Oddball engines and prototypes

[husaberg]

I've got nothing on it as far as I know (away from home and hard drive at the moment) but I did have a search online in case doing it from the UK brought up something you didn't get.
Different picture on South Bay Riders forum - quite grainy.
Few odd mentions here and there but nothing useful.
Lots of links to the modern Polish version and some to an Australian one.
Somebody on a Formula 1 site said they'd read a proposal for a 32 cylinder car version!

Local bike shop cafe has a pile of books for customers to read, one of them is Peter William's "Designed to Race". I'll have a look next time I'm in.

Most active thread on KB at the moment.......well it was untl yesterday

[husaberg]

lanchester twin crank engine

England’s Lanchester Motor Company was founded in 1899. The firm’s Lanchester Ten, introduced a year later, featured an air-cooled, twin-crankshaft, 4.0-liter flat-twin driving the rear wheels. One crank lived above the other, and each piston had three connecting rods—two light outer ones and a heavier one in the center. The light rods went to one crank, the heavy rods to the other, and the two shafts counterrotated. The result was 10.5 hp at 1250 rpm and a remarkable lack of vibration.

From the patent

A contra-rotating twin crankshaft system for internal combustion engines. Two crankshafts are arranged in parallel, and are connected together to rotate in opposite directions. At least one piston is spaced from the crankshafts. Connecting rod assemblies extend in a crossed relationship from each crankshaft to two spaced wrist pins at the piston. Preferably, one connecting rod assembly is made up of two spaced connecting rods and the other is a single connecting rod which passes between the two spaced connecting rods to form the crossing relationship. If desired, the dual connecting rod assembly may be two spaced single connecting rods or have one connecting rod in the form of a fork, with the single connecting rod passing between the tines of the forked connecting rod.
1. A contra-rotating twin crankshaft system for internal combustion engines which comprises:
two substantially parallel first and second crankshafts;
drive means for causing said crankshafts to rotate substantially identically in opposite directions;
at least one piston spaced from said crankshafts;
first and second, substantially parallel, wrist pins secured to each said piston;
first and second connecting rod means extending between said first and second crankshafts and said first and second wrist pins, respectively, with said connecting rod means in a crossed relationship.



2. The contra-rotating twin crankshaft system according to claim 1 wherein each of said connecting rod means comprises a single elongated member fastened to one of said wrist pins and to a crank pin on one of said crankshafts.


3. The contra-rotating twin crankshaft system according to claim 1 wherein said drive means comprises a gear attached to each crankshaft for rotation about an axis of rotation of said crankshaft, said gears meshed to rotate together in opposite directions.


4. The contra-rotating twin crankshaft system according to claim 1 wherein said first connecting rod means consists of two spaced, substantially parallel rods and said second connecting rod means consists of a single rod arranged so that said second rod passes between said two first rods.


5. The contra-rotating twin crankshaft system according to claim 1 wherein said first connecting rod means has a forked configuration with a single first end connected to said first crankshaft and spaced second ends connected to a said wrist pin and said second connecting rod extends between said spaced second ends of said first connecting rod.


6. In an internal combustion engine having at least two cylinders, a piston movable in each said cylinder, crankshaft means spaced from each said piston, first and second, substantially parallel, wrist pins secured to each said piston and first and second connecting rod means extending from said respective wrist pins to said crankshaft means so that linear movement of each of said pistons is converted into rotary movement at said crankshaft means, the improvement comprising:
said crankshaft means comprising a pair of spaced substantially parallel first and second crankshafts;
means for coupling said crankshafts together for rotation in opposite directions; and
said first and second connecting rod means extending from each of said respective first and second crankshafts to said first and second wrist pins, respectively, with said first and second connecting rod means in a crossed relationship.



7. The improvement according to claim 6 wherein said coupling means includes a gear means secured to each said crankshaft with said gear means meshed together.


8. The improvement according to claim 6 wherein each of said first and second connecting rod means is a single elongated member connected between a crankshaft and a said wrist pin with said elongated members spaced closely adjacent to each other.


9. The improvement according to claim 6 wherein said first connecting rod means comprises two parallel spaced elongated members and said second connecting rod means comprises a single elongated member positioned between said two parallel spaced elongated members.


10. The improvement according to claim 6 wherein said first connecting rod means has a forked configuration with a single first end connected to said first crankshaft and spaced second ends connected to a said wrist pin and said second connecting rod means is a single elongated member extending between said spaced second ends of said first connecting rod.


11. The improvement according to claim 10 wherein said second connecting rod means has a flattened, blade-like configuration.

some other stuff
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...ius-lanchester

[pete376403]

lanchester twin crank engine


From the patent

some other stuff
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...ius-lanchester

Similar concepts to the Neander diesel (twin contra rotating cranks, two rods per piston)

[husaberg]

Similar concepts to the Neander diesel (twin contra rotating cranks, two rods per piston)

reading the text it looks like it could have up to three?
I only see two in pic

[pete376403]

reading the text it looks like it could have up to three?
I only see two in pic

The contra-rotating twin crankshaft system according to claim 1 wherein said first connecting rod means consists of two spaced, substantially parallel rods and said second connecting rod means consists of a single rod arranged so that said second rod passes between said two first rods.

Would make for a lot of weight flying around in there

[Michael Moore]

Here's some info on Treen's projects

http://www.eurospares.com/graphics/engine/Treen/

[guyhockley]

Guazzoni tandem twin Class 1 kart engine (100cc). Early 60s, maybe?
The internet says the factory took half of it to build a racing 50.

[guyhockley]

Back when it was shiny and new. Don't think those are FOSpipe exhausts...
Presumably it's a 180° twin with both cranks rotating backwards.

[Grumph]

Looked at in position on the kart, you'd swear it was a 250...

Bronze bushed small ends I note. I'd seen it mentioned in a couple of books but never seen pics. Interesting.

[Frits Overmars]

Guazzoni tandem twin Class 1 kart engine (100cc).

Looked at in position on the kart, you'd swear it was a 250.

Thou shalt not swear Grumph, but you're close: it's a 200 cc twin, with one aircooled cylinder and one.... yeah, right .

[Grumph]

I'd forgotten the odd capacity classes run back then. Twin 100cc McCullochs were a popular choice here at the time.

I think you mean "and one cylinder cuddled up for quick warmups"....
Both are effectively mixture cooled anyway.

[husaberg]

Millyard Famous for his massive v twin his little v twins his numerous Kawaski 4's 5 etc his v12 Kawasaki and many more
here is some others i had not seen.

[husaberg]

Some more

[husaberg]

And some more

[husaberg]

The Kawa LC 500 4