Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-02-20
SCIENCE REMOVES GAS" KNOCK
TO ALLOW HIGHER COMPRESSION
Discovery Results in Engines Smaller Than
Most, but With Turnover of 1000
Revolutions a Minute.

placement motors give $50 explosions
per second, or more than so times as
many as the machine gun. Mr.. Max
well said. in drawing his comparison.
The racing car has a bore of .
inches and a stroke of "a inches" he
continued. I'm its eight cylinders the
total volume of gasoline and air is
less than one-half of the volume Of
the majority Of engines of today.
Yet at 1000 revolutions a minute,
which Is their maximum efficiency,
these lilliputians generate $50 horse
power-more than any automobile In
commercial use anywhere in the
world
The revolutions of the pistons of
these small motors are 81 rapid that
it is impossible for them to suck I'm
enough gasoline and air vapor to- oper-
ate efficiently without a booster or
blower to force the air and gasoline
into the cylinders.
Advantage of Blower"
Each of these diminutive motors
has such a blower, called a super
charger. which gives 10000 revolu-
tionS q minute. or more than four
times as fast as the fastest electric
motor. And yet these motors are not
toys, but in reality rugged giants,
which run in the A. A. A. races for
500 miles without stopping at a speed
of more than 125 miles an hour.
Production of this tiny motor with
such tremendous power is made posi-
BILE by increasing the compression of
| the airgas mixture in the cylinders to-
more than twice the compression o.
the presentday automobile.
THE racing motor, and. in fact, tbs
racing game, is considered by auto
motive engineers as the greatest re.
search laboratory on wheels available
to the industry.
New types and designs of motors
radical changes in the parts and i'm
provements are first tried out on the
| track. inasmuch as the grueling con-
ditions of 500-mile, nonstop race
will definitely show whether or not
| improvements or innovations designed
| by the automotive engineers are able
| to stand the test in commercial work.
practically all the improvements or
adaptations which have been added to
automobile motors from time TO time
have first been tested on the track.
improvements for Future.
1.-THE public, of course. gets the
thrill of watching the daring drivers.
as we'll as the thrill which comes from
| high-speed contests. but really the
vital interest is to the automotive en-
gineers who are in the pits watching
the behavior of certain of their i'm
provements and parts which are un-
dergoing their first thorough ordeal in
| the motors.
ut is very doubtful whether mo-
tors exactly of this type will be in
common use in this country in the i'm
mediate future. 1t is certain, how
ever, that adaptations or modifica-
lions of them, with much higher com
pressionS than are now utilized, will
emerge from the experience which is
being gained in race track competi-
| ton.
when in the future the newer
| high compression automobiles are
| built, now that there seems to be a
| fuel which will insure their efficient
operation, the American public will
| have q car that will Outperform any
car on the market today and at the
same time be lighter and more eco
nomical from the gasoline-consuming
standpoint"