Hartzell boosts preheat options with Reiff acquisition
Hartzell Propeller expanded its engine preheating offerings with its acquisition of Reiff Preheat Systems. Reiff joins Tanis Aircraft Products, another Hartzell preheater brand well-known among pilots, to give aircraft owners a broader range of engine-care choices.
Both brands’ products are designed for installation on numerous four- and six-cylinder Lycoming, Continental, and Rotax engines. Tanis also makes systems for helicopters and turboprops. The two brands take somewhat different approaches to preheating engines, with Reiff using heated coils and aluminum pads to heat engine cylinders and oil sumps while Tanis systems use heated bolts and silicone pads.
The company recommends preheating when temperatures are expected to fall below 40 degrees Fahrenheit; when pilots think frosted spark plugs could be keeping their engines from starting; and when seeking to avoid torque oscillations when operating helicopters, turbine aircraft, or diesel engines.
Hartzell has been manufacturing propellers for more than 100 years and is known for pioneering advanced design, molding, and machining processes to turn out propellers for business, commercial, government, and general aviation customers. In its earliest days the company sold lightning rods, manufactured horse-drawn wagons, and operated sawmills.
At the suggestion of Orville Wright, the company began making walnut propellers around 1917 and soon began supplying them for military aircraft during World War I.
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