Above: right side view
Below: left side view

ENGINE NO. FOUR DATA

Cylinders: 1
Type: Vertical Hit & Miss
Bore: 1.062”
Stroke: 1.362
Displacement: 1.20 cu. in.
Compression Ratio: 6:1
Ignition: originally coil/spark plug; later glow plug
Cooling: air
Fuel: 15% nitromethane/methanol mix
Max. RPM: 6,500 (3,500 governed)
Est. Horsepower: 0.45

BUILDER'S NOTES

Background -- After building my first Hit & Miss engine from a kit I became more intrigued by this old type engine, originally built by the Perkins Co. The result is this vertical Hit & Miss engine with a flyball governor.

Construction -- I sent for drawings for a quarter scale model of this engine, but after looking them over decided I would make my own design. For one thing, the quarter scale made a model that was too large for my taste. I also didn’t care for some of the design features from Perkins. I used a conventional rocker arm to operate the exhaust valve and an atmospheric (automatic) intake valve. A vertical shaft was run at 1/2 speed off the crankshaft which carried the ball type governor.

This was the last engine for which I made patterns and castings. Since that time I’ve stuck to billet machined type of parts. I have a Bridgeport type mill which can handle any small engine parts.

Operation -- The ball governor actuates a lever which blocks the exhaust valve when the speed gets beyond a set value. The engine then slows down until the lever backs out and the engine resumes speed. This system worked quite well.