Time for an update, nearly completed Knox Waterless engine

[Art Anderson]

This thing now looks like an engine, the only major external component yet to be done is the exhaust pipe and muffler, but that will have to wait until I get the chassis built, which will start this coming week. Added since the last updates are the carburetor, which looks pretty strange, because it's very primitive. While the venturi principles were well-known to those early automobile engineers and inventors, numerous now-obscure makes used other means of getting a fuel-air mixture into the engine.

One of the simplest designs was the one I did for the Knox: A "cotton-wick" carburetor. Simply described, this was a large tube (on the real Knox of which I have a pic, this was an all brass component) so brass rod stock got the call. Inside this intake tube was a fairly long braided cotton wick, not unlike the flat wicks used in "coal oil" (kerosene) lamps in people's homes. Gasoline was dribbled by gravity onto the wick. Air was drawn into this tube through a couple of rows of fairly small holes along the top side on the intake stroke, the velocity of the inrushing air being sufficient to evaporate the white gasoline of the day. This was, on the Knox, admitted into the cylinder by means of an "atmospheric" valve, which had a fairly soft spring, allowing the intake stroke of the engine to simply "suck" open this valve. With the fairly low rpm range of this and other, similar one cylinder motors, this was more than sufficient to add the fuel-air mixture to the cylinder on demand.

Also added are the cooling fan (the only "commercial" part on the engine, this was given up by the Ertl Collectibles 1902 Knox delivery truck that is the inspiration for this project), and the driving wheel for the fan, which will connect to the fan by means of a wide, flat belt. The wheel itsef (or pulley if you will) is a slice of 5/8" Evergreen styrene round tubing, indexed and drilled on the mill, with a hub turned from clear acrylic, which also was indexed and drilled. The spokes are some Contrails styrene rod stock (Contrails was an English aftermarket company), and it still needs the front bearing and mount, but that can't be added until the engine gets its final assembly.

Art

[Foxer]

A simple engine, but a beautiful piece of art, ...Art.

And just wondering .. is all that shining metallic goodness gonna get buried in black paint in the end?

[Art Anderson]

A simple engine, but a beautiful piece of art, ...Art.

And just wondering .. is all that shining metallic goodness gonna get buried in black paint in the end?

Foxer,

Yup, it will get painted. The real engine was made in iron and steel, just about the only brass showing would have been the carburetion. I have no clue as to what color Knox might have used on their automotive engines, although I have seen any number of pics of Knox water-cooled single cyl marine engines, and those seem all to have been done in an industrial equipment medium green.

For this one, I am thinking a dark green, as that color will bring out the details still, but not be so bright as to be a focus of attention, as it's to be slung underneath the frame, in the middle of the chassis itself. In short, I want people to view the whole car, not call their attention specifically to any one assembly or part.

Art

[stevegt738]

Great looking little engine, love the detail work.

[LDO]

This thing now looks like an engine...

Art

That's debatable. Just kidding. That's some really fascinating scratchbuilding you're doing there, Art. Your posts are always a treat to read.