Straight-twelve engine explained

A straight-12 engine or inline-12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine with all twelve cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase.

Land use

Due to the very long length of a straight-twelve engine, they are rarely used in automobiles. The first known example is a 7.2L engine in the 1920 French Corona car;^[1] however it is not known if any cars were sold. Packard also experimented with an automobile powered by an inline 12 in 1929.^[2]

The straight-12 has also been used for large military trucks.

Marine use

Some Russian firms built straight-12s for use in ships in the 1960s and 1970s.

MAN Diesel & Turbo 12K98ME and 12S90ME-C and the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C are examples of contemporary marine engines in L-12-cylinder configuration. These are popular for propulsion in container ships.^{[3] [4]}

References

1. Book: Burgess Wise. David. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles. 1979. New Burlington Books. 0-906286-16-6. 131.
2. Web site: The Long-Lost Experimental Packard Straight Twelve - The Old Motor. theoldmotor.com. 4 December 2014 .
3. Web site: World's Largest Diesel: MAN's Record-Breaking 12S90ME-C . 2017-05-31 . 2017-06-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170614205550/http://www.dieselarmy.com/engine-tech/engine/worlds-largest-diesel-series-mans-record-breaking-12s90me-c/ . dead .
4. Web site: Archived copy . 2017-05-31 . 2017-05-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170517065155/http://marine.man.eu/docs/default-source/shopwaredocuments/marine-engine-programme-2217.pdf . dead .