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| Small 4 Cylinder Vertical Opposed Unk... |
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B. Goss
Senior Member
Username: bgoss
Post Number: 182
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, September 23, 2012 - 07:58 pm: | 
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Hello All,
Although this looks somewhat marine with the single flywheel, I don't believe that it is. However, I don't know of any better knowledge base for understanding and identifying oddballs so please permit me to jump off the OME topic for a bit and hopefully you will have some ideas on this one.
We just got this little air-cooled engine. It has 4 cylinders arranged in an H pattern - vertically opposed. Unlike most other opposed engines, all pistons move in the same direction at the same time (I suspect that it would jump around like a jack-hammer) on a single connecting rod and wrist pin. Bore and stroke are approximately 2x2.
A geared camshaft hangs off the mid-point of the engine which has two sets of lobes running 6 valves (3 above and 3 below). 2 intake valves and 1 exhaust valve in each valvebox. The upper heads and valvebox are missing but appears to be identical to the lower one that we have so we can get that cast. The mixer is also missing. Ignition contacts are at 90 degrees on the camshaft.
Any thoughts? Could this be an apprenticeship project or a Popular Mechanics engine? It's well enough made that there might be a patent of some sort, but where do you start looking?
Thanks and enjoy.
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Robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 489
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, September 29, 2012 - 12:41 pm: |
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Neat piece. Best place to start looking is where you bought it and work back from there! Is the flywheel rim steel? Probably made that way to avoid having to make a pattern for casting. Looks like the crankcase might be welded up from plate; is that right? All in all, an experimental piece or the product of one of those innumerably tinkerers and designers in the early days of gas engines, and in that case a rare item obviously as most of that sort of stuff was junked. Will be interesting to hear more about it. |
B. Goss
Senior Member
Username: bgoss
Post Number: 183
Registered: 12-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2012 - 06:44 pm: |
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Robert - I believe that the flywheel rim and hub are cast iron. The crankcase is made in two pieces (upper and lower), both are cast iron. Here are some more photos as we took a better look at it.
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Blair |
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