By 1913, eight different sizes of the Gnome engine were being
constructed, ranging from 45 to 180 brake horse-power; four of these
were single-crank engines, one having nine and the other three having
seven cylinders. The remaining four were constructed with two cranks;
three of them had fourteen cylinders apiece, ranged in groups of seven,
acting on the cranks, and the one other had eighteen cylinders ranged
in two groups of nine, acting on its two cranks. Cylinders of the
two-crank engines are so arranged (in the fourteen-cylinder type) that
fourteen equal angular impulses occur during each cycle; these engines
are supported on bearings on both sides of the engine, the air-screw
being placed outside the front support. In the eighteen-cylinder model
the impulses occur at each 40 degrees of angular rotation of the
cylinders, securing an extremely even rotation of the air-screw.
In 1913 the Gnome Monosoupape engine was introduced, a model in which
the inlet valve to the cylinder was omitted, while the piston was of
the ordinary cast-iron type. A single exhaust valve in the cylinder
head was operated in a manner similar to that on the previous Gnome
engines, and the fact of this being the only valve on the cylinder
gave the engine its name. Each cylinder contained ports at the bottom
which communicated with the crank chamber, and were overrun by the
piston when this was approaching the bottom end of its stroke. During
the working cycle of the engine the exhaust valve was opened early to
allow the exhaust gases to escape from the cylinder, so that by the
time the piston overran the ports at the bottom the pressure within
the cylinder was approximately equal to that in the crank case, and
practically no flow of gas took place in either direction through the
ports. The exhaust valve remained open as usual during the succeeding
up-stroke of the piston, and the valve was held open until the piston
had returned through about one-third of its downward stroke, thus
permitting fresh air to enter the cylinder. The exhaust valve then
closed, and the downward motion of the piston, continuing, caused a
partial vacuum inside the cylinder; when the piston overran the ports,
the rich mixture from the crank case immediately entered. The cylinder
was then full of the mixture, and the next upward stroke of the piston
compressed the charge; upon ignition the working cycle was repeated.
The speed variation of this engine was obtained by varying the extent
and duration of the opening of the exhaust valves, and was controlled
by the pilot by hand-operated levers acting on the valve tappet
rollers. The weight per horse-power of these engines was slightly less
than that of the two-valve type, while the lubrication of the gudgeon
pin and piston showed an improvement, so that a lower lubricating oil
consumption was obtained. The 100 horse-power Gnome Monosoupape was
built with nine cylinders, each 4·33 inches bore by 5·9 inches stroke,
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