Gas Power; A Study of the Evolution of Gas Power, the Design and Construction of Large Gas Engines in Europe, the Application of Gas Power to Various Industries and the Rational Utilization of Low Grade Fuels (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ...may well be argued that, therefore, the hit-and-miss system may very wisely be retained for single-cylinder engines up to 150 b.h.p. For large engines or multi-cylinder engines it becomes no longer practicable, and some system giving graduated charges to suit the varying loads is to be preferred. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VERTICAL ENGINE "The vertical engine, though it is being taken up to some extent, seems to make slower progress than its merits would appear to warrant. Its acceptance at the present time appears to be largely confined to those special cases where floor space is strictly limited, and where an ordinary horizontal engine is consequently out of the question. While appreciating all that has been, and is being, done to perfect the vertical type, we would suggest that until makers boldly attack the problem from the point of view of embodying all the good features on which the horizontal engine has survived during the experience of the last 20 years, the vertical engine will not command the confidence to which certain of its obvious advantages would otherwise entitle it. One of the great difficulties experienced in the vertical engines, which have hitherto been made (principally of the inclosed type), is over-lubrication of the piston. It has always seemed absurd to us to suppose that when horizontal-engine makers have, as a result of experience, adopted careful means to regulate the oil supply to the piston to from 15 to 30 drops per minute according to the size of the engine, these precautions should be entirely disregarded in the case of a vertical engine. Yet such is the case, and we frequently find the mouth of the cylinder quite open to the deluge of oil thrown up from the crank chamber by the "splash" lubrication...