An Explanation Of The Rolls Royce Griffon Counter Rotating Propeller Gearbox

Four of these Rolls-Royce Griffon 57 / 58 engines powered the Avro Shackleton maritime patrol aircraft from the early 1950`s through to 1991. Counter-rotating (now referred to as contra-rotating) pairs of 13ft diameter propellers were used to give more efficient low speed cruising at low altitude whilst submarine hunting. This video shows the operation of the gears in the engine which split the 2490 BHP into two, opposite rotation concentric shafts each transmitting 5300 lb ft of torque...yes, you read that figure right!

[gillesodonoughue]

This is what YouTube is for....Thank you for this clear demonstration of how these counter rotating propellers function.

[brianmacadam]

that is an impressive piece of kit, it's amazing how easily it spins considering the horsepower that it handles.

[gabriel]

Great engineering, for me Griffon engine is an extraordinary machine. Thank you Peter!

[DarkAeroInc]

This is awesome! So cool to see the internals of the gearbox. I always wondered what the insides looked like.

[russellhawkins]

What a fantastically beautiful piece of engineering and inventive brilliance. Total respect for the engineers and people of the UK who: commissioned, designed and built that.

[juleshathaway]

I have always wondered how the engineering for it worked and now I know and I am gobsmacked at how simple it is, truly amazing. So glad I stumbled across it. 👏👏😁

[pindosbres]

Terrific. Finally a real mechanic showing how gearing gives rotation power from one engine, on one shaft, to both propellers to produce contra rotation. On quibble, some sources say counter-rotating is defined as a propeller on one wing going one way and the other way on the other wing rather than two propellers on one shaft. Thank you.

[hoedemakerbart]

Smart. The extra gear is reversing the rotation. Thanks for explaining

[mclark]

Thank you for this demonstration. I've seen illustrations before but had difficulty sorting things out. I can now see why the air racers using these units had problems.

[yattaran]

Thanks for posting !. Now I understand the mechanism of counter rotation !👍

[stephenedwards]

I've always wanted to know they worked. This as explained it really well

[granddad]

That is so clever looks so simple but is very complex with the counter rotation just amazing

[milkman]

thanks for showing us the insides. very interesting

[brianb-p]

It's interesting that rather than trying to arrange the same reduction ratio with different tooth counts (due to the smaller gears required for the reversing drive), they used the same number of smaller teeth.

[ATomRileyA]

Thanks for this, quite fascinating seeing how it works.

[MartinMcAvoy]

Thank you for this practical explanation of an extraordinary engineering design.

[Herbybandit]

Beautiful! It's amazing that those seemingly small teeth can transfer 2500hp to two 13ft props.

[jmustarde]

Perfect video to explain how it works. Nicely done, thank you!

[charlesbola]

Very interesting, I love the contrarotating propeller planes.

[magdielbetancourt]

Thanks, I have 57 years and for long time ago, had this question, thanks