Date: ca. 1955
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 6 1/4 in. wide x 1 ft. 3 in. tall (15.9 x 38.1cm)
Materials:
Mainly Inconel, with iron-based welds; some tubes aluminum.
This is a cutaway of an early experimental "spaghetti" type liquid fuel rocket engine chamber of Reaction Motors, Incorporated (RMI). The term "spaghetti" was used because the vertical cooling tubes resemble a stack of spaghetti. This engine was never fired. The "spaghetti" design is attributed to Ed Neu Jr. of RMI about 1947.
The spaghetti concept was a revolutionary development in liquid propellant rocket technology. The design incorporated regenerative cooling in which the fuel circulated around the entire combustion chamber before injection into the combustion chamber for combustion. The cooling tubes also formed the walls of the entire chamber, making it very light. This object was donated to the Smithsonian by Bob Holder.
Gift of Bob Holder.
