[nallen]

Oh thank goodness you posted that this is fake. Have just stopped MrT6 getting that outfit out of the wardrobe

The thought that he has it ready and waiting is slightly disturbing.

Disturbing indeed: black is so last year.

[T6Harvard]

He officially has the muscles for it -
According to the male pharmacist administering his flu jab last Sept he has great deltoids

[Paul_Sengupta]

he has great deltoids

Is that a type of diesel engine?

[skydriller]

he has great deltoids

Is that a type of diesel engine?

Its a Choo choo isnt it?
(What ever happened to Vince?)

[Charles Hunt]

he has great deltoids

Is that a type of diesel engine?

I do sometimes worry when my thoughts/responses so closely match that of others - although in this case I didn't post as I thought it might be too obscure!

OK off for a Google now, wasn't it some sort of triangular arrangement with opposing pistons sharing the same compression space? And was it 2-stroke as well? Or is that Deutz diesels?..........

[Charles Hunt]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic

A bit early in the morning for comprehension, but in the animation, it shows cylinders firing independently, but surely with opposed pistons cylinders must fire in pairs...........

[Paul_Sengupta]

The firing order animation has six of then joined together.

Developed from the Junkers Jumo 204 aero diesel engine via the Napier Culverin.

[Charles Hunt]

Thanks Paul, I'm counting pistons but the animation shows the combustion chambers, so each flash pushes two pistons.

[kanga]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic

A bit early in the morning for comprehension, but in the animation, it shows cylinders firing independently, but surely with opposed pistons cylinders must fire in pairs...........

.. just to inject a bit of aviation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Sabre

[In, of course, every 'Hawker' Typhoon, all actually built by Gloster ]

[akg1486]

The firing order animation has six of then joined together.

Thread title says ”not serious ”, so that’s a bit of a thread drift: this was seriously interesting. The animation in the last of the three videos in @Paul_Sengupta’s post blew my mind.

Quite a fun way to get there, too: Mad Max’s outfit => the muscles of the partner of @T6Harvard => diesel engines.

[Boxkite]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napier_Deltic

A bit early in the morning for comprehension, but in the animation, it shows cylinders firing independently, but surely with opposed pistons cylinders must fire in pairs...........

The only way I see it that makes any sense is that the pistons are not mentioned in the tabular animation; only the cylinders (A,B,C), and the repeated banks of cylinders (like multiple banks in a radial engine). When a 'A' flashes it refers to a cylinder, and therefore the two pistons in that cylinder. There are six banks of the same triangular arrangement.

[T6Harvard]

Well, it is both true and very rewarding that one learns something every day.
A serious 'thank you' for the addition to my very basic knowledge of engines. Fascinating.

I often wonder about the reactions at a meeting when someone presented a radical new idea or design.... I have a sort of sketch that goes through my mind where the presenter says "I know! We could [insert apparently crazy idea here]" and everyone else stares open-mouthed.

In that vane, a few of my favourite amazing, as in HOW did they think of THAT, inventions are probably first and foremost GEARS, but others include simple things such as the Vernier gauge, and jubilee clips.

[JAFO]

@T6Harvard - I don't even know how anybody came up with the idea of petrol.

Coal I get, a bit of black rock falls into the fire and catches light. "Ah, ha," you go, "that seems to burn well." But, beyond that, I pretty much do not understand how anything was invented. That is how thick I am.

[kanga]

ISTR reading it came about because crude petroleum would seep out of the ground in parts of Pennsylvania, preventing use of the land for crops. It smelt volatile, so some farmer had the bright idea of burning it to get rid of it. It burnt, but more came, so some entrepreneur had the idea of selling it for lamp oil, as locally cheaper than the then more usual whale oil. But its smoke was dirty, so someone devised away of refining it to make it cleaner. The result, however, was more volatile and led to explosions. Then some mechanical engineer tried controlling the explosion in a strong metal vessel, and found it was possible to create motive power using mechanism similar to that used in coal powered steam engines. This was cleaner, more controllable, requiring smaller pressure vessels than steam, so suggested applications in smaller vehicles than railway locomotives.. so a series of successive leaps of imagination, each arguably small in itself.

Pennsylvania origin is reflected in the name of one of the largest early gasoline companies, Penn Oil

Happy, as ever, to be corrected.

[T6Harvard]

@T6Harvard - I don't even know how anybody came up with the idea of petrol.

Coal I get, a bit of black rock falls into the fire and catches light. "Ah, ha," you go, "that seems to burn well." But, beyond that, I pretty much do not understand how anything was invented. That is how thick I am.

I like to say I lack the imagination, rather than being thick (although I may well be)

I love reading about inventions / discoveries. In fact I am about to start reading the story of Sir Sydney Camm