Re: [FWDLK] FIRST HEMI

[Dave Casey <dcasey@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you're talking about a two cycle engine, the Yamaha YZ series dirt bike
engines have domed pistons and a domed chamber, though the dome is not as
tall as that of a hemi. The spark plug is dead center above the piston, and
only slightly recessed.

It would be cool to make modern designed aluminum heads for old engines like
those you described though.

Dave Casey
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Watson" <wwatson@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 1:57 AM
Subject: Re: [FWDLK] FIRST HEMI


> I, for one, would like to see this hemi version of the sleeve-valve
enigne.
> It would be possible to produce a hemispherical combustion chamber in a
> sleeve-valve engine as the engine has the valves on the sides of the
> cylinder walls.  It would be a simple matter of machining a domed
cumbustion
> chamber with domed pistons. All the drawings I have seen of Willys's
> sleeve-valve engines show a recessed chamber for the spark plug,  but the
> pistons are cupped, not domed.  So these drawings do not show a hemi
engine.
>
> However, the sleeve-valve engine was not a Willys design, who was a
salesman
> not an engineer,.  It was designed by one Charles Knight with a
> production-ready, patented design by 1907.  He sold licences for his
> patented engine and Willys gained the rights to produce and sell Knight
> sleeve-engined cars when he acquired the Edwards Motor Car Co., Long
Island,
> New York in 1914 along with its Knight licence.   Although Willys did
> produce a V8 Knight sleeve-valve engine in the late teens, his next
engine,
> a six, was gained by acquiring the Sterling-Knight company in 1925.   He
> also acquired Stearns-Knight in 1926.
>
> The last Willys-Knight was built for 1933, just about the time the Knight
> patents expired.   The Knight engine was more popular with expensive
makes,
> suich as Minerva and Mercedes, as well as Daimler who built their last
> Knight-engined car in 1939.
>
> By the way, the first car to use a Knight sleeve-valve engine was the
> British Daimler car in 1908.  Russell of Toronto, Canada, acquired a
license
> in 1910, while some other American firms were Stoddard-Dayton (1911),
> Columbia (1911) Atlas/Lyons (1912), R & V Knight, and Handley-Knight
(1921),
>
> Walter Chrysler, though, never owned Willys-Overland.   He was in charge
of
> the company during 1919-21 as a contractor of the banking syndicate that
put
> Willys into bankruptcy proceedings.  To my knowledge Chrysler put no money
> into the Willys-Knight, instead working on improving the Overland and
> developing the first Chrysler  This Chrysler was not the Chrysler Model B
> that was introduced in 1924, but the Model A that was sold off at auction
in
> 1921 to one William C. Durant.  This Chrysler formed the basis for
Durant's
> Flint car.
>
> When Chrysler left Willys he never looked back at the Knight engine.  He
> stuck to "poppet" valve engines, producing in-line, side-valve versions.
> The sleeve-valve design was a dead-end, being an oil burner, expensive to
> build and not an easy engine to produce more power.
>
> Bill
> Vancouver, BC
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Paul J Dwaihy II
> To: wwatson@xxxxxxxxx ; L-FORWARDLOOK@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 4:29 PM
> Subject: FIRST HEMI
>
>
> Gents,
> You may want to check your history of the HEMI a wee bit more....  An
> American Company called Willys-Overland -Knight was the first American
> Company to produce a HEMI.   During a conversation with a fellow gear head
> in Auburn Mass. I (being from Detroit) learned something that history
books
> in the library confirmed. Essentially  this Detroit "Motor City" boy  got
> "spanked" by a guy from Auburn, Mass.!!  Willys pretty much came up with
the
> idea and were the first to produce a "sleeve valved" version.  Well before
> either Europe or Chrysler.  W. P. Chrysler bought Willys ( and their
> designs) and put his folks on them to "fine tune" the concept.   Several
> substandard versions later they got it right.  But neither good ole'  W.P.
> nor his company were the first in either category, he purchased the idea
> from Willys. Several Willys-Overland-Knight HEMI's can still be found in
> operation today!   Do a wee bit of research...and use it to frustrate the
> overly confident ( like I was) HEMI pseudo effcianato's.
> enjoy!
> Paul from Detroit
>
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