engineering

O.S. Engines

O.S. Engines is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand O.S. Engines rather than just read about it. In short: O.S. Engines is a Japanese model engine manufacturer.

Key takeaways

O.S. Engines belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect O.S. Engines to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of O.S. Engines from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

O.S. Engines is a Japanese model engine manufacturer. The company was founded in 1936 by machinist Shigeo Ogawa ("Ogawa Shigeo" in the Japanese surname-first tradition) for the production of model steam engines. The name of the firm could have either originated from the traditional Japanese family-name-first tradition being the source of the "OS" name, or from the firm's actual Japanese name, "Ogawa Seisakusho". At the suggestion of American buyer Paul Houghton, Ogawa tooled up for his first gasoline-powered engine, the 1.6 cc O.S. Type-1 of which 200 units were produced and exported under the brand name, "Pixie." After World War II, Ogawa Seisakusho expanded to produce the MAX line of engines, which won acclaim for their performance and durability.

In 1976, OS pioneered the field of modern four-stroke glow plug ignition model engines with the "FS-60" 10 cm3 displacement exposed valve gear engine, and has been one of the top producers of four-stroke glow-plug-ignition model engines worldwide ever since. O.S. Engines produces a much larger line of engines that included the only available Wankel rotary aircraft engine], which was first introduced in 1970, in cooperation with Graupner of Germany. Since Graupner's demise in 2012, O.S. continued to makes this 4.9 cm3 displacement engine on their own, still under license from NSU. The 1980s brought increasing competition, which increased across the 1990s and into the 21st century. O.S. is now a leading manufacturer of single- and multi-cylinder model aircraft engines ranging from the small .10 LA two-stroke to the FF-320 four-stroke "giant-scale" flat four-cylinder and the FR7-420 Sirius7 7-Cylinder Radial Engine "giant-scale" radial. O.S. engines in current production include the .21 TM, the .46 AX and many others. O.S. also makes required accessories for their engines including glow plugs, exhausts/mufflers and air filters. O.S. has also extended their expertise to model cars, offering many reliable and powerful engines for these vehicles. Typical engines include OS 18 CV-R and OS 30VG. Four-strokes include FS26-C-S (0.26 ci displacement, meant to replace 0.12-0.15 two-strokes) and FS40-C-S (0.40 ci displacement, meant to replace 0.21-and-up two-strokes), with an updated FS26-C-S II currently out of production. It is very easy to decode some facts from the engine name. In the above-mentioned four-stroke models, the C means car. This is to avoid confusing them with the aircraft engines they are based on. Additionally, an X in the name denotes a recoil start. O.S. Engines' main competitor for both two- and four-stroke model engines is Yamada Engines (YS), also designed and produced in Japan, with the Saito Seisakusho firm being a stronger rival than the YS firm, in volume production of popular four-stroke model engines. O.S. has also produced model steam locomotives, but has stopped production on 31st March, 2021.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with O.S. Engines

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what O.S. Engines claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to O.S. Engines before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about O.S. Engines ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of O.S. Engines

In research: O.S. Engines appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses O.S. Engines in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: O.S. Engines is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Engineering companies of Japan, Japanese brands, Model engines, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for O.S. Engines outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study O.S. Engines in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what O.S. Engines means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain O.S. Engines out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is O.S. Engines in simple terms?

O.S. Engines is a Japanese model engine manufacturer.

Why does O.S. Engines matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study O.S. Engines?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on O.S. Engines.