Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAS ENGINE. 223 Fig, 14.—SECTION OF DOUBLE-ACTING TWO-CYCLE KORTING GAS ENGINE. Showing Gas and Air Pumps, Pipe Connections, Water-cooled Piston, etc. (Messrs. Mather and Platt, Limited, Manchester.) middle of the cylinder walls. When the cen- tral ports begin to open, one of the inlet valves (iv1 or iv2, as the case may be) also opens, admitting first air and then gas under pres- sure, which rapidly expel the burnt charge through the middle ports, until the latter are closed by the returning piston. The piston compresses the new charge and receives a fresh impulse when ignition (by a sparking plug, s1 or S“) occurs. Thus each stroke either way is a “working” stroke, and the engine develops nearly fifty per cent, more power than a steam engine of equal size and speed. Fig. 1 is a representation of a twin-cylinder Körting which for two years and more has performed the difficult work of driving a Lancashire cotton mill with perfect steadi- ness at a speed of 115 revolutions per minute. So satisfactory has it proved that another mill is adopting larger motors of the same type, with cylinders of 19J and 33| inches bore and stroke respectively, developing 1,400 h.p. at 100 revolutions per minute. Fig. 15.—DIAGRAM OF OECHELHAUSER TWO-STROKE, DOUBLE-PISTON GAS ENGINE. The Oechel- hauser Engine. An interesting arrangement of parts is repre- sented in the diagram of an Oechelhauser en- gine built by Messrs. William Beardmore and Company (Fig. 15). In this case there is a single long open-ended cylin- der, with two pistons moving in opposite directions simultaneously. One