A Self-cleaning Oil-film Air
Page 45
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Filter
THE use of a filter on the air inlet of a petrol or oil engine has long since been recognized as a safeguard against the ingress of abrasive agents.
In this connection interest attaches to the latest designs of oil-film air filter made by the Visco Engineering Co.,
Ltd., Stafford Road, Croydon, Surrey. Of these, the R31 type shown in the accompanying illustration has been designed specifically for use on road vehicles.
The basic principle of filtration employed is to pass the air through either a large number of loosely piled ferrules or small metal cylinders, or a series of corrugated sheets arranged close together. In either case, the units are dipped in oil supplied specially for the purpose.
The air, on its way to the engine, is split up into a number of thin layers, to which a zig-zag and generally a rapid and irregular motion is imparted. It is thus brought into iStimate contact with a relatively large area of oil, which latter arrests the suspended particles.
The model under review is of the. self-cleaning type, the plate filtering elements, which form a composite circular cell, being arranged to turn through the agency of -a ratchet lever attached to a spindle, which, in turn, is connected to the accelerator or clutch pedal.
The filtering plates are automatically kept damped with oil from a supply carried in the sump of the filter. This sump oil also washes off the foreign matter from the elements, which is eventually removed as sludge. There is a milled knob for hand rotation of the filtering medium,