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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1924)
,,MMMlMWMlMMMMMWMBMaWWMB 1 . . , , j" " , , , , .,..... '"'- . . i .......... ....... 1 T Rickenbacker Announces Its New " Vertical Eight F. W. Pettyjohn Company, Now Local Dealers, Tells of New Car A new; car with an eight-in-line engine has been addled to the Rickenbacker line and is now in production. The t new chassis, which will be known as the verti cal eight, will supplement the six, which will continue to be the backbone of the line.; Three body types, a sport touring, a coupe, and a sedan, will b supplied on the standard 121 ( inch wheel base chassis. Four-wheel brakes, oil rectifier" and air cleaner are Included as standard equipment. P.allopn tires are optional at ex tra COst. . " ;'V;: ' . j ' . li . , Perf armance, as secured by a high ratio of engine torque to car . weight, has been mafle one of the outstanding characteristics of the new car. With a boire and stroke of 3x4 inches and a compression ratio of 4.76 to 1, anj output of 70 horsepower at 3000 r. p. ra. is se cured. ' This is one horsepower for each 3.83 cubic inch piston dis placement, the total! displacement being 268.56 cubic inches. An ac celeration of from 5 to 25 miles per hour on high gear in 6 sec onds is claimed. I Unusual Design I Features There are a number of unusual design features, particularly in the engine. Some of these bear the 1 'stamp of the Rickenbacker air ex- ; perience, the radiating fins on the cast aluminum oil panj cold air blast for oil cooling in summer and a dual or diiplex carburetor. Probably the most unusual en gine feature is the complete sep aratloa of the camshaft from the crankshaft ; compartment. The , camshaft is carried in a separate oil-tight compartment and is com Dletely immersed in oil at all times. This is directly In contrast with the usual method of oiling the camshaft by the spray from the crankshaft and rod bearings : Like other eight-in-line engines, the Rickenbacker is arranged as a central and an outside four. The division into two fours, however. ' ia carried out further than in other types m that it is carbureted and ignited as two fours. The mani folding is separate to each four to orevent overlanDingi and designed so that the characteristics of each "passage from carburetor to cylin der is the same, to provide uni form distribution. The eight cylinders are cast in an L-shaped block. The heads are incorporated in a separate r.nntinv whlfh Is formpH to nro. vide turbulence of the gasses in the combustion chamber to a de tonation. The combustion cham bers are domed over the valves and taper down to a small clear ance on the opposite sides. The form is the same as that used on the Rickenbacker six. "For uni formity the chambers are -mach " ined. The spark plugs are over the inner sides ' of the intake . . valves. 1 A large water space is in . corporate! in the head over the combustion chamber and - sur rounding the spark! plugs. As in the six, gray iron three ring pistons with adjustable wrist 'Din bushings are used. The ad justment is J:aken' up by means of a clamp bolt In the upper end o the rod. f. ; Nine bearings i support the crankshaft. To further carry out the provisions for rigidity the block is stiffened ! by webs on bidxea which act as the bearing supports. The oil i pan also lends RnDDort as a structural member, . the ribbed cast aluminum contribt nting to the stiffness of the assem t fclv. The bearings are all Hanged - type which is probably unique for production of i American cars HQ card less of price class. As in the ilx, two flywheels, ne at each end of the crankshaft are employed 'j: The valves ;are driven through a Morse 1 inch: silent chain. . This is a triangular three-sprocket arrangement, j the third sprocket . taking care o&'tnei generator and .- : water ; pump. The -; crankshaft I sprocket ha 20 teeth, the .cam shaft 4 Oand the f generator 15. i The camshaft; Is j supported on light bearings, held in webs In the ', camshaft compartment. Oil is " ' fed into thjs compartment by the i oil relief system and splash, and , overflows into the crankcase, ' Thus, besides the f oil submerged ' camshaft the mushroom ends of ' the tatfpets are always immersed , in oil and the valve stems are con j stantly under a spray of oil and therefore to a large extent air cooled. . Covered With iAlumlnum To render the valve system ac cessible the entlTe Heft side of .the engine and ' extending from the crankcase to the j cylinder ' head there Is a large compartment cov ered by a cast aluminum plate. When this plate is removed the en tire valve : mechanism including the tapets, springs and camshaft are exposed and the entire blocks of taDDet guides can be removed. If only simple tappet adjustments are necessary, smaller hand holes In the large plate coyered by small elates can be - quickly opened by turninsr six thumb screws. This permits the adjustment of the tap pets without draining the oil from th ecamshaft compartment.. Mushroom tappets of hollow sec tion transmits the valve drive through the conventional nut ad justment to the valve stems. The valve stems are inclined at an angle of 3 degrees to axis of the cylinder. The valves are 1 inches nominal diameter with inch1 diameter stems. The valves springs are 45 pounds for both in let and exhaust and the tappet clearance is .008 Inches. The Valve tappets are carried in de mountable blocks in the- same manner as in the six. Each end block in the eight carries six tap- nets and the center block four. The center block also carries the ball bearing and the spiral bevel Rear which drives the oil pump and the ignition distributer, these being at opposite ends of the ver tical shaft which is located at the center, f longitudinally. 5 The oiling system on the eight j does not differ from that on the six with the exception on this new model there is a cast aluminum oil nan ontbe bottom of which are radiating fins for cooling ' the oil. Anomer meinoa pi cooims mo -." is also Introduced on this j model by means of the incoming cold air on the way to the carburetor. This air blast air coojing is used only in summer when the conditions are 'such. that' the driver has the dash regulation in the summer po- sition for admitting cold air to the carburetor. In the winter when the dash adjustment is such that hot air is taken into the carbure tor the oil cooling device is not in operation since the air is taken through a different passage. As indicated above, the driver mav utilize either one or two aii ' intake passages. This is effected by; the use of a bifurcated casting with a two-way valve. One pass age of the casting is jacketed for a short section of its length. It Is th rou eh this jacket around the air intake tube that the hot cylinder oil passes and "is cooled by contact with the cold walls. The other nassaees for use in cold , weather passes from the air cleaner direct ly to the carburetor without con tact with the oil jacket. The Rickenbacker air cleaner as em ployed on the six is also used onj the eight. The carburetor is a dual type Zenith, with fixed jets. It is sup plied by a dual feed line from the gasoline tank to the vacuum sys tem!. This furnished a reserve supply of fuel without thought of the driver, and In case of a leak in one lihe gives him another. Two nines lead from the tank, one ter minating at a lower point in the tank to the other and constitut- fno- a 3 ration reserve suDDly. A thrc.w!iv valve: controls' the re serve. : New Form of Hotspot Thf intake manifolding had been arranged to avoid difficul ties attendant upon attempting to manllold the entire eight cylinder a a single engine. The mani folds are arranged as if for two independent fours in exactly -the same way as in -the cranksnait. m other words, just as there is an inside and outside on the crank shaft so is there an inside and out side four on the manifolding both intake and exhaust. 'This dual in take manifold is so designed that the characteristics of each passage from the carburetor to the cylin der ,are the same .The intake is Drovided with a new form! of hot- siot in which the exhaust; Is bled into the hotspot chamber, but not bled out. In other words,; a nimd chamber is created into which the heat enteis but irom which there no outlet excent to back 'up. The theory advanced for this? is that as hot gasses will readily 'go into a compartment filled with cold air, the heat enters rapidly until the temperature: of the chamber nas Increased to a degree fixed by the operating conditions of the engine. rne air is men imunsuneu ubib serving as a cushion to keep ad ditional gasses out and maintained an eaual te'mnerature under all driving conditions. Two exhaust pipes are fitted with independent manifolds fpr the Inner and I outer fours, thus eliminating back pressure in the exhaust line. The muffler is also a dual type although incased 1n a single housing J so that the right really exhausts' as two fours. Ignition also is by a dual ar rangement nrovided by a Delco Kvctem that has been snecially de signed for this engine. There are dual contact Doints on the rotor of the' breaker mechanism as well as . . . j i : t a (tuai conaenser ana uuai tuns. The electrical lighting systems are American Rosch With U. S. L. stor age battery of 166 ampere-hour caDacity. The vertical eight like the six is enninned with j the Skinner oil rectifying system and Is operated on the distillation principle. As in the six engine, clutch and srearset are mounted on a unit nowerplant with three-point sus pension.' There is a slight depar ture from the six In the method of EUDDorting the front end. Instead of the annular, bearing furnishing the third point in the three-point suspension as in the six, the new eight rests on a small flat surface at the center of a forger member. The ends of which are attached to the side members of the frame just behind the radiator. Between 1 i i (Continued on page 8.) f i rssmmf Ffri wr ir,, v,v h a, , .ffr.a " ' ' : v hw mw m hi mi i ii mm Ti i ii ' - shv m. w . mm m - m" J i rt Really iheManvv For We a I 1 n.SnlQ ' Bass Heuter, Dougnton Marcus 186 South High " 'j v . Better Safe than Sorry Tilt- 'OLD SAYIXfl "There is lin ilmi f la umn mm - Ll- m vnni rnr. V ' g"l." 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