DIESEL MOTOR

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 20 February 1932, Page 12

DIESEL MOTOR

NOVEL TYPE DESIGNED

S lAIP.LE TWO-CYCLE PR INCIPLE. A full Diesel motor with two pistons operating in each cylinder, ihe upper one delivering its power jo the crankshaft through an ingenious cross head arrangement, has been designed and patented by an automotive engineer ot dan Francisco. Affixed to the cross head is a connecting rod which is fastened to the crankshaft.

Lightness and smooth operation at all speeds without the necessity of cutting out cylinders to start the motor, are some of the advantages claimed for this new Diesel.

it is of tlie two-cycle type and employs, as the term “full Diesel” implies, no spark plugs or other ignition devices, the power impulse being derived from the injection of oil through a patented pump and us ignition through compressed air. The new motor is marked by extreme simplicity of design, automatic and complete elimination of the waste gases, ragged construction with light weight, positive action through the whole range of engine speeds and power demand. It is short, narrow, and sufficiently low to be suspended under any hood. No new and untried mechanical theories are involved, but sound and proven principles have been used in new combination.

The idea of directing the powers of combustion against two pistons confined in a single-water-cooled cylinder has been successfully employed in hot a gas and Diesel engines, but the idea of attaching the upper piston to a specially designed cross-head is new. especially when that cross-head serves tlie dual'purpose of transmitting power directly to the crankshaft, and at the same time acting as a piston plate to suck into tlie casing head large quantities of cleaned air and on the return stroke force it into the combustion chamber, there to drive out the exhausted gases. Likewise, the compact steel block high and low pressure plunger injection pump are so arranged that the measured charge of fuel oil is physically carried under a high pressure plunger, there to be injected into the combustion chamber. Its simplicity, positive action and flexibility marks a sharp advance in'pump design, it is said.

The present model built by the designer has only two cylinders with a 3.jin bore. SJ-in stroke and is only 34 inches high, thus making it adaptable for present automobile chassis. At 2000 r.p.m. it develops 75 horse-power, although it weighs less than 300 pounds. Explaining his use of the two-cycle type, as against the four-cycle principle now current, the designer said: •‘The idea in Diesel engine design is definitely away from the four-cycle type and toward the two-cycle principle to gain an explosion at each revolution of the shaft, thus obtaining the direct and full benefit of all the power in the fuel instead of expending a large portion of it in the friction of”additional revolutions required for opening and closing of valves and other movements incidental to four-cycle operation.”