From a site about Mr Ogawa's history
Engine design and production highlights
In 1936, Mr. Ogawa started production with the “Type 1” engine. About 200 1.6 cc engines were exported under the “Pixie” brand name. The Type 1 followed standard American model i.c. engine design of the time. In 1937 it was succeeded by the much larger (6.92 cc) Type-2 and, in 1938, by the 7.45 cc Type-3. This was an original O.S. design which set the groundwork for future O.S. engine development.
In 1941 the O.S. Engine Mfg. Co. was established. In 1954 the first of a long line of O.S. ‘MAX’ engines, the MAX-1 29 and MAX-1 35 appeared, followed by the MAX-1 15 in 1955. In 1956, the MAX-1 15 powered model flown by Ronald Draper won the official FAI World Free-Flight Championship held in England. This drew worldwide attention to O.S. engines and became the turning point that led, eventually, to O.S. prominence in the world market.
Production of a pulse jet model was begun in 1952. In 1954, the company started producing radio control equipment for models.
In either 1968 or 1970 (both dates are listed on different O.S. Engines web pages), O.S. introduced the first production miniature Wankel rotary combustion engine to international acclaim. Refined over the years, it remains the only regular production model engine of this type.
In 1973, new O.S. designed production machinery was used to produce the MAX-40SR. This was a 6.5 cc Schnuerle-scavanged engine, the first made in Japan. The 10 cc overhead-valve engine introduced in 1976 was the first volume-produced four-stroke model aircraft engine. Much quieter than current two-strokes, it was accepted for its “environmentally friendly” nature and spurred many other manufacturers to introduce four-stroke engines, although many were not as quiet as the O.S.
1979 saw the introduction of the first O.S. twin-cylinder engine, the FT-120. This became the starting point for the current range of multi-cylinder scale-type power units, including horizontally-opposed four-cylinder and radial type five-cylinder models often used on large flying scale models.
In 1983, a new, fully automated factory was built in Nara, Japan. The following year, a 1.8 km model railroad track was built next to the factory for running of live steam model trains. In 1997 a model car circuit was added to the facility.
A special high-performance version of the 20 cc single-cylinder FS-120S four stroke was introduced in 1990 as the FS-120-SP. This engine included an O.S. designed Roots type supercharger…the first offered on a production model engine. In 1995, Mr. Giichi Naruke won the FAI F3A (aerobatics) World Championship using this engine.
Although Mr. Ogawa passed away in 1992, in 1999, Mr. Ogawa’s expert staff in conjunction with Futaba Corporation developed an electronic fuel injection system for model engines, insuring that his vision of continued prominence of the company he founded is being carried on into the future.
Topic: Just a passing curiosity (Read 2195 times)