Scientific American; Supplement Volume 60 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ...is the circulating pump, K. which supplies water for the cooler and for the cylinder jackets. A feature of this particular form of "scrubber" Is that the gas is delivered to the engine at a pressure which is slightly above atmospheric. The actual means by which the gas is drawn off from the producer is not, therefore, the suction of the engine itself, but the exhausting effect of the "scrubber." It will be noticed, too, that the cooler chamber and the scrubber have, in themselves, a certain volumetric capacity which does, in effect, act as a reservoir for the gas, and prevents any too sudden changes taking place in the producer chamber owing to rapid increase or decrease of the engine-speed or load. It must be understood that the gas, as it arrives from the suction producer, is not used in the engine before it is diluted with additional air, sufficient to form an explosive "mixture." This operation is accomplished in the "Capitaine" plant by means of an automatic valve which is designed to compensate for any fluctuations which may be likely to occur in practice, such as, for instance, any increase or decrease in the pressure at which the producer gas is delivered from the "scrubber." Comparatively few particulars are, at present, available as to the construction of the "Capitaine" engines--which are built in both two and four-cylinder types--but Figs. 2 and 3 show the general lines of a fourcylinder engine of this make. The engine is said to run at a moderately high speed, and the magneto ignition is automatically "timed" by means of a centrifugal governor. The arrangement of the overhead cam-shaft is visible In Fig. 2, and the valve-springs are prominent in Fig. 3. The...