From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Experiments observing the condition of the fuel mixture in cylinders at varying throttle temperatures.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 50\3\ Scan161 | |
| Date | 18th August 1921 | |
| contd. -4- the condition of the combustion chamber. The idea was to see that we were getting a dry mixture in the cylinders. After all, it is the condition in which the mixture enters the cylinders which is of prime importance. We found that we could, by varying the temperature of the exhaust heated throttle, perceive a distinct change in the condition of the mixture in the cylinder. When running at 500 revs. full throttle with normal mixture and the throttle at 140°C., the mixture was practically dry and invisible. One could see a slight sign of fog but there was no liquid condensed on the walls of the combustion chamber. As we cooled the throttle down, then we could notice the liquid condensing on the walls. After a number of tests we were convinced that one could look upon the inlet valve as a re-atomizer, i.e., we could not see any signs of petrol entering the cylinder in liquid form, it was always in the form of a well atomized mixture. In order to prove this point more definitely, we attempted to light the interior of the cylinder by a protected high tension spark so that we could see exactly the condition of the mixture as it entered the cylinder at any position of the inlet valve. So far we have not carried this out but we know no reason why this cannot be done. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||