Posts Tagged engines
Horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine, overhead valves, 140 cubic inches displacement, 80 horsepower.
The compact Corvair reimagined the American automobile. Not least among its peculiarities was its rear-mounted, air-cooled aluminum engine. The air cleaner is prominent, with two hoses leading to carburetors mounted on each cylinder bank. Much of the engine is hidden by a metal shroud that directed the air flow around the unit. With its light weight and air cooling, the Corvair power plant proved popular with home airplane builders.
Matt Anderson is Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford.
20th century, 1960s, Henry Ford Museum, events, Engines Exposed, engines, Driving America, Chevrolet, cars, by Matt Anderson
From January 10 through March 15, we’re opening the hoods on more than 40 vehicles in Henry Ford Museum. Many will agree that the engine is the heart of an automobile – whether it’s the big V-8 in our 1956 Chrysler 300-B stock car, or the compact four-banger in our 1978 Dodge Omni. Over the next several weeks, I’ll use this space to share my thoughts on a selection of our exposed engines. Some are unconventional efforts, while others are mainstays produced by the millions. Each of them offers some special insight into more than 100 years of experimentation and improvement in how we power our cars.
First up - the 1907 White Model G.
1907 White Model G
Inline 2-cylinder compound steam engine with condenser, 30 horsepower
The White’s steam engine was designed for efficiency. Steam first expanded in the smaller high-pressure cylinder at rear, then expanded again in the larger low-pressure cylinder at front. The condenser in front of the engine, resembling a radiator from an internal combustion car, captured exhausted steam and converted it back into water, to be used again. These devices gave the Model G a claimed range of 150 miles on a 17-gallon water tank.
Take a look at the opening of the White's hood over on Instagram.
Matt Anderson is Curator of Transportation at The Henry Ford.
Driving America, by Matt Anderson, Henry Ford Museum, engines, cars, Engines Exposed
The great Novelty Works steam engine in Henry Ford Museum is arguably the finest surviving example of mid-19th century ornamented American machinery. Built in about 1855, the 30 foot tall, 50 ton gothic-style engine is a true visual emblem of the collision between traditional society and the modern industrial world taking place in this country just prior to the Civil War. Victorian engineers oftentimes covered their creations with ornament in a vain effort to harmonize these alien objects with the world about them. In the process, they unconsciously left a record of their own inner struggle to adapt to a new and alien world. Continue Reading
decorative arts, design, manufacturing, power, Made in America, Henry Ford Museum, engines
Corliss engines were renowned for their superior economy but it was their smooth running speed and swift response to changes in load that ensured their great success. These engines were particularly attractive to the textile industry. The energy needed to drive the vast numbers of machines used in textile mills was considerable but the delicacy of the threads and fabrics produced by textile machinery demanded that the power source be very responsive. The patented Corliss valve gear allowed the engine to maintain the precise speed needed to avoid thread breakage while simultaneously responding to varying loads as different machines were brought in or out of operation. Continue Reading
1850s, 19th century, power, manufacturing, Made in America, Henry Ford Museum, engines, engineering, by Marc Greuther
Back in May, we received a visit to our reading room by a team of engineering students from Penn State, who were touring Greenfield Village. They had been out in the Village helping to install a working replica (but more on that later) of Henry Ford's first experimental engine, the Kitchen Sink Engine. (The original engine, made in 1893, is in our collections storage.) Now they wanted to see what is near and dear to any engineer's heart: the blueprints. We located and pulled the engine's technical drawings, which had been created by Ford Motor Company staff circa 1944 and form part of our Ford Blueprint Drawings collection (just one small part of which is the "Miscellaneous Ford Motor Company Blueprints and Drawings Collection," where these drawings reside.
The engineering students were a rapt audience, and they stayed in the reading room for a while, poring over the drawings, talking to each other about them, and taking pictures. Later, an order was put in for high-resolution scans of the drawings. It turns out that a previous group of students from their course had already created their own replica of the engine, back in 2012 as part of a class project. The Henry Ford has had a replica of the Kitchen Sink Engine on display, but ours is not a working replica. Theirs is -- and that's the really cool thing. We are always pleased when our collections are used in exciting ways that bring the past forward. Icing on the cake for this particular case (maybe the Fates were smiling on us for the 150th anniversary of Henry Ford's birth?), was that with one of the Kitchen Sink Engine drawings, we hit a milestone number for our image scanning: THF100000! (All of the collections images we scan are assigned a unique identification number, in order to make tracking and retrieval possible.) A nice round—and large—number to commemorate an important first in Henry Ford's career! Now we're going to be wondering what THF200000 will be.
See the Penn State Beaver students' working replica of the Kitchen Sink Engine on display at this weekend's Old Car Festival.
archives, Henry Ford, drawings, educational resources, education, engines, engineering
