Interesting article on F-Head history

Unknown

I always am amazed at what you find on the internet. Found an

interesting piece on I.o.E engines (Inlet over Exhaust)



Found it here:

http://www.morganownersclub.com.au/technical%20talk.htm



The Coventry Climax IOE Engine

(WHATMOUGH PATENTS AND OTHER MATTERS)



Submitted by John Merton



The Coventry Climax I.o.E., or rather O.I.S.E. (overhead inlet, side

exhaust valve) engine used in early production Morgan four-wheelers

has a number of Great Britain patents listed on a plate on one

rocker cover. These, ascribed to Whatmough (Wilfred Ambrose

Whatmough) are numbers 303592, 319810, 326454, 329340, 332523,

349460, and 373991. They date from around January 1929 to May 1930.



My interest in the above patents grew out of a statement in a book

that the cylinder head was manufactured to a patented design by

Whatmough. With little previous interest in or knowledge of the

origins of the I.o.E design, I (and friends I spoke to on the

matter) assumed that Whatmough had invented the I.o.E configuration,

as it was the essential feature of the cylinder head design.

Subsequently, an Australian historical automotive journal of good

standing carried an article on Hudsons intimating that Hudson had

invented the "F"-head design. This claim had been included in a

1928 advertisement for Hudson cars.



The matter triggered an examination solely to see, initially, which

of the two had the stronger claims to having invented the I.o.E

design.



The outcome follows. It has led into fields much wider than just

patents, and challenges and refutes entrenched Morgan lore in a

number of areas.



For much of the information on the Triumph connection (or more

properly lack thereof as regards the particular engine used in

Morgans) my thanks to Antony (Tony) Cook, founder and past

secretary of the Pre-1940 Triumph owners' Club of the UK, and

currently secretary of the Skoda and Tatra register in Australia.



BACKGROUND - the Hudson and Whatmough patents.

First, neither Whatmough nor Hudson invented or patented the I.o.E.

design.



I.o.E. engines date almost to the dawn of motoring. The earliest

tended to have "atmospheric" or "automatic" inlet valve operation,

based on the principle that gravity would assist the valve opening

process. Royce and Rolls-Royce cars before the "Silver Ghost"

(except the V8 "Legalimit") had I.o.E. engines, and they were well-

established motor cycle practice by around 1910.



Significant is their appearance in Hudson's light car, the "Essex",

named after an English county, which had a four cylinder I.o.E.

engine from around 1919 on, and was apparently quite a well-known

sight on English roads in the 1920's. These cars were assembled for

a time at a plant on the Great West Road, Chiswick. Another make to

use I.o.E engines in the 1920's was Humber.



In January 1928, Hudson was granted a patent (US1656051, inventor

Stephen I Fekete) for refinements to the I.o.E design. The essence

of this patent, which covered the arrangement of valves, head,

cylinder and spark plug, was an inlet valve overlapping both piston

and exhaust valve , so that cooler inlet gases could help cool the

heads of the exhaust valves while still efficiently entering the

combustion chamber. The arrangement aimed at greater volumetric

efficiency, higher compression without pre-ignition, higher rpm and

more power, while still providing effective exhaust valve cooling.

The Patent also provided for spark plug location adjacent to the

exhaust valve on the side furthest away from the piston, to spread

the flame progressively from the hottest to the coolest part of the

chamber, helping prevent pre-ignition.



Hudson itself used a six-cylinder I.o.E. engine to this design for

about three years in the late 1920's, but later abandoned this in

favour of side valve designs. It was the smooth running of these

later engines which made such a big impression on Rolls-Royce

engineers in the 1930's.



The listed Whatmough patents cover, with a single exception,

combustion chamber design, aimed at gas- flow, turbulence, and

volumetric efficiency considerations. While their listing on the

valve cover might imply they are only cylinder head related, they

also embrace gas-flow considerations affecting the cylinder block on

engines with side exhaust valves. Whatmough played around with

curvilinear shapes (including relieving the bore) moving later to

squaring off some faces in the interests of manufacturing

convenience, the clear implication being that some of his theories

didn't amount to much if anything in actual practice!



Some Climax engine valve covers also carry a plate

stating "Whatmough Cylinder Head", leading to speculation that he

may himself have manufactured these heads and supplied them to

Coventry Climax. The patent changes taken in the light of

manufacturing experience tend to give some credibility to this

speculation.



Basically these patents (except for the one) mostly relate to the

first, involving modifications or improvements to it. A common

thread is location of the spark plug over or adjacent to the

exhaust valve on the side away from the piston, for the reasons

stated in Hudson's earlier patent! It is almost certain that

Whatmough knew of the Hudson and other work in this field at the

time. "Motor Sport's" William Boddy, and others have indicated

quite a lively correspondence at the time in automotive engineering

journals between Whatmough and Weslake (perhaps also Ricardo - these

touted as the "big three'' of cylinder head design, at least in the

UK), concerning their particular theories.



Whatmough's patents are catholic in relation to valve

configuration, the principles seen as applicable to side, T-head,

and I.o.E., with one patent also specifying O.H.V. In other words,

the patents listed on the valve cover of the Coventry Climax I.o.E.

engine are not specifically directed at an I.o.E. cylinder head

configuration.



The "exception" patent, number 332523, was for cooling passages,

the idea being that if adequate cooling was provided for the "hot"

part of the engine, i.e. the exhaust side, the inlet side would be

overcooled, and vice-versa. Whatmough's approach, basically, was to

provide for larger water passages on the exhaust side and smaller

ones on the inlet side. Once again, this patent covers both

cylinder head and block.