Edson Gallaudet was a renowned manufacturer of airplanes, many hydros, and he also designed engines and sets of power plants for his devices.

“Gallaudet power plant”

-In the picture we see a set of three engines.

-Three 400 hp Liberty engines geared to a single propeller. A Gallaudet design, with a total power of 1,200 hp and it is known as the Multi-Drive (sometimes Multiple-Drive).

-His engine #1, from 1910, was intended for an airplane of his, #1 as well, although eventually he used an Emerson 6-cylinder inline that gave 125 hp.

“Gallaudet #1”

-This 2-stroke engine had two vertically opposed cylinders.

-The exhaust went to a circular rear chamber that contained a turbine as a form of energy recovery.

(An advance of the Wright Cyclone Turbo Compound engine some thirty years later).

“Gallaudet #1, front”

-It is not known if it came to be manufactured. The designs have come to us due to they were kept by his widow until 1962.

From Appendix 7: The complex engine assembly devised by Gallaudet for one of his devices, was the one mentioned in the main text, and that we bring back here in a new photographic document, without the cone of the propeller.

-The engine consisted of grouping three liberty V12 with 400 hp each, coupled by a gearbox.

“Triple engine test activity”