Fay Leone Faurote

“ The crank shafts for two and four-cylinder motors are only a combination of two or four of these single cranks. Crank shafts are made up of steel, carefully forged, and then turned and ground down to proper size to fit the bearings for which they are intended. They are hardened and every precaution taken to keep them from wearing. They form one of the most important parts of the motor because they change the back and forth motion of the piston into the rotary motion of the fly wheel. The fly wheel in our former illustration was represented by the grindstone itself. ”

“ The piston forms, as you will recall, the bullet in the cannon, which instead of leaving the barrel, was made to travel back and forth inside of the cylinder under the action of the explosive gas. Owing to the fact that a solid piece of iron would be very heavy and would get very warm, the real piston used in a motor is made hollow so that it is merely a shell. ”

“ Of course, in order to keep the gas in there we have had to close up the touch-hole of the cannon, but now that we are ready to fire it, we will take this plug out, and touch a match to the gas. An explosion follows, and the bullet travels from the position “H” to the position “K.” All this time the crank of the grindstone must have been turning because the bullet and the crank are fastened together, and therefore, instead of traveling through the air, the bullet has used up its energy in turning the grindstone. When you get a grindstone started it is rather hard to stop, isn’t it? ”

“ If this is true, we might as well let it clean the cannon. As the hole “I” is connected with the gas tank, we cannot let it force the burnt gas out there, can we? We will therefore pull out the plug “J” in the hole “E” just as the bullet reaches the point “K” so that in coming back it will force the burnt gases and smoke out through the hole “E.” Now we are all ready to start over again; the cannon has been cleaned out, and the bullet14 still being fastened to the grindstone, which is turning, as a result of the explosion, would immediately begin starting out on another outward stroke. ”

“ By this means the requisite amount of gasoline is always kept in the float chamber.
The amount of air entering the mixing chamber is controlled by changing the size of the hole through which the air enters and the quantity of gasoline admitted is regulated by means of a needle valve in the gasoline pipe.
Although many carburetors, in fact most of them, do not look like this drawing, yet their action is the same, and by careful study you will find that the same principles enter into their construction. ”

“ Working Stroke
Exhaust Stroke
Fig. 4—A Four-cycle Diagram, showing sequence of strokes in this type of motor.
This does not mean very much to you, does it? Well, let us go into it a little farther. Supposing you were running relay races around a block; you would run down on one side, across on another, back on the other side, and then back to the starting point, wouldn’t you? You would have completed a cycle then because you have taken a “certain time in which a succession of events (streets) has been completed” and you are back again at the start ready to “return in the same order.” ”

“ Knowing that the motor car is fast becoming the modern form of transportation, both in the social and commercial world, and feeling that the principles of the mechanism which constitutes its propelling power are as yet somewhat of a mystery to the average individual and to “Young America” in particular, the author feels that some of the simple explanations offered in the following pages of this book will be welcomed and appreciated. ”

“ Most of you, no doubt, know that the plunger in a pump is made air-tight by one or a set of leather washers, which, owing to their pliable structure, can expand or contract so as to always fit air-tightly the pipe in the pump. ”

“ The gasoline will then flow in from the tank until the proper amount has filled the float chamber and caused the float to bob up to its former position, carrying the ball, which closes the gasoline off, up with it. ”

“ The system is so arranged that the water is drawn from the lower part of the radiator where the water is coldest by means of a pump and forced up through the water jackets and back into the radiator again. Several different styles of pumps are used, but a very common one is the gear pump shown in Fig. ”