The problem of keeping joints tight, and for that matter the entire
construction itself, were both greatly simplified by their decision to
water-jacket only a part of the cylinder head proper, and the valve
box not at all. This was undoubtedly the correct decision for their
immediate purpose, as again they were effecting savings in time, cost,
complexity, and weight. There is nothing in the record, however, to
show why they continued this practice long after they had advanced to
much greater power outputs and longer flight times. Their own
statements show that they were well aware of the effect of the very
hot cylinder head on power output and they must also have realized its
influence on exhaust-valve temperature.
The cylinder assembly was made somewhat more complicated by their
desire to oil the piston and cylinder by means of holes near the
crankshaft end in what was, with the engine in the horizontal
position, the upper side of the cylinder barrel. This complication was
no doubt taken care of by not drilling the holes until a tight
assembly had been made by screwing the barrel into place, and by
marking the desired location on the barrel. Since this position was
determined by a metal-to-metal jam fit of the crankcase and cylinder
barrel flange, the barrel would reassemble with the holes in very
nearly the same relative position after disassembly.
With the valve box, or housing, cylindrical, the task of locking and
fastening the intake and exhaust valve guides and seats in place was
easy. The guide was made integral with and in the center of one end of
a circular cage, the other end of which contained the valve seat (see
Figure 5). Four sections were cut out of the circular wall of the cage
so that in effect the seat and guide were joined by four narrow legs,
the spaces between which provided passages for the flow of the
cylinder gases. These cages were then dropped into the ends of the
valve boxes until they came up against machined shoulders and were
held in place by internal ring nuts screwed into the valve box. The
intake manifold or passage was placed over the intake valves so that
the intake charge flowed directly into and through the valve cage
around the open valve and into the cylinder. The exhaust gas, after
flowing through the passages in the valve cage, was discharged
directly to the atmosphere through a series of holes machined in one
side of the valve box.
[Illustration: _Figure 5._--First flight engine, 1903, assembly.
(Phantom cutaway by J. H. Clark, with key, courtesy _Aeroplane_.)
KEY
1 and 2. Bearing caps in one piece with plate 3.
3. Plated screwed over hole 4 in crankcase end.
4. Key-shaped hole as hole 5 in intermediate ribs.
6. Inter-bearings cap (white-metal lined) and screwed to inter-rib
halves 7.
8. Splash-drip feed to bearings.
9. Return to pump from each compartment of crankcase base ("sump") via
gallery 10 and pipe to pump 11 underneath jacket.
12. Oil feed from pump via rubber tube 13.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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