Otto building ... who is speaking to me in this video?

D

DMahalko

Intermediate Poster
Credit where credit is due. Who did I record talking to me in this video here, and would he like source credit in this video clip of how Otto engines work?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_engine


(The video works best with the Firebox web browser.)

This article has so far been just a redirect to the "four stroke engine" article, but really the stationary engines designed by Nicolaus Otto deserve a encyclopedia page of their own so I'm taking it over to start a page dedicated to the Otto engines. I'll be adding more video here later.

I'm sure there are people who know way more about these stationary engines than me. Anyone can edit wikipedia articles, so feel free to edit the page and add any additional technical info you like. (Create an account if you want editing credit, or just edit without logging in to do it anonymously.)

- Dale
 
That should be "FireFox" browser, not "Firebox browser". But I'm sure you'd like one of those here. :rof:


Anyone know if these have flowing water jacket cooling around the cylinder? I am assuming they must have it since none of the engines have a water evaporation water tank mounted over the cylinder like the later hit-n-miss engines. As a stationary it would make sense for these to use an external heat radiator somewhere.

I suppose they could be radiantly cooled without water, but that sounds highly unlikely. I don't recall seeing any large heat radiators around any of the engines... I suppose the radiators could've been up overhead where I wasn't looking, but I was just dashing through in 15 minutes at the end of the show.


Ideally I am of the opinion that each engine deserves its own video clip on Wikipedia, with each engine running one at a time to clearly hear each one, and history information from the sign by each engine.

Also it'd be better to use a proper professional XLR handheld microphone that picks up the low frequencies better than my little Canon PowerShot A640 could do it here. My little camera's microphone clips during the "chug" of each machine so it doesn't sound quite like the real thing.

But I'm 350 miles away from WMSTR which makes access difficult. There's years ahead for other people to also help with this I guess. This doesn't need to get done immediately, and video support is still brand-new on Wikipedia.

- Dale
 
Dale... we have a gas engine guy that is active on the forum, but he does not have internet access right now and will not be close to home for another 5 or 6 weeks. Perhaps when he gets back home he will be able to answer your questions. None of the active members here now know to much about this area of the show.
 
They have a cooling jacket. They have one common radiator up hill from the building that services all the engines.
 
I'll have to get photos of that cooling system for Wikipedia eventually. Unless someone else could take a picture of it and send it to me. :)


Here's another technical question, which would probably need an expert to answer. Do these engines hold the piston valves open when the engine is not firing? I have seen other later hit 'n miss engines that do this trick.

This allows the piston to "breathe" and to slide unloaded when the engine is not firing, because otherwise it pointlessly compresses a volume of air that is not going to propel the engine, which adds to the running resistance and makes the engine slow down more quickly.

Only when the engine is about to fire, do the valves need to close completely to compress the gas/air mixture in the cylinder head.

It is very hard to know if this engineering design applies to Otto's machines without a really serious examination of the mechanisms, and I just did not have time for that.

- Dale
 
Cooling System

Dale:
As stated in an earlier post there is a large wood tank located up the hill (NE) of the OTTO BUILDING.The water is fed to the building by gravity from the wood tank to the building then fed thru the engines to a drain system in the floor to a large buried tank and pumped back to the tank.
The tank acts as the radiator for the system seems to work very well, this year because of the high and constant temp out side we did experience some minor problems.
Hope this answears your question on the cooling system for the engines.
 
Person talking in video

Dale,

The person in your video (featuring just his arm) is my brother Jeff Withers. He along with my other brother Keven Withers operate (with the help of other family and friends) most of the engines in the Otto Building.

Jody
 
Follow up

Dale,

Sorry, I didn't answer the second part of the question. I don't think Jeff Withers would necessarily care if he is credited or not.

Jody
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top