MOTORING

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10734, 3 November 1928, Page 11

MOTORING

DIESEL ENGINED CARS

EXPERIMENTS IN ENGLAND

Important developments in coruection with a now type of motor-engine are predicted in England shortly. The experiments are row being carried out and will soon be put to a practical test, says the motoring correspondent of the ‘ 'Daily Mail. They are based on the Diesel principle which' does- away i\ i+h .both magneto and carburettor . and consists of obtaining combustion- by extremely high compression and using crude oil. In Germany the Mer-cedes-Benz factory is already turning out lorries fitted with Diesel type engines. When one considers the marvellous degree of efficiency to. which the modern internal combustion engine has been developed, with its 4,6, 8 and even 12, cylinders, its smoothness and silonce of operation and its flexibility, it may come as a surprise to many to learn that a coterie of eminent engineers in England, France, and Germany is convinced that its supremacy is about to be threatened by the Diesel principle. Actually the Diesel engine has been extensively developed of recent, years hand in hand with the) petrol engine. Although the Diesel ns an internal combustion engine, it does not operate on the same principle as the power units at present employed for automobiles in which the charge of petrol-vapour and air is drawn into the cylinder and compressed, and oil fuel is then injected as a hue spray into the- highly compressed, air. The air is compressed to a pressure of about 5001 b per square inch, and the temperature is sufficiently high to ignite the spray of oil, but in view of the- high pressures which have to 'be dealt with the Diesel engine is necessarily of very robust) construction, and its weight has been the main difficulty to he surmounted before it could be developed for use in road vehicles or possibly for 1 aeroplanes. . Nevertheless, considerable attention is being paid to the Diesel engine behind the scenes and in ergl- - circles in England, and on tne Continent it is not considered impossible that the day will soon come when the various difficulties will be surmounted, and this type of power plant will be utilised for- all classes of mechanical transport on hind and. in the ailr, for it possesses, one great virtue—economy in fuel consumption, apart from its unquestioned reliability and safetv from firei risks, compared with the normal 1 petrol engine.