The general principle of a carburetor is shown in [Figure 21], one drawing illustrating conditions when the inlet valve is closed and the other when it is open. It shows an engine cylinder connected with an inlet pipe or mixing chamber, through which there is a swift flow of air during an inlet stroke.
Projecting into the intake pipe is the spray nozzle, which is connected with a small chamber containing fuel; inside of this chamber is a float, usually made of cork, although it is sometimes a light metal box. The fuel is intended to fill the chamber to a certain height, at which the valve will be closed by the float rising on the fuel. This level is such that the fuel does not quite reach the tip of the spray nozzle.
During the compression, power, and exhaust strokes, the fuel stands at this level, for it cannot run out of the spray nozzle, and the float holds the valve closed. As soon as the inlet valve opens, air rushes through the intake pipe and sucks fuel out of the spray nozzle. This, of course, takes fuel out of the float chamber; the float in sinking opens the valve, and enough fuel enters to restore the level.
The fuel comes out of the nozzle in the form of fine spray; it is in such small drops that it evaporates quickly, and the resulting mixture of fuel vapor and air passes into the cylinder. By using a spray nozzle of the proper size, any desired proportion of fuel and air may be obtained.
If an engine runs at a single speed, a carburetor as simple as this one would be satisfactory, for if the suction is always the same, there will be little or no change in the proportions of the mixture that is formed.
To get the best results, the proportions of fuel vapor and air should be the same for all running speeds of the engine. The proportions of the mixture, however, depend on the violence of the suction, which changes as the engine speed changes, becoming greater as the speed increases. The simple carburetor illustrated in [Figure 21] can be adjusted to give a correct mixture for any particular speed, but will be out of adjustment for any other speed.
The speed of a 1-cylinder engine does not change very greatly; it is built to run at practically a constant speed, and a simple carburetor is satisfactory for it. The speed of engines with a greater number of cylinders may be greatly changed, and the carburetor must be so made that it will give the same proportions of vapor and air at low speed as at high.
In the simple carburetor described, the speeding-up of the engine will result in a greater rush of air through the intake pipe, which in turn will suck out a much greater quantity of fuel. If the carburetor is adjusted to give the proper quantity of fuel for the air that passes at low speed, at high speed it will give far more fuel than will be required by the quantity of air that then passes. Thus at high speed the mixture will be too rich.
If, on the other hand, this carburetor is adjusted to give a proper mixture at high speed, too little fuel will be sucked out when the engine runs slowly, and the mixture will be too lean.
A carburetor must thus have an additional device that will keep the mixture correct, regardless of the speed at which the engine runs. This is sometimes done by changing the size of the spray nozzle so that a greater or less quantity of fuel flows out, but more usually by permitting an extra quantity of air to enter the carburetor as the engine speeds up. This is done with an extra air intake, the principle of which is illustrated in [Figure 22].