'Oil Engines' Excerpted from Gas and Oil Engines
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Fig. 375-Capitaine Engine
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1908 Edition Sent to us by Richard D. Hamp, 1772 Conrad Avenue,
San Jose, California 95124-4501
Capitaine Engine
Before the commencement of his experiments on oil engines, Emile
Capitaine had already gained considerable experience in the design
of gas engines, to the development of which his work in no small
degree contributed. His first oil engine patent dates from 1879,
and from that time until 1886, when a further patent was granted,
he carried out a continuous series of laborious and costly
experiments with a view to devising an engine which would run
satisfactorily on ordinary lighting petroleum having a density of
about 0.88.
Good results were obtained from the early engine, which worked
without either flame or heating tube; but it was found
necessary to give each time a full charge, or at the least 75
percent. Otherwise, if the charge were too small or omitted, the
vaporizer chamber, which was maintained at the necessary
temperature by the repeated explosions, became chilled to too great
an extent. From this it will be evident that the engine could only
work under certain conditions. Numerous experiments were also made
with a view to arriving at a type of engine which would work
equally efficiently at full and low loads, the consumption of oil
being proportioned to the power developed. Two new patents were
obtained for a system of regulating the temperature, but the gear
was of too complicated a nature, and finally, after much
experimenting, Capitaine adopted the lamp heating system, which has
given very good results. In this later type of engine the vaporizer
remained always in communication with the interior of the cylinder,
but its form was such that even when heated to redness premature
explosion of the mixture did not take place, and the formation of
carbonaceous deposits on the inner surfaces was entirely
avoided.
In the Capitaine engine of 1892-1893, although a vaporizer lamp
is provided, it may be dispensed with, as the engine can also work
on the pneumatic system employed in the 1886 type, with, as before,
the conditions that the charge must not be less than 75 percent of
the full amount, and that the number of explosions must not be
reduced. Considering the uniformly good diagrams that are
obtainable from the Capitaine engine without a heating lamp, when
the temperature of the vaporizer varies within considerable limits,
all that is necessary for successful working is to enclose the
vaporizer and to allow it to retain as much as possible of the heat
of each explosion. Above all, it is essential to protect it during
the suction period from the contact of cold air or gas at a lower
temperature. By observing these conditions Capitaine has succeeded
in devising a type of engine which gives excellent results and does
not involve the use of a heating lamp. By carefully coating all the
surfaces with refractory non-conducting materials, he has also
succeeded in placing the vaporizer within the combustion chamber
itself. In this arrangement, which forms the subject of a separate
patent, a quantity of hot and expanded gas is allowed to pass into
the vaporizer by means of a small valve, which opens at the end of
the expansion stroke, and closes immediately thereafter, when the
large exhaust valve is opened. To start the engine from the cold
condition the vaporizer must first be heated by means of a hand
lamp for two or three minutes.