Outboard motor

“ The motor is a double-cylinder two-cycle one, of ten horse-power. It has a float-feed carburetor, mechanical oiler, and the ignition system is the jump-spark—the best for this style of motor. The boat will make ten miles an hour, with twelve in, and, of course, more than that with a lighter load. ”

“ The only way to make the boat efficient to meet all possible conditions would be to increase the size or alter the pitch of the screw, and to install more powerful engines. "Gearing down"—as in a motor-car—being useless, the only mechanism needed on a motor boat in connection with the transmission of power from cylinders to screw is the reversing gear. ”

“ Presently they were seated in the Firefly and their youthful engineer shoved off from shore. They were drifting lazily along over a miniature ripple of waves which the movement of the boat had set in motion, when Edward l’Estrange gave an exclamation of surprise and annoyance. As he bent over the machinery, they waited for the whir of the motor, but the engine was silent and the little boat bobbed up and down like a piece of driftwood that had shifted all responsibility in life. Motor boats are much like delicate people 70 who are subject to sudden and unexpected attacks. ”

“ Once elevated there were motors, working propeller blades, to send them along, a box-kite arrangement for slanting up higher or descending, and a rudder to steer to right or left. These attachments were contained in a light framework car, which was fastened to the gas bag by means of a network of cords. All the gas bags were cigar-shaped, none of the old-fashioned globular ones being used.
“This will be worth watching,” prophesied Jerry. “There will be no danger to us, and we can see several in the air at once. There’ll probably be a race. Let’s get a place where there isn’t such a crowd.” ”

“ It was now my turn to be excited, and I rushed down to the motor room determined to give her every amp she would take. The port foremost motor was sparking like the devil, rings of cursed sparks shooting round the commutator, but this was no time for ceremony. I relentlessly ordered the field current to be still further reduced.
We were actually running with an F.C. of 3.75 amps, [11] for a period, when the sparking assumed the appearance of a ring of fire and, fearing a commutator strip would melt, I ordered an F.C. of five amps.
11. The lower the field current the faster the motor goes. ”

“ This motor-dynamo, serving as a motor, drives the boat when she is beneath the water. When the electric power is exhausted the boat comes to the surface, the motor is disconnected from the shaft and is run as a dynamo generating power. Twelve hours are required in which to produce the amount of electricity required for use when the vessel next submerges. ”

“ Besides, the electric motor is the ideal engine for work on shipboard, by reason of its smooth and silent motion, its freedom from dirt and grease, the readiness with which it can be started, stopped, and reversed, and its high efficiency. Indeed, in future we may look to a protected apparatus for all such uses in every fort and every powerful ship. ”

“ We must provide for going against as stiff a breeze as we’re likely to encounter, and that is no small item, for with the large area of the gas bag for the air currents to act upon, it will need all the power of our motor to send the ship ahead at times. There is no use disguising the fact that [115] a motor ship is at more of a disadvantage in a wind than is any other kind of a craft. However, with the planes, I hope to overcome many difficulties that now beset machines of this kind. ”

“ Jerrold went on, "is of the very best. The motor is the lightest, strongest and most powerful ever constructed. The car will carry half a dozen, easily. Sand-bags are suspended from each end of the gas-bag. When I pull in the sand-bag at the front end, the equilibrium is displaced, the bag points upward, and the propeller forces the air-ship to rise. So, when I wish to descend, I pull in the sand-bag at the rear point of the bag. When both bags are hanging loose, the Eagle swims in the air on an even keel. ”

“ Tyre troubles have no counterpart afloat. The marine motor dispenses with change gears. Water being a much more yielding medium than Mother Earth, the shocks of starting and stopping are not such as to strain machinery. Then again, the cooling of the cylinders is a simple matter with an unlimited amount of water almost washing the engine. And as the surface of water does not run uphill, a small motor will show to better advantage on a river than on a road. Thus, a 5 h.p. car will not conveniently carry more than two people if it is expected to climb slopes at more than a crawl. ”

“ The motors are so light that they develop two horse power for every pound of their weight; while, to keep the frames thin, the necessary power is obtained by terrific speed of the moving parts, as though a steam engine, to avoid great pressure in its cylinders, had a long stroke and ran at great piston speed, which, however, is no disadvantage to the rotary motion of the electric motor, there being no reciprocating cranks, etc., that must be started and stopped at each revolution. ”

“ The beauty of a gasoline motor engine is that when all is running smoothly and no signals from the bridge are to be expected, the engineer may spend much of his time up on deck. On the bridge deck, near the wheel, are “controls” by means of which the helmsman can change the speeds, stop or reverse at will.
As Captain Tom headed in the direction ordered he heard Jed reporting to the owner that the long racing boat astern did not appear to be making any efforts to overtake the “Rocket” or to reach the “Kaiser Wilhelm.” Instead, the racing boat seemed to be playing wholly a waiting game. ”

“ The large marine motor is designed to run at a slower rate than the land motor, and its cylinders are, therefore, of greater size. Some of the cylinders exhibited in the Automobile Show at the London "Olympia" seemed enormous when compared with those doing duty on even high-powered cars; being more suggestive of the parts of an electric lighting plant than of a machine which has to be tucked away in a boat. ”

“ No. 6 was practically the same as its predecessor—the triangular keel was retained, but an eighteen horse-power gasoline motor was substituted for the sixteen horse-power used previously. The propeller, made of silk stretched over a bamboo frame, was hung at the after end of the keel; the motor was a little aft of the centre, while the basket to which led the steering-gear, the emergency valve to the balloon, and the motor-controlling gear was suspended farther forward. ”

“ In the awash condition, when the boat is otherwise air- and water-tight, communication is kept up with the outer air by means of ducts and a smoke-pipe, the former bringing in air for combustion and respiration, and the latter carrying off deleterious products of all kinds. For submergence special fittings are used to close these ducts and pipes, and to stop the gasolene generator. The main engine is then no longer available, and for propulsion power is drawn from the accumulators, the dynamo thus becoming a motor which derives current from the accumulators and itself drives the screw-shaft. ”

“ The steering lever is in front of the pilot’s seat, and moves to right or to left.
The motor is an invention of M. Esnault-Pelterie, and may be of 5, 7, or 10 cylinders, according to the power desired. The cylinders are arranged in two ranks, one in the rear of the other, radiating outward from the shaft like spokes in a wheel. The propeller is of steel, 4-bladed, and revolves at 1,400 revolutions per minute, developing 35 horse-power, 132 and drawing the machine through the air at a speed of 47 miles per hour. ”

“ After all, on a river one does not want to travel fast—rather to avoid the hard labour which rowing undoubtedly does become with a craft roomy enough to be comfortable for a party.
The marine motor also scores under the heading of adaptability. A wagonette could not be converted into a motor-car with any success. But a good-sized row-boat may easily blossom out as a useful self-propelled boat. You may buy complete apparatus—motor, tanks, screw, batteries, etc.—for clamping direct on to the stern, and there you are—a motor boat while you wait! ”

“ You see, the overboard motor that’s been installed in place of the old one is up-to-date, and has its exhaust away down deep, so it can swing along without any of the racket most power-boats kick up. It’s used a great deal by fishermen, who troll for game-fish, and would expect but scant captures if their boat kept spluttering away as the old type used to do. ”

“ Then, adjusting the timer and throttle on the engine and seeing that the gasoline tank was filled, the lad started up his motor. Mr. Hastings helped him, but after a few turns of the flywheel there were no explosions. Finally, after the carburetor (which is the device where gasoline is mixed with air to produce an explosive mixture) had been adjusted, the motor started off as if it had intended to do so all the while and was only taking its time about it.
"The machine doesn't run as smooth as it ought to," commented Mr. Hastings. ”

“ The motors with which the military and cross-country models are equipped are of the eight-cylinder "V-shaped" type, developing sixty and eighty horse-power. The propeller is attached directly to the motor shaft, thus doing away with any necessity of gearing, which consumes power, increases the risk of breakage, and decreases reliability. The speed of the motor is controlled by a throttle opened and closed by a movement of the left foot. ”

“ If the engine stopped unexpectedly when flying straight, he must instinctively push the stick forward, keep the nose down, and keep his flying speed. If it stopped during a turn, he must rudder into the turn and keep his flying speed. Always he must do these things instinctively when the motor failed.
Dad and Armbruster and Jack all had stories to tell of some spectacular experience when motors failed at crucial moments in the air. Always when in the air the pilot’s ear is attuned to the steady beat of the motor and he listens for its first missing stroke. ”

“ You understand, of course, that I have given simply the principle and method of operation of the engine belonging to a motor boat. There are many parts that must operate smoothly and with the minimum of friction. Lubricating oil is as essential as gasoline; the ignition battery must be kept dry; you must know how to operate the reversing lever, to shut off, to start and to hold the desired speed. ”

“ A motor with three groups of strands in turn will give you one thousand turns with the propelling force of the combined number, or eighteen strands, and so on.
As a general rule, it may be laid down, that by dividing your motor you double the number of revolutions. The heavier the motor the greater is the vibration in unwinding, and as you have doubtless discovered, a model which vibrates in flight offers a greatly increased resistance to the air. The geared motor cuts the vibration in half, or a third, as the case may be. ”

“ The petroleum was drawn from a tank, the supply being regulated by the valve. The motor was first set in motion by lighting a lamp and turning the crank a few times, the discharge passing through the chamber into an exhaust-pipe. After the motor had been fully started, the vehicle was set in motion by moving a lever, which drew a tightening pulley against the belt, and so caused the power to be transmitted from the shaft pulley to the wheel pulley. Changes of speed were attained by using pulleys of different sizes, similar to the cone pulleys on a lathe. ”

“ This motor will drive a three-bladed propeller twenty-six inches diameter, thirty-two inches pitch. If the vibration don't shake me out of the boat at eighteen hundred revolutions per minute, the speed we'll get will be astonishing."
"Whoop!" exulted McGlory. "I don't know what it all means, but it listens good. I reckon there's a kick or two in the old Sprite yet."
"You can't run a boat engine like you run an automobile motor, Matt," said Lorry.
"Of course not. A steady load and steady plugging in the water is a whole lot different from the give-and-take a motor gets in an auto ”

“ One of its great advantages is its inelasticity, which prevents the overrunning of gear worked by it. [233] Water, being incompressible, gives a "positive" drive; thus, if the pump delivers a pint at each stroke in the engine-room a pint must pass into the motor, assuming that all joints are tight, and the work due from the passage of one pint is done. Air and steam—and electricity too, if not very delicately controlled—are apt to work in fits and starts when operating against varying resistance, and "run away" from the engineer. ”

“ Then, there were double control wires, running from the levers to the rudder and the elevating planes, so that, if one wire broke (a thing that has caused many an aviator’s death) another would take its place.
For starting the machine from the seat—without having to have some one whirl the propeller till the engine was going—there was an electrical motor, which was a sort of boy of all work. For, when it was through its work as a motor, it became a dynamo, and filled up storage-batteries which worked the big electrical search-light, for use when the machine was flying at night. ”

“ It is probable that the introduction of the motor, instead of assisting to complete the departure of sails, will help in their being retained: for it has now been found commercially profitable to instal the internal-combustion engine in ships of a size not exceeding about seven hundred tons. By this means sail can be used in a fair wind, and the motor can take her along in calms, as well as in tolerable weather against a head wind. ”