A "Flat Four" on a New Principle
Page 47
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ACOMPACT four-cylindered engine, weighing 621 lb. complete, is being manufactured by the Wooler
• Syndicate, 121, Cannon Street, London, E.C.4. It is eminently suitable for a light van, may be dismantled in position in less than half an hour, or stripped from the 'chassis in 10 minutes. Overall dimensions are Height, 20 ins.; width, 17 ins; and depth, 10 ins.
The present model is air-cooled, but plans for a watercooled unit are well in hand. It is intended that the latter model should be fitted under the driver's seat, thus affording additional body capacity. Light alloys play a prominent part in the construction of the engine. Cylinder blocks, crankcase, heads, covers, connecting arms and rod are all made from this material.
In design, the cylinders are horizontally opposed in banks
of two bores, and are secured to a vertical extension of the crankcase. All four pistons are linked through short connecting arms to a triangular-shaped beam. This beam, in turn, is connected by a master rod to a journal located between, and eccentric to,. twin flywheels.
Advantages of the beam-principle engine include the relatively short angular movement of the connecting arms, calculated at 11 degrees, its compactness and balance in operation. Because of the short angular movement of the connecting arms, the parent metal is used as a bearing on the gudgeon and beam pins, no bushings being required.
Taken in a clockwise direction, the firing order of the engine is 1, 2, 3, 4. This produces a firing and compression stroke on opposing cylinders, thus smoothing out the impulses and providing even running at high and low, speeds.
Ingenious Electrical System The width of the unit was measured over the ingenious Wico Geni-Mag, which forms part of the crankcase assembly. This unit, which is made by Wico Industrial Magnetos, Ltd., Bletchley, generates a current of 12 volts, 46 watts, at 4,000 r.p.m., and 60 watts at 5,500 r.p.m. for lighting, as well as supplying the distributor with
14,000 volts at 800 r.p.m. and 11,000 volts at 6,000 r.p.m.
Camshaft and oil pressure-scavenging pump are driven from bevel gears located on the flywheel-crankshaft spindle, the distributor being driven direct from the end of the vertical camshaft. The overhead valve rockers are actuated through tappets and push-rods. Oil is fed to the bearings and valve gear through internal oilways drilled through the crankcase and component parts.
In designing the unit, spe6ial attention has been given to maintenance and accessibility, and the entire engine may be dismantled with a double-ended spanner. The engine, with a bore of 50 mm. and stroke of 63.75 mm., has a piston-swept volume of 500 c.c. Recent modifications to the operating angle of the beam tend to show that the unit may be expected to develop 25 b.h.p. at 4,800 r.p.m.