UNORTHODOX POLISH CAR

Evening Star, Issue 22271, 24 February 1936, Page 13

UNORTHODOX POLISH CAR

Among the numerous unconventional cars evolved by European designers there is probably none more original than that built to the plans of a Polish engineer, M. Adam Glueck. The chassis has a ‘tubular "backbone,” and the engine is mounted at the rear, forming a unit with a hydraulic torque converter which replaces the ordinary gearbox. The drive from the converter to the rear wheels is taken through a differential and articulated axle shafts which, in conjunction with a special form of transverse' springing, provide independent suspension for the back wheels. The most novel feature of the car is that no carburettor is employed, and the cylinders are fed with fuel by means of an injection pump. The engine is a two-cylinder, hori-zontally-opposed type similar to that of the " Tatra ” Czechoslovakian model, but works on the two-stroke principle. Its displacement is 1,000 c.c., and the cylinders are air-cooled by a forced draught excited by two fans. _ Each cylinder has a single cooling rib which forms a spiral round it, and is covered with a jacket of sheet metal so that the stream of air is forced through a winding passage and reaches all exposed parts of the cylinder, and very effective cooling is procured.

The final drive, which is situated behind the hydraulic torque converter, includes a worm gearing similar to that used on heavy commercial vehicles, and there is also a reverse gearing, but no clutch is needed, as the converter operates automatically throughout the speed range. The braking system should be extremely powerful, for the brake drums are pressed into the disc wheels, and are consequently of exceptionally wide diameter. Independent springing for the front wheels is also installed. The engine is not of the compression-igni-tion sort, and the charges which are injected towards the end of each intake stroke of the pistons are fired by electric ignition in the customary way.