The Boy's Book of New Inventions

by Harry E. Maule

But these are only a few of the things that the two friends talked about. They looked into the wonderful advancement in the art of photography about which every boy knows something, and they investigated the latest achievements of science in electric lighting. Ten years is a very short time, even in this fast moving age of ours, and we shall see that many inventions made years ago are still being worked upon by the original inventors and others.

First, let us see a few of the ways the gas engine has been improved, for we are all more or less familiar with it in automobiles, motor boats, or the hundred and one other places that it has become an invaluable aid to man in carrying on the world's work.

Our young friend brought up the subject one day when he asked the scientist for a few pointers on getting better results with his motor-boat engine.

"We will look it over together," said the man. "Of course you know that every gasoline engine has its own peculiarities, and crankinesses, so it's hard to tell just what's the matter with one until you see it. I don't know very much about them; I wish I knew more, but I have been talking with my automobile friends a good deal lately about the new motor invented by Charles Y. Knight."

"Oh, I know," replied the boy, "it is called the 'Silent Knight' motor because it doesn't make any noise, and it is used on a great many high-priced automobiles."

"That's it. If you like we will go and have one of these engines explained to us. At any rate the automobile man can tell you more about your motor-boat engine than I can."

The expedition was made shortly after the conversation. "You understand, of course," said the scientist on the way, "that the Knight motor represents only one of the many, many improvements in the gas engine, but it is what we call a fundamental improvement, as it is a development in the main idea of the gasoline motor, rather than merely an improvement of one of the parts. Most of the evolution of gas engines has consisted merely of the improvement and perfection of the various parts for more power, and more all around efficiency.

"You remember what you found out about gasoline motors in general when we were spending so much time talking about aeroplanes. The high speed motor, as we know it now, was invented, you know, by Gottlieb Daimler, a German inventor, in 1885, and with the ordinary four-cycle engine it takes four trips, or two round trips of the piston rod, to exert one push on the crankshaft of the engine. In other words, the explosion drives down the piston giving the power, and on its return trip the piston forces out the burned fumes. On the next downward stroke the fresh vapour is sucked into the cylinder and on the fourth trip, or second upward trip, the gas is compressed for the explosion. The carbureter on your motor-boat engine, and all others, as you know, is the device that mixes the gasoline with air and converts it into a highly explosive gas, and the sparking system is the electrical device that ignites the gas in the cylinders for each explosion which makes the 'pop, pop, pop' so familiar with all gasoline engines.

"In the old gas engines the ignition was derived from a few dry-cell batteries and some sort of a transformer coil, whereas nowadays the magneto takes care of this work. As you know there are many kinds of magnetos, and inventors have spent years working out better and better ones. Also, in the old style motors the carbureter was more or less of a makeshift, with a drip feed arrangement, and a hand regulating shutter for admitting the air. Now a special automatic device regulates this, so that it is no longer a toss up whether the gas is mixed in the proper quantities or not. Then, too, the oiling systems have been improved, so that the function is done automatically. In short, the motor has been made a perfectly reliable servant instead of a very capricious plaything.

"All these improvements made no fundamental change in the valves through which the gas was admitted to the cylinders, and the exhausted vapours expelled—and from your own experience you know that you are just about as apt to have trouble with your valves as with any other part of your machine.