Willans Blast Injection engine

[gunna]

This thread is in support of MuellerNick and his project of making castings for a model of a MAN diesel.
http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f31/man-diesel-engine-1907-dm-2-100-a-19073/
The engine I have access to is a 1927 Willans 3-cylinder made in England. It was designed in 1911 and made in the same form for at least 20 years. All diesels of this era were made under licence to Rudolf Diesel and to his overall design hence the similarity between makes. Since Nick has said he would like to see more pictures of an engine very similar to the one he is modelling, and I am in the position of being able to provide them, this is what I intend to do. If others find some of this interesting then that is a bonus all round. I will, as Nick has given his permission, copy some of his model pictures here, and place them next to some of the real thing. This is the sort of thing I had in mind.
Nick's cylinder casting;

My cylinder casting, and yes that is a real tractor on the right.

 

[gunna]

And some more.....

The supports for the camshaft are cast in on this one;

 

[MuellerNick]

That's just wonderful to see a disassembled engine, freshly restored!

Did you say how much power it has per cylinder?


Nick

 

[gunna]

Did you say how much power it has per cylinder?
Nick

I believe it is 225hp so 75 per cylinder.
Ian.

 

[MuellerNick]

I believe it is 225hp so 75 per cylinder.

Thanks.
But now I'm confused. These pictures of yours are a scale model? What scale is that?
There is a funny rule of thump for stationary engines of that time: For each step of the ladder that goes to the platform, count 10 hp. That would be 50 hp per cylinder.

Nick

 

[wheelwright]

For anyone interested in blast injection engines, and following this thread. There is a working engine museum near Cardigan, Wales, UK, and they have a very early engine of a similar design, built by Sulzer in Switzerland. This engine is in working condition, can be seen at the website, (www.Internalfire.com) and there is a YouTube video of it running.
Wheelwright

 

[johanvanzanten]

Hi all,

I am very interested to follow the blast injection diesel project. I made a true diesel engine type 250 / 400 (the last engine made by Rudolf diesel before he sold the patents) but did not succeed the air blast injection. I use solide injection instead. You can see picktures of my engine on the Model Engineer album page.

http://www.model-engineer.co.uk/albums/member_photo.asp?a=6778&p=123122

Please brouse for some more photos of my model.
Please let me know if I can help.

Regards, Johan van Zanten, The Netherlands.

 

[Orrin]

Nick, Gunna said...

...I am presently involved with the restoration of a 12" scale engine...

In other words, he meant the scale is 12-inches to the foot, full size.

Orrin

 

[MuellerNick]

he meant the scale is 12-inches to the foot, full size.

Ah well, I have read that. But I didn't know how many toes a British foot has. I'm metric.

So this ain't a model but a replica?

What's the height of the A-frame shown in the pictures? It looks so small to me, considering the power output.


Even more confused ...
Nick

 

[gunna]

Ah well, I have read that. But I didn't know how many toes a British foot has. I'm metric.
So this ain't a model but a replica?
What's the height of the A-frame shown in the pictures? It looks so small to me, considering the power output.
Even more confused ...
Nick

Sorry Nick, although Australia is metric I still think in feet and inches, and although this engine was made in England, 99% of it's dimensions are actually metric. That cylinder casting is about 2.5 metres high, plus about 0.5 metre for the engine base and another 0.5 metre for the cylinder head. I will get some more accurate figures next time I am on site. No, its not a model or a replica, it is the real thing and I may have overestimated the power output but I will check that also in a few days.

 

[gunna]

In Nick's post #44 he treated us to the tiny pillar (2 per cylinder) that supports the rocker shaft;

I have a bit more trouble holding the original;


Ian.

 

[gunna]

Next he showed us the rocker arms;

Injector, air start, and inlet/exhaust, above in that order.
We have assembled the heads, but the rockers are pretty obvious;

This engine starts on one cylinder only, so the other two heads have only three rockers, Exhaust, injector, intake in order left to right above. One thing different to the MAN is the two piece exhaust rocker. This enables the valve end of the rocker to be removed which allows removal of the exhaust valve and its cage for servicing without disturbing the whole rocker assembly.

Ian.

 

[MuellerNick]

That cylinder casting is about 2.5 metres high

Ah! That looked a bit smaller to me.
Mine is 2770 (original) high.
If your A-frame is 2.5 m high, that would make 73.5 hp per cylinder (ratio of hight^3; eg. (2500/2770)^3 * 100). That's a good fit.


Nick

 

[MuellerNick]

All that is just really amazing!
I have to ask someone in OZ about an engine built in England by a German license.

I got a shot of the cylinder head:

From this perspective, you get an impression how huge this engine is.

I take the chance to ask you a question.
Over all the time, I did not find out what is inside of the leftmost support frame of the camshaft (red arrow).

Left of that is the housing of the spur gear that drives the camshaft. That's obvious what must be inside of there. But that housing has a solid connection to the support and there are features inside of it. See the whatever on the bottom and the cover with the 4 bolts just above the arrow.
Do you have an idea what is going on inside?

Thanks

Nick

 

[gunna]

I take the chance to ask you a question.
Over all the time, I did not find out what is inside of the leftmost support frame of the camshaft.....
...... that housing has a solid connection to the support and there are features inside of it. See the whatever on the bottom and the cover with the 4 bolts just above the arrow.
Do you have an idea what is going on inside?

Thanks

Nick

Frankly, no. I can only assume that there is some passageway to the water jacket for that cylinder, but what for I do not know. There is nothing similar on the Willans.
Ian.
Edit: It wouldn't contain any sort of oil supply for the camshaft gears?

 

[MuellerNick]

Edit: It wouldn't contain any sort of oil supply for the camshaft gears?

Well, that would be an explanation. But not a good one for me. The gear box alone has enough place for oil. And, there are too many access holes (3) on that camshaft support to make sense. The feature at the lower end looks like there is some spring loaded mechanism inside. If there would be some kind of gear inside, there should be a shaft/lever that transmits that gear's action to the outside. But there is none. There's also no easy means to transmit something from the camshaft gearbox to that part.

Edit:
Passage for water doesn't fit. This feature is only on the left cylinder, where the transmission axle to the camshaft is.


Nick

 

[gunna]

Just for interest, I just found this. This is what our engine looked like just before we started on it;

Not real pretty, is it?
Ian.

 

[MuellerNick]

Looks a bit neglected.
But makes your effort and success in restoring here look even better.

But on this picture, it has 7 steps to the platform. An other hint for the 70 (75) hp per cylinder.
Maybe they decreased the height of the steps to make it look more powerful. hahaha.


Nick

 

[MuellerNick]

Gunna,
have you got a better picture of that part?
Maybe it is the explanation for what I am looking for.


Thanks,
Nick

 

[gunna]

Gunna,
have you got a better picture of that part?
Thanks,
Nick

I will get one, but I can tell you now that that is the fuel pump for this engine. It is mounted directly in front of, and driven by, eccentrics on the vertical shaft. One eccentric is the actual pump, while the other is controlled by the governor and is a bleed valve to control fuel pressure. The governor is in the large circular housing just below it.
Ian.