I gather they exhaust unburned fuel during these "misses"? Terry
On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 8:56 AM, Jeff Fink <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > These engines are commonly called hit and miss engines. A governor suspends > the spark above a certain speed. With no load they will free wheel several > cycles between receiving a spark and firing. Under load they will fire on > every cycle. > > Jeff > > -----Original Message----- > From: Stephen A. Lawrence [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 8:35 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Vo]: Old engines > > I've heard quite a number of somewhat similar ancient one-lunger engines > -- they're a staple at county fairs in New England (and Ottawa, it > seems) -- and they have a very distinctive sound. > > Do you know why they sound the way they do? > > It appears, from the sound, that they're actually performing a large > number of full rotations between cylinder firings, but that doesn't to > make a lot of sense to me, unless there's some kind of governor or speed > control that only lets fuel into the cylinder when the rotation rate > drops low enough. Is it really what's going on? Or is the "pouf" > something else, backfiring maybe, that I hear every, what, half dozen or > dozen turns? > > Certainly it seems like the "Pouf" sounds come much farther apart than > I'd expect for a four-stroke. > > > Horace Heffner wrote: >> Some here will remember the great vortexian (yep I use the term >> vortexian here because he graduated from the U of Houston) Frank >> Stenger. Here is one of his latest achievements: >> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF7NxVcg3jY >> >> It is difficult to believe what a rusted mess of damaged parts this >> antique oil field engine came from. This is real tour de force for any >> mechanical engineer, a work of art, but probably one only a connoisseur >> of such things can appreciate. The sound signature of these things >> appears to be highly varied and unique to a machine. It is quite >> amazing to me how many of them are being restored and can be viewed on >> YouTube. >> >> Best regards, >> >> Horace Heffner >> http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/ >> >> >> >> > > >
