This came up in another thread. Allegedly the Long Range Desert Group used hypoid oil in the cooling jackets of their Vickers machine guns, to conserve water.
http://www.lrdg.de/vehicles4.htm
Assuming this is true, why hypoid? Its obviously not wear-related.
I think the normal water-cooling relies mostly on the latent heat of vaporisation of the water in sustained fire, since the water boils and is bled off to a condenser.
Presumably this isn't an option using oil, and so they are relying on the specific heat.
Does hypoid gear oil have a higher specific heat than engine oil?
Specific heat capacity MAY have been adequate because the LRDG didn't expect to need sustained fire, and perhaps didn't have enough ammunition for it, bullets being heavy things.
But in that case they wouldn't need much water either. Hmm...Not sure I believe it.
http://www.lrdg.de/vehicles4.htm
Assuming this is true, why hypoid? Its obviously not wear-related.
I think the normal water-cooling relies mostly on the latent heat of vaporisation of the water in sustained fire, since the water boils and is bled off to a condenser.
Presumably this isn't an option using oil, and so they are relying on the specific heat.
Does hypoid gear oil have a higher specific heat than engine oil?
Specific heat capacity MAY have been adequate because the LRDG didn't expect to need sustained fire, and perhaps didn't have enough ammunition for it, bullets being heavy things.
But in that case they wouldn't need much water either. Hmm...Not sure I believe it.
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