Gas and Oil Engines, Simply Explained An Elementary Instruction Book for Amateurs and Engine Attendants   By: Walter C. Runciman

SIMPLY EXPLAINED

An Elementary Instruction Book for Amateurs and Engine Attendants

BY WALTER C. RUNCIMAN

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

LONDON

Model Engineer Series. The "Model Engineer" Series, no. 26.

1905

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

PREFACE 5

I. INTRODUCTORY 7

II. THE COMPONENT PARTS OF AN ENGINE 13

III. HOW A GAS ENGINE WORKS 22

IV. IGNITION DEVICES 33

V. MAGNETO IGNITION 47

VI. GOVERNING 51

VII. CAMS AND VALVE SETTINGS 63

VIII. OIL ENGINES 81

PREFACE

My object in placing this handbook before the reader is to provide him with a simple and straightforward explanation of how and why a gas engine, or an oil engine, works. The main features and peculiarities in the construction of these engines are described, while the methods and precautions necessary to arrive at desirable results are detailed as fully as the limited space permits. I have aimed at supplying just that information which my experience shows is most needed by the user and by the amateur builder of small power engines. In place of giving a mere list of common engine troubles and their remedies, I have thought it better to endeavour to explain thoroughly the fundamental principles and essentials of good running, so that should any difficulty arise, the engine attendant will be able to reason out for himself the cause of the trouble, and will thus know the proper remedy to apply. This will give him a command over his engine which should render him equal to any emergency.

WALTER C. RUNCIMAN.

LONDON, E.C.

GAS AND OIL ENGINES

SIMPLY EXPLAINED

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The history of the gas engine goes back a long way, and the history of the internal combustion engine proper further still. It will be interesting to recount the main points in the history of the development of the class of engine we shall deal with in the following pages, in order to show what huge strides were made soon after the correct and most workable theory had been formulated.

In 1678 Abbé Hautefeuille explained how a machine could be constructed to work with gunpowder as fuel. His arrangement was to explode the gunpowder in a closed vessel provided with valves, and cool the products of combustion, and so cause a partial vacuum to be formed. By the aid of such a machine, water could be raised. This inventor, however, does not seem to have carried out any experiments.

In 1685 Huyghens designed another powder machine; and Papin, in 1688, described a similar machine, which was provided with regular valves, as devised by himself, in the Proceedings of the Leipsic Academy , 1688. From this time until 1791, when John Barber took out a patent for the production of force by the combustion of hydrocarbon in air, practically no advancement was made. The latter patent, curiously enough, comprised a very primitive form of rotary engine. Barber proposed to turn coal, oil, or other combustible stuff into gas by means of external firing, and then to mix the gases so produced with air in a vessel called the exploder. This mixture was then ignited as it issued from the vessel, and the ensuing flash caused a paddle wheel to rotate. Mention is also made that it was an object to inject a little water into the exploder, in order to strengthen the force of the flash.