Atkinson cycle engine

A well-made Atkinson cycle engine - an engineering oddity with all sorts of claims made for improved efficiency due to its novel design, when it was basically just another of the Otto patent-dodgers. Whilst it may not have delivered on its promise - otherwise we'd all be running around with these under the bonnet instead of Mr Ford's engines - it is an elegant thing to watch in motion.

Geoff, our own resident IC expert, took it upon himself to get this one fuelled up and connected to a battery when it arrived. So tickled was he with the way it went that rarely a day has gone past since than his arrival at the workshop in the morning hasn't been followed, shortly after, by a gentle "phut phut phut" from the end of his bench. He wasn't in yesterday, so we sneaked it outside and ran it in the sunshine - there's a clip of it here.

Base 9 x 14 inches
Flywheel 9 inch diameter