ENRESO WORLD - ILab Knight Engine Istas René Graduated in Automotive Technlogies 8-10-2018 Charles Yale Knight Inventor of the Knight Engine BORN: 1868 Indiana, USA DIED: 1940 ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 2 Introduction The Knight engine was an internal combustion engine, where no inlet and outlet valves were used, but sliding plates. A sliding engine is born. Happy reading, Istas René ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 3 Knight together with financier L.B. Kilbourne founded an engine factory, where the engine was produced on a large scale. The best known model that was fitted with the engine was the Willys- Knight. Many other manufacturers also sold models with the name Knight in the type designation to distinguish the car from the regular models. Knight also made it possible to have the engine produced under license. In addition, he received royalties for each car sold. The sliding engine was relatively successful, but the production costs were high, so the engine could only be used in the more expensive car segment. In addition, the engine's performance was lagging behind and its reliability, due to the complex construction, was too low. From 1905 to 1907 Knight also produced its own car, the Silent Knight. The name refers to the relatively quiet character of the sliding engine compared to the regular side valves of the time. Knight design had two cast iron sleeves per cylinder, one sliding in the other, with the piston in the interior. The sleeves were operated by small connecting rod driven by an eccentric shaft and had gates cut out at their top ends. The cylinder head (called "junk head") was like a fixed, inverted piston with its own set of rings protruding from inside the interior. The heads became detachable separately for each cylinder. The design was remarkably quiet and the bus valves needed little attention. However, it was more expensive to manufacture because of the fine grinding required on surfaces of the sleeves. It also used more oil at high speeds and was more difficult to start in cold weather. Design of the engine allowed a central location for the spark plugs a better flame path, large ports improved gas flow and hemispherical combustion chambers which in turn allowed higher power delivery. In addition, the sleeve valves requiring much less maintenance than light valves, which required adjustment, grinding and even replacement after just a few thousand miles. The adiabatic and isothermal properties at the increased power provided by the large (relatively contemporary poppet valve models) port areas in the sleeves revealed a double-sleeve concept of Achilles heel. Many of the benefits are achieved by increased volumetric efficiency could be achieved due to the inability to provide resulting heat in a sufficiently steep slope to avoid excessive internal temperature. Due to these thermal conditions, contrary to usual practice, the induction port area was reduced to significantly less than that of the exhaust port. Later engines with thinner, steel-white metallized bushings possessed improved levels of heat dissipation, but thermal problems would remain characteristic of the design, thus allowing the development of possible inherent limitation in the double-slip motor. Improvements in the design and materials of the more common poppet valve motor eliminated most of the advantages initially retained by the sleeve valve provided variant, which made the early 1930s manufacture of the Silent Knight had stopped with only a few French car manufacturers continuing the war. ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 4 Knight and Kilbourne had hoped US would interest car manufacturers in the engine so that they could grant licences for its manufacture, but at first there were no takers. Pierce-Arrow of Buffalo, New York tested the engine against one of their own and found that it was stronger at speeds above 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) and would also go faster. But they dismissed as unsuitable for their offer of cars, because they believed that just over 55 miles per hour (89 km/h) was unsafe. They also considered the oil consumption (about 2 litres per 70 miles) excessive. Knight also received some bad publicity at the same time that a prototype car in 1906 Glidden tour was introduced, only to fall out on the first day due to mechanical breakdown. Daimler-Knight Daimler 22 hp open 2-person (1909 for example) mascot on radiator cap (CY) Knight After virtually ignored two written approaches by engineer Edward Manville , a director of Daimler , Knight changed his mind and decided to try in English to interest manufacturers in his engine. In 1907 Knight went with one of his cars to London, where he managed to see together with her compatriot Percy Martin , also a director of Daimler. Engineers Daimler tested the engine and the results were sufficiently encouraging for Daimler to set up a secret team to fully develop Knight's understanding. At the end of the project, however, it was no longer "Wholly Knight". Knight obtained a British patent for his modified engine on 6 June 1908. In September Daimler announced that "Silent Knight" engines would be installed in some of its 1909 models. To counter criticism from its competitors, Daimler had the RAC (Royal Automobile Club) their own independent tests of the Daimler-Knight. RAC engineers took two Knight engines and ran them under full load of 132 hours non-stop. The same engines were then installed in a touring car and driven 2000 miles (3200 km) on the Brooklands circuit, after which they were removed and re-run on the bench for 5 hours. RAC engineers reported that, when the engines were dismantled, there was no discernible wear, the cylinders and pistons were clean, and the valves showed no signs of wear either. The RAC was so impressed that it awarded the Daimler 1909 Dewar Trophy . The RAC reports caused Daimler share price to rise, £ 0.85 to £ 18.75, and competitors of the company to fear that the poppy-valves engine would soon be obsolete. WO Bentley was of the opinion that the Daimler-Knight engine carried out, as well as the similar Rolls-Royce power plant. The Knight engine (significantly improved by the engineers of Daimler) attracted the attention of the European car manufacturers. Daimler bought the rights of Knight "for England and the colonies" and shared responsibility for the European rights, to which it has of 60%, with Minerva of Belgium. European rights were bought from them and used by Panhard et Levassor and Mercedes . ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 5 Attracted by the capabilities of the "Silent Knight" engine, Daimler President had contacted Knight in Chicago and Knight settled in England near Coventry in 1907. Daimler contracted Dr. Frederick Lanchester as their consultant for the purpose and a great re-design and refinement of Knight's design took place in the deepest secrecy. Knight's design was made into a practical proposal. When unveiled in September 1908, the new engine caused a sensation. "Suffice it to say that mushroom valves, springs and cams and many small parts, are swept away the body, we have an almost completely spherical explosion chamber and a cast iron shell or tube as part of the combustion chamber in which the piston moves. Daimler dropped poppet valve engines all the way down and kept their silent sleeve-valve engines until the mid 1930s. Many vehicles were described as being susceptible to malfunctions due to the lubrication of the cylinder and sleeve contact surfaces. Often good lubrication cannot be guaranteed with the lubricants available at the time, especially with insufficient maintenance. This problem increased by speeds above 1600 rpm, after which the sleeve-valves engine longer superior output. With a maximum achievable speed of around 1750 rpm, the long-term development potential for the engine was limited. Introduction This article is about the Panhard sliding motor. Actually I think that's a nonsensical name; the French name covers the load better (without valves). The principle is that in the cylinder two cans go up and down independently of each other, driven by an eccentric shaft in the crankcase, to take care of the breathing of the engine. This axle is called latéral or lateral crankshaft in French; also called arbre (or axe) des eccentriques. This axle has long and short connecting rods for the buses. The buses have slots for the supply and removal of gas. The system had its advantages (the vulnerable valve mechanism due to a lack of metallurgical knowledge (although Panhard engines with valves were considered indestructible) and the noise of the valves exposed in the beginning was avoided; efficiency and cooling were better) but also disadvantages (too complicated for "ordinary" mechanics and a high oil consumption due to the lubrication of three bushings (1 fixed, 2 moving) per cylinder). After the war 39-45 Panhard switched over to valve control, but as stubborn as La Doyenne was, it was also quite unconventional. ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 6 Figure 4 ENRESO WORLD - ILab Page 7 Sliding motor operation This engine takes over the cylinders, connecting rods, pistons, crankshaft and crankcase from the classic engine, but in the crankcase there is an extra element: a lateral crankshaft (K) which is driven by the main crankshaft (E) via a chain (I) (see Fig. 4). This lateral crankshaft has a function similar to the present camshaft. It has eccentric connecting rods (L) connected to an "ear" at the bottom of a thin cast iron bushing (a bus called "tiroir" or "chemise" in French). These bushings - there are two per cylinder - fit closely together and, operated by the connecting rods, slide up and down into the cylinder.