A flame gulper is an old fashioned type of engine also known as a vacuum engine. According to the Wikipedia page, “A mixture of gas and air was drawn into the cylinder and ignited; the mixture expanded and part of it escaped through the exhaust valve; the valve then closed, the mixture cooled and contracted, and atmospheric pressure pushed the piston in.” [Thanks, Erik!]
8 thoughts on “Two-cylinder flame gulper”
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I love these little engines. makes me wonder where they were when I was in school. shop class had nothing like that. I guess humanity truly can’t take the pure enjoyment of process seriously unless in a non-public education environment, and definitely not without a paycheck.
Otherwise I would teach all about these things.
I hope others enjoy this as much as I.
Interesting little bit of machinery, but will it run under a load? It seemed to stop rather easily with applied pressure. So I wonder what use it would be for anything if there isn’t enough energy (force? torque? – I don’t know the term. I’m not an engineer) to run under load.
There are several listed, I like the solenoid one and want a pentaradial one in my car!
http://www.glue-it.com/model-engineering/gallery/index.html
I think it’d work too.. as long as you can get the sequence right. ^_^