FLEXIBILITY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2560, 10 April 1928, Page 2

FLEXIBILITY.

At the present time there are many British engines in production which must, if a reasonable degree of flexibility is to be attained, be run on a slow burning fuel such as a mixture of petrol and benzole. Now that another anti-knock fuel consisting of petrol to which a small quantity of lead in the form of tetraethyl lead has been added, is available commercially overseas, at a price little above that or ordinary petrol, still further increases in the power output of sports type units are possible. While rib doubt, designers will, in the case of semi-racing engines make full use of the chief characteristics of the new fuel, namely its ability to withstand high compression pressures, it must be appreciated that with the majority of other typos of unit, flexibility is of greater importance than the attainmentof an exceptionally high power output. The modern single-cylinder engine cannot be termed really flexible, and though by the use of an antiknock fuel an increase in smoothness of running may be expected, it is hoped that the designers will not take advantage of the new fuel to the detriment of flexibility. While there is no question that with the majority of single-cylinder engines' satisfactory results are obtained if an anti-kneck fuel is employed, the possibilities of such fuel should not be allowed to obscure the need for developing mul-ti-cylinder machines, which owing to their even torque will, in spite of high compression pressures, provide smooth running and excellent flexibility.