ENGINES AND POWER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 259, 1 November 1932, Page 14

ENGINES AND POWER.

AMERICAN RESEARCH. AEROPLANES AND MOTOR BOATS. USE OF SUPERCHARGERS. DETROIT, October 8. Demands of economy promise to bring I changes in future power plants built for motor cars. The changes may extend to "all types of automotive vehicles. For years it has been conceded that the modern car costs ■ too much to operate because a large amount of the power generated in the engine is allowed to go to waste. With the aim of cutting down fuel expenee, certain companies look to Diesel engine- developme.it to make crude oil 'take the place of gasoline, firet in commercial cars and later in passenger cars, should the idea prove feasible.

Sentiment favouring Diesel has led the Department of Commerce to plan a survey of its possibilities. Coupled with thie has come a pronouncement from Charles L. Lawrancc, designer of the aircooled engine that (.•iirried Colonel Lindbergh from New York to Paris. Mr. Lawrance,-- now engaged in research work, says the present type of aircraft and automobile engine is passing. In their place will come new and improved tvpes which will lowtr the cost of commercial transportation and increase its speed and efficiency. Mr. Lawrance adds that we are approaching the time when modifications will take place which may result in compression-ignition ■ types (like the Diesel) superseding the sparkignition, carburettor power plants that burn gas.

Some automotive engineers, however, hold that the spark-ignition, carburettor engine has reached such a degree of perfection that it will be difficult to induce the public to accept anything else. Superchargers, Mr. Lawrance points out, are becoming popular in aircraft engines, and even in some high class motor cars. Other engineering belief, more prevalent in Europe than here_, is that the com-pression-ignition engine is the coming power plant for all automotive vehicles. This is manifested in the United States most strongly in experiments on motor trucks and motor coaches in which the Dieeel or compression-ignition types are being substituted for the older type.

As demonstrating the need for progress along these lines, a view expressed recently by Louis Schwjtzer, Indianapolis engineer, criticises the way existing automotive power plants are cooled. Mr. Schwitzer acts as chairman of the technical committee exercising supervision of cars entered in' the annual 500-mile race at the 'Indianapolis speedway. He also built the superchargers U6ed for the Packard engines with which Gar Wood powered Miss America X. to beat Kaye Don's world s"°ed boat record recently. The superchargers Mr. Schwitzer devised were credited with boosting the power of the four engines in Wood's boat from 800 to 1600 horse power.

On engine cooling, Mr. Schwitzer'e contention is that only a small percentage of the fuel-air mixture inducted into an internal combustion engine is usefully employed. About 30 to 40 per cent is carried off by exhaust gases, four to five per cent is lost by direct radiation, and, depending upon the design, from 25 to 35 per cent tnust he eliminated by the cooling system.

:i.."Tliat the fuel energy diseipated by tie cooling 'system must be wasted," he says, " is unfortunate, since energy must be spent' to accomplish this waste. Mechanical limitations, however, make imperative the devising of a cooling system that will: maintain cylinder and combustion chamber wall pressures and assure satisfaction and continuous operation of an engine." To this end, he has made studies of fans, fuel pumps, and oil temperature.