Unique 100 year old four stroke engine

[LAB3]

Been watching this channel a bit and have been gaining a lot of interest in old time engines, this one is something else. A four stroke single cylinder engine with NO VALVES, NO PUSHRODS and NO ROCKER ARMS! Think of it as a two stroke with two separate sets of ported cylinder walls, very interesting indeed.

https://youtu.be/6rGFeL_BnwI?si=I-TG05-2PP4Q9_70

 

[KiwiAlfa156]

It's a variation on the sleeve valve engine. The Brits were big on them in WW2. Best known was the Bristol Hercules aero engine which lasted from 1939 (1,290 hp) until the late 1950s (1,980hp)
https://www.aarg.com.au/hercules.html#:~:text=The Hercules 1 engine%

 

[LAB3]

It's pretty amazing how that sleeve continues to work it's way in and out with all the heat to make things expand and the oil getting thinned out.

 

[Cipher]

All done with a slide rule and a drafting table.....
check out
Greg's planes and automobiles lots of info dense engine vids.

 

[KiwiAlfa156]

All done with a slide rule and a drafting table.....
check out
Greg's planes and automobiles lots of info dense engine vids.

Seconding Greg's channel.

 

[storm 64]

All done with a slide rule and a drafting table.....
check out
Greg's planes and automobiles lots of info dense engine vids.

And machined using manual machine tools!

 

[rphillips]

Few days go by I don't think about the accomplishments were made 100 or 200 yrs ago, with the tools and equipment they had to work with back then... Thinking they must have been were waaay smarter than us.

 

[KiwiAlfa156]

Few days go by I don't think about the accomplishments were made 100 or 200 yrs ago, with the tools and equipment they had to work with back then... Thinking they must have been were waaay smarter than us.

May be not waaay smarter, but they were truly pioneers and experimenters in a new field of technology. Cycle World (Kevin Cameron and Mark Hoyer) have recently done a pod-cast on the origin of the across the frame 4 cylinder, which began with the Gilera Rondine raced in the 1939. DOHC, water-cooled and supercharged! Four valves per cylinder was first used in 1912 in the Peugeot L76 Grand Prix race car. Lots of solutions to engineering problems were tried during the early years and the most fit for purpose survived and are being continuously refined into what we have today.

I also marvel at what was built, but am impressed at the imagination that those folk possessed, and the effort made to realise those ideas in metal to see if it worked.

 

[Cipher]

May be not waaay smarter, but they were truly pioneers and experimenters in a new field of technology. Cycle World (Kevin Cameron and Mark Hoyer) have recently done a pod-cast on the origin of the across the frame 4 cylinder, which began with the Gilera Rondine raced in the 1939. DOHC, water-cooled and supercharged! Four valves per cylinder was first used in 1912 in the Peugeot L76 Grand Prix race car. Lots of solutions to engineering problems were tried during the early years and the most fit for purpose survived and are being continuously refined into what we have today.

I also marvel at what was built, but am impressed at the imagination that those folk possessed, and the effort made to realise those ideas in metal to see if it worked.

A vast body of mechanical engineering existed when the engine was built. Steam engines and bridges and locomotives and high speed looms.
If you want a headache check out engineering explained on youtube............ the porsche patent for a 6 stroke engine
Some austrian or maybe swiss watcvh maker made a 125 cc v8 in the 20s for an mc

 

[Tazman001]

Thank you for posting. I go to some of the local engine show(s) and enjoyed seeing a type of old engine I hadn't seen before.

 

[rphillips]

Wasn't thinking about the new technology of the 125cc V8, 4 valve head, and 6 stroke eng back in the early 1900's. I's thinking more about the tools used to make these things. Heck many places didn't have elect. back then, and for sure no C and C machines.

 

[LAB3]

Wasn't thinking about the new technology of the 125cc V8, 4 valve head, and 6 stroke eng back in the early 1900's. I's thinking more about the tools used to make these things. Heck many places didn't have elect. back then, and for sure no C and C machines.

It's guys like Burt Monroe and Alan Milyard that impress me the most. They did have access to technology that would make their work much more easy but still chose the minimalist route to get things done.

That's the reason why I like the custom work of Ian Roussel, he uses a minimal set of tools to build some over the top hot rods, I could only imagine what he could come up given the resources of a guy like Dave Kindig.