Opposed piston engine

An opposed-piston engine is a reciprocating internal combustion engine in which each cylinder has a piston at both ends, and no cylinder head.

In 1882 James Atkinson developed the Atkinson cycle, a variant of the four stroke Otto cycle. The first implementation of this was arranged as an opposed piston engine, the Atkinson differential engine.

Opposed piston engines using the two stroke cycle are known to have been made by Oechelhäuser as early as 1898, when a 600 hp 2-stroke gas engine was installed at the Hoerde ironworks. These engines were made by Deutsche Kraftgas Gesellschaft from 1899, and by other companies under licence including William Beardmore & Sons Ltd in the UK.

Smaller versions of opposed piston engines suitable for motor vehicles probably begin with the French company Gobron-Brillié around 1900. In April 1904 a Gobron-Brillié car driven by Louis Rigolly and powered by the opposed piston engine was the first car ever to exceed 150km/h with a "World's Record Speed" of 152.5km/h and on 17 July, again driven by Rigolly, the first to exceed 100 mph for the flying kilometre.

The first diesel engine with opposed pistons, was a prototype built at the Kolomna plant in Russia. The designer, Raymond A. Koreyvo, patented the engine in France, on November 6, 1907, then displayed the engine at international exhibitions. After these demonstrations similar engines were produced by other companies. Koreyvo filed a claim against these companies which was rejected by the Kolomna plant as the managing director did not want any quarrels with influential foreigners. In the USSR, the opposed piston engine was used only after meetings with German aircraft makers, Junkers, relating to the Jumo 205 opposed piston diesel engine. In the USSR locomotive diesel engines adapted American Fairbanks-Morse designs. These engines were also used in military boats, set out under the world war two Lend-Lease contracts.

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