NEW PETROL ENGINE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 958, 29 April 1930, Page 10

NEW PETROL ENGINE

AN AUCKLAND INVENTION VAST POSSIBILITIES One of the most remarkable developments in internal combustion engines during recent years has recently been patented throughout the world by two New Zealanders. They are Messrs. G. i?. Edlin and H. IT. Stewart, and their engine has been developed after three years’ extensive research. The new engine is of the two-stroke type, but it is entirely different both in its construction and in its method of working from any other engine on the market. For the purpose of developing and demonstrating the principle, the inventors have had constructed in Auckland a single-cylinder unit built to their own design, and the engine has recently undergone a searching examination and test by Professor S. E. Lamb, professor of the school of engineering at the Auckland University College, and Mr. W. Jebson. lecturer at the college. The Edlin Stewart engine is believed to be the greatest single step forward in the history of the internal combustion engine. To prove that the automobile industry today is waiting for just such an engine, it is interesting to read the following statements made by Mr. W. J. Davidson, executive secretary, general technical committee of the General Motors Corporation of America:—“Show us how to increase the thermal efficiency of the presentday gas engine,” he says in an article in the February issue of “Automobile Industries,” and also “Show us how we can save some of the waste that mAv goes through the exhaust.” A close study of the following features of the- Edlin Stewart engine shows that it meets these two 'requirements more effectively that any other type of engine ever put on the market! 1. Its revolutionary design enables it to develop 20 per cent, to 50 per cent, greater horse-power a unit of petrol consumed, which means that nearly half as much again is put to work, with a consequent reduction of waste power at present escaping through the exhaust! 2. Less weight a horse-power developed. 3. Longer life, due to practically perfect balance and a “floating” crankshaft. 4. Increased reliability, due to com-

! pleta absence of springs, poppet valves, cams, timing -wheels, etc. - The report from Professor Lu»k* the Auckland University College, states: — . •This engine is entirely different, both in its construction and method of working, from any other two-stroke engine on the market. The singlecylinder contains two working pistons moving in opposite directions by being connected to cranks set at angle.-, oi ISO degrees with one another. effect of this is twofold —a perfect balance can be obtained under all speeds, and the rapid expansion after combustion, due to the pistons moving away from each other, allows the It r.a S es to give up more of their energy fo the crankshaft by natural cooling than a single piston would do • The tests as carried out by us. and the results of which are attached, show the engine to have a high efficiency. The consumption of fuel was icss than half a pound of petrol per horsepower Pe - I The U results of the tests show that the engine is superior to any other two-stroke engine of which we hate any knowledge, and the efficiency at least equal to any four-stroke en®*lt'is obvious that an engine of this tvpe should have a far-reaching effect on motor-car, marine and aircraft propulsion. The inventors have already obtained complete patents in the leading manufacturing countries of tne w orld, and the new engine should read i!y And ample scope for application to all means of modern transport. A most interesting suggestion comes Irom no other than Henry b ord who. writing in the "American Magazine lust August, said: — . "Today there is no such thing in existence as an airplane engine. W hat we call airplane engines are really automobile engines in all their fundamental principles. The young nnnd. and every mind must get together to produce 'the airplane engine of the future. iNTo one knows now just what it will be like, but you can be pretty sure that it will have four characteristics: First, slow speed; second, reliability; third, perfect balance; fourth, it will' use a fuel that will be more powerful than our present fuel.” TO BE TAKEN OVERSEAS A company is in process of formation in Auckland to control and put the engine on the market. It includes Messrs. George Paykel, chairman of directors, G. C. Godlin, F. Innis, J. A. B. Hellaby, C. F. Bennett. S. Hodgson

and W. Griffith. Capital ia a head, offering, and the engine is shortly r, be taken overseas One of the most valuable opinion, on the engine that the inventor* w. had was one t»- Mr. f Mitchell, rep,,, sentative of Browns, shipbuilder*. Is an expert on Biesel engine*. Wh§, in Auckland he heard of the invention and was given a demonstration of working. He said that the two-itM, engine had faults which were because nobody could find a way , overcome t hem. The Edlin -Steward engine had done away with the*** faults, and Mr. Mitchell maintains that it had a wonderful future. was the most remarkable engine thahad ever come under his notice. f