[SEL] Flywheel dangers

[John Culp]

Alternative fuels is a different matter from improving efficiency. That 
M as it sits will run on a variety of liquid fuels. Most were designed 
to run on kerosene, which only cost about 40% as much as gasoline at 
the time and was widely available as it was used in lanterns and lamps. 
The carburetor of most will have a small bowl to fill with gasoline for 
starting. As it runs out, the engine's warmed up, and it's switched 
over to run on gasoline. Since kerosene is a VERY low octane fuel, they 
also had a separate jet and needle valve for admitting water from the 
engine's cooling jacket to suppress the knocking when the engine was 
running hard on kerosene. Good example of technological adaptation to 
economic circumstances. Now it's a good bit more expensive to run on 
kerosene, and not worth the trouble and reduced performance. That was a 
common setup in the early 20th century, though.

I'd propose that it'd be a good project for them to fix up that engine 
and get it running just as it was used back in the 1920s or so, and 
experiment with different fuels to see what it will run on. Or perhaps 
do some efficiency testing with it running on gasoline, kerosene, and 
maybe alcohol.

I just wouldn't irreversibly modify an antique, as I said.

John

On Dec 29, 2005, at 5:08 PM, James Moran wrote:

> J.C. and others....
>  No matter regarding the  IHC M.  Without repeating the entirety of a 
> previous post, I was  helping a college professor who was guiding a 
> bunch of unfortunate kids  through an investigation of alternative 
> fuels.  I got them a JD  110 for the project (they have zero dough) 
> and I was thinking that,  maybe, a stationary engine might add to 
> their admirable efforts.
>   Guess that is not in the cards, however.
>   I still have the IHC M and looking for a buyer at this point in time.
>   Thank you for your reply, however.
>   JM


John Culp
Bristol, Tennessee, USA