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An Opposed-Piston Oil Engine

1st March 1957, Page 76
1st March 1957
Page 76
Page 76, 1st March 1957 — An Opposed-Piston Oil Engine
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

AN air-cooled, opposed-piston oil engine, intended for mounting in an under-floor position in a vehicle, is shown in patent No. 764,882 (H. van der Horst, Herenstraat 11, Hilversum, Holland). The chief claim of the patent is the method of dismantling and removing the cylinder-block complete with its pistons.

The layout comprises a pair of crankshafts (1 and 2) which moves the pistons at 180° phase difference. The inlet ports (3) and those for the exhaust (4) are both controlled by the pistons, whilst the injector (5) is set in the combustion region in the middle of the cylinder. Forced air-cooling is used, the air being blown from duct 6 over the cylinder fins.

To remove the cylinders and pistons the big-end caps are removed and the pistons pushed inwards until they meet. By removal of the series of nuts 7, the whole of the cylinder-block assembly can then be lifted upwards and out of the crankshaft frames.

A FIREPROOF INTAKE FILTER

I NTAKE filters usually become oily • and dirty and are liable to catch the

if a back-fire occurs. To prevent this is the aim of a scheme revealed in patent No. 765,111 which proposes the use of a layer of wire mesh to act in the manner of a miner's safety lamp. (A. Knecht, Am Kricgsburg 31, Stuttgart-N, Germany.)

-A HAND BRAKE FOR HEAVY VEHICLES PATENT No. 765,060 (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Ntirnberg A.G., Ntirnberg, Germany) shows a scheme for operating the hand brake of a heavy vehicle by power such as compressed air. An objection to this practice is that as the hand brake is usually considered

to ' be an emergency device, failure of the operating power would render it useless. In the scheme proposed, this defect is overcome by using the power to hold the brake in the " off " position against the force of a spring powerful enough to apply it.

The drawing shows the main outlines of the plan. The hand-lever end (1) pulls on a movable cylinder (2) having its piston heavily springloaded in the brakeapplying direction, the spring being shown in the cylinder at 3.

When the lever is in its forward position (4) it makes contact with and opens valve 5 which then admits compressed air to the cylinder from reservoir 6. The air moves the piston, compressing the spring and releasing the brakes.

If the lever be pulled by hand, the air-valve shuts and the air in the cylinder is permitted to leak away at a controlled rate. This is done by a small valve in the end of the cylinder. A smaller piston is also provided to operate a constant-clearance adjusting device.

Using this scheme, total failure of the air supply would mean that the hand brake could not be released at all STARTING LARGE ENGINES

THE starting of a large compression' ignition engine in very cold weather requires not only power to turn the engine but heater plugs as well, the sum of which can make severe demands of the battery. Patent No. 764,941 (H. Christiansen,. 77 Hornier Strasse, Wedel, Holstein, Germany) shows a scheme in which all the starting energy is provided by a small auxiliary engine carried on the large one.

The drawing is diagrammatic only to illustrate the principle. A small petrol engine (1), air cooled, is first started and its energy used in various ways. Tbe hot air from the cooling fins is passed through an energy converter (2) which makes it even hotter. The air is then ducted over the cylinders (3) of the main engine.

After a period of warming, the small engine is then coupled to the main crankshaft by a clutch (4) and gives up the energy stored in the flywheel (5). At the same time, some of the hot air is fed into the intake pipe of the main engine to boost the temperature during compression.

it is stated that the arrangement may easily be applied and at low cost to any internal-combustion engine.

A FUEL ATOMIZING DEVICE

FUEL economizers are news today and many devices for giving better atomization are being brought forward. Most of the schemes are based on the assumption that liquid petrol can reach the cylinders and possibly pass through them unburnt. A typical solution of the problem is disclosed in patent No. 764,826. (0. Benvenuli, 33 Via Giotto, Florence, Italy.)

The unit shown consists of a multislotted body of ogival outline and is intended to be inserted in the induction pipe. The mixture must pass through the slots and it is claimed that in passing through thc gas stream is broken up into concentric laminar layers, all 'having differing velocities. The relative movement between the various " tubes " of gas is said to atomize completely all the liquid droplets.

SMOOTHER CLUTCH ENGAGEMENT

MPROVEMENTS in automatia centri1 fugal clutches form the subject of patent No. 765,321, the object being to make the engagement smoother. The method adopted is to incorporate resilient spring blades in the mechanism that presses the plates together. (S.A. Andre Citroen, 117-167 Quai de Javel, Paris.) A MULTI-HOLE NOZZLE PATENT No. 765,997 gives details of an injector in which the main discharee occurs centrally, but smaller orifices inject sideways from the projecting nose. All the passages are fed from a small chamber which first receives the charge. (Lanova A.G., 16 Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland.)


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