, not to mention the relative sizes of the various blower designs. It's very difficult to compare like with like of course as it would cost a fortune to change the blowers over, but some manufacturers have done it on their production lines, Volkswagen being one who've used both turbos and Rootes type blowers in various Golfs and Polos at times. IIRC VW had at least one engine with both a turbo AND a Rootes blower fitted at the same time!

[jcf]

eatthis: a Paxton or Rotrex?

The Lancia Delta S4 also has both turbo and Roots blowers.