Complete water jacketing encircles the cylinders, cylinder heads, the circulation area enclosing the plugs and the gas passages so that a uniform heat is maintained the entire length of the piston travel.
The half-time shaft, the magneto, and the water pump are driven by a silent chain from the crank case; this drive being found superior to the gears commonly used for this class of work. The cranks on the half-time shaft are made in one integral piece with the shaft.
Although the piston on the Stoddard-Dayton Knight motor has a stroke of 5½ inches, it is scarcely as much as this considered as friction producing travel, because the inner sleeve in which it rests moves down in the same direction 1⅛ inches.
This distribution of the working stroke to two surfaces reduces the wear on the side of the sleeve caused by the angularity or thrust of the main connecting rod. On the compression stroke, both outer and inner sleeves go up in the same direction as the piston, the inner sleeve moving the faster. On the exhaust stroke and suction stroke the sleeves move in a direction opposite to the direction of the piston, but on these strokes there is very little work performed by the piston and consequently little thrust is produced on the sleeves and walls of the cylinder.
It is a valuable feature to have the sleeves descend with the piston on the working stroke because this is the stroke in which the piston has the greatest amount of side thrust.
The up and down movement of the sleeves is very little compared with that of the piston. A stroke of 5½ inches gives a piston speed of 916 feet per minute at a speed of 1,000 revolutions per minute. The stroke of the sleeves is 1⅛ inches and its speed is but 93.7 feet per minute, or a little more than one-tenth that of the piston. This fact makes the problem of lubrication a feasible one, the slow-movement of the sleeves distributing the oil thoroughly between them as well as between the outer sleeves and the cylinder walls.
The action of the valves, and their position at different points in the cycle, is shown in diagrammatic form by Figs. 28–29–30–31–32–33, the particular event to which each diagram refers being marked at the foot of the cuts. The direction of the sleeve movement is indicated by the arrows at the bottom of the sleeves. Particular attention should be paid to the position of the slots in the sleeves.
The first three diagrams show the position of the inlet slots that govern the admission of the combustible gas from the carburetor. Fig. 28 shows the slots coming together to form an opening in the inlet port as the lower edge of the outer sleeve separates from the upper edge of the inner sleeve. The outer sleeve is now moving rapidly downward while the inner sleeve is slowly rising, and as their motion is opposite the opening is quickly formed. Fig. 29 shows the full opening with the slots in register.
When closing (Fig. 30) the outer sleeve is nearly stationary while the inner sleeve is rising rapidly. When the inner sleeve port is covered by the lower edge of the junk ring, the valve opening is closed, the slot in the outer sleeve remaining opposite the inlet opening.
The exhaust port opens (Fig. 31) when the lower edge of the slot in the inner sleeve leaves the junk ring in the cylinder head, the sleeve moving rapidly downward at the moment of opening. To obtain a rapid opening of the exhaust, the ports are arranged so that the inner sleeve is just about to reach its maximum speed at the time of opening.