Centrifrugal Blower? WHAT IS IT????

what the hell IS a centrifrugal supercharger? Ive seen a few pics of them (namely one SWEET one on a flatty on here) but what is it? Im guessing it does the same thing as a "conventional" blower, but how does it work, and are there different styles? ANY help is appreciated...........................Briggs

 

a mechanicaly driven turbo if you will

 

looks like a oversized AC compressor. Some of the Studebaker cars ran them from the factory.

http://www.capa.com.au/paxton.htm

 

It is a belt driven turbo.

 

c'mon already tommy,put that thing on a car!!!

 

a hairdryer.

 

Yorgy, I'm still collecting parts. It won't fit on my 8BA motor without changing the cam, dist., timing cover and pumps. Like Rocky's projects it's waiting its turn.

 

The belts turn the black pulley. Turning a shaft connected to...

a gear inside the housing which turns the "impeller" inside the aluminum blower housing.


The impeller is spinning. The air/fuel mixture drops into the housing in the center. "Centrifugal" force from the spinning impeller throws the mixture around the edge of the housing building up pressure until it goes down the chute into the intake manifold.

The mixture turns down through the heat exchanger into the intake manifold.

The other tubes and holes in the heat exchanger are for engine coolant to warm up the air/fuel mixture for winter time operation. They were made to boost HP for heavy trucks that hauled things year round. Most hot rodders eliminate this feature.

There were other super charged cars in the 30s. I think Graham had one mounted like a generator down on the side of it's inline engine. They are just belt driven air pumps.

Hope this isn't too confusing.

 

Here is a "modern" centrifugal supercharger, as installed on a "vintage" nailhead. The supercharger is specifically an ATI ProCharger, but all centrifugal blowers look quite similar. I agree with the best definition is they are like a belt driven turbocharger. Usually much bigger size than a turbo, but similar appearance and also work the same. Most centrifugal blower set-ups are blow-through the carb.

 

38chevy454 has the right idea. Metalshapes has a McCoughly supercharger on his 28 roadster. I called him and he is going to try and post a pic of his roadster with his, and that superchager works like a bat out of hell.

 

[ QUOTE ]
looks like a oversized AC compressor. Some of the Studebaker cars ran them from the factory.



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Like somone else said, the carb is in the box
in the back.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Metalshapes has a McCoughly supercharger on his 28 roadster. .

[/ QUOTE ] I believe thats---McCullough

 

Also, I was so busy typing, I forgot to say that the picture of the supercharged engine is in my car! It's a 63 Riviera, engine is a 401. Currently have the engine out and the heads off as I just spent $1100 to get them all rebuilt. Everything new: hardened seats, stainless valves, bronze guides, springs and more porting work. It should run real strong.

 

Nope, it is McCULLOCH

 

That hawk has a VS-57. It was first produced for Kaiser by McColloch and then for Studebaker. Then Paxton bought out McColloch and they made the SN-60, which is what I have (see picture). Paxton made very few modifications to the design for a long time (until 1993) and the changes they did make were to reduce cost, not to improve the design. I could go on for hours but you probably don't want to know all that...

 

Exacly what happened with that name change?
One company buying another seems unlikely, since the guys name was Robert Paxton McCulloch.

 

I'm not exactly sure what happened or why the name changed. Its rumored that when the name was changed the company went into money laundering for the mob or some shit...I don't know if thise is true or not. The products didn't change with the name though, all the internal parts for the blowers are interchangable from 57 until 93.

Metalshapes...It was mentioned that you have a VS-57 on your car...what motor is it on?

 

While we're on the subject of Studes, look at this Ruination of a perfectly good car....

 

No way, that car is hella cool. I espcially dig the scoop and graphics. I may be colorblind, but I know a cool paint job when I see one

 

In line with this post and not hijacking it: My son's friends have been talking about "Wiffle chargers" which I understand to be some kind of poor boy centrifrugal super charger. Trying a search engine match returned nada. I may have the spelling wrong. Anyone have anything to allow about this type of supercharger?

 

drgn, Granitelli's book seems deliberately vague on that subject, or maybe he is just skimming over it because he did not think it was interesting.
I have a VS 57 on a '57 Chevy Corvette 283 engine in my '28 Roadster.
Somebody else wanted to see some pics of that engine, maybe my G/F can take some and post them this weekend.

 

Fatstang, try Whipple charger.
It is more like a roots blower than a centrifugal one, but much more efficient.
Way to modern for the HAMB, and to expensive to be a poor mans anything.
Developed from a blower made in Scotland in the '80s ( I beleve by FT Dynamics )
What is it with Scots and Blowers?

 

I'd love to see some pics of you motor metalshapes. Over the summers I work for a guy names John Erb. He's really into Paxtons and McCullochs and has a mail order buisness where he rebuilds, repairs and modifies these blowers. He mostly does Studebaker stuff (Avanti mostly) but he does have a 57 vette with a supercharged, alcohol small block.

 

Anybody ever look up the Roots Brothers, as in "Roots" style Blowers? They used them to Ventilate Mine Shafts, among other things...

http://www.rootsblower.com/aboutus.cfm?call=history

 

The blowers you are referring to are know as regenerative blowers..., they introduce a few more inches of boost over normally aspirated motors..., but not as much as a positive displacement (PD) blower (Roots Blower) such as the ones found on dragsters.

ROOTS brothers discovered the rotary positive displacement principle in 1854, (PD) blowers, are machines that "pushes" a relatively constant volume of gas through a system. Technically, the bare bones unit does not internally compress gas, and therefore is truly a compressor. However, compression is achieved through the blower pushing the constant volume against restrictions downstream in a pressure system.

The volume is fixed by the configuration of the casing and rotating parts. Flow through a PD machine is relatively constant, regardless of pressure changes. Centrifugal compressors maintain a relatively constant pressure while the volume of gas moving fluctuates.


But Regenerative blowers such as old "Frenzel" "Mac's", and "Paxton" have too much "slip" for seriouse drag racing purposes.

"Slip" can best be demonstrated by placing a clear plastic bag over a house fan..., Even though you can see the fan blades turning it doesn't move any air!!

But a positive displacement blower would eat up the bag and try to suck it through the unit because of minimum "Slip".

They do look cool and are great for the street but were abandoned for the "ROOT's" Blowers!

Mark

 

for that same reason you don't see roots blowers performing to their full potential on daily drivers....

 

Just to add another supercharger to the mix ... I have never come across an axial flow version ...

50's Latham Axial Flow Supercharger

Anyone heard of this?

Later,
papa al

 

That is pretty cool...I'd like to an exploded diagram of that one (I've already seen enough 'exploded' paxtons )

 

This is the McCulloch Im running on my flatty:


Also here is a Latham on a flatty: