Meyer Expansion Valve Arrangement – Lucky Find!

I’ve been spending some quiet time looking at Eric Whittle’s V8,  of which there is a wonderful video clip on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-SNDErd1IM

I’d already built Nemett’s 15cc OHC engine before building Victoria,  and am planning to build another Internal Combustion engine.   I discovered that Mr. Whittle had published an earlier article in Volume 15 of Engineering in Miniature of a version of the “Cirrus”,   a 4 cylinder in line OHV aero engine,  upon which the V8 was based.   By good luck,  the large majority of the construction article is completed in volume 15,  but not quite,  as the article starts in Issue 2.

Having a look at issue 1,  there is an article under the non-descript heading of  “Odd Castings to a Finished Engine” by Don Unwin.   Mr. Unwin is clearly a master craftsman.    From his box of odd castings,  he describes the build of a horizontal engine,  complete with a working Meyer Expansion Valve.    This includes the manual adjustment of the valve.

He describes in the article that the cut-off is variable between 75% right down to 15% and he also confirms the timing arrangements.    The expansion valve eccentric he fixes at 180 degrees opposite the crankpin,  then the primary valve +/- 115 degrees depending on the direction of rotation required.

Mr Unwin also includes reference to a number of design references of the period:

Elements of Machine Design,  by WC Unwin (no relation!)  pub. 1883

Bailey’s Useful Inventions for Engineers pub. 1900

The article is not a cut by cut build,  but does provide a lot a detail around the Meyer arrangement.