Word: rotor
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...pistons successively suck in a mixture of gasoline and air, compress it, turn a crankshaft after an electric spark touches off the explosive vapors, then expel the burned fuel residues. In rotary engines like the Wankel, the same effect is achieved not by reciprocating pistons but by a turning rotor. As it revolves inside a specially shaped chamber, the rotor is able to perform all the basic strokes of a piston engine: induction, compression, ignition and exhaust. The new engine, originally conceived by Karol to get more performance out of motorcycles, combines what he considers the best of both systems...
...diagram). It is the job of one piston to draw in air. The other provides the power; all the explosions in the engine occur within its cylinder. Thus it is the movement of this second piston that actually turns the crankshaft (which passes through both pistons) and the rotor...
...passes a vent in the engine casing and sucks air into its cylinder (1). At exactly the same moment, the other end of the piston is pushing the air that it has already captured and compressed into a passage at the opposite side of the engine casing. As the rotor turns, the air is forced through a transfer port into the cylinder of the power piston (2). Continuing its rotation, the power piston compresses the air even more (3). As the piston's cylinder moves past the fuel injector, the compressed air is mixed with a spray of gasoline...
...vibration-free and weighs much less than conventional engines with equivalent horsepower. Ansdale figures that a 145-h.p. model would be only 27 in. long and 18 in. wide. Finally, the design has a distinction that the Wankel cannot claim: because of the uncomplicated shape of its pistons and rotor, it can be built with familiar piston-engine techniques. In contrast, the Wankel has introduced many new engineering problems...
...Reporters from the Wall Street Journal had a defective rotor installed in an otherwise perfect car and took the car to several Dallas auto repair shops. The one mechanic who fixed only the rotor charged $1. Six others made unnecessary repairs, one charging $54.60 for his services. Two other mechanics wanted the car left for even more expensive repairs, and one suggested a $130 valve...