METHODS OF MEASURING DETONATION IN ENGINES

The various methods employed to measure detonation or fuel knock in an internal-combustion engine, such as the listening indicator, temperature and bouncing-pin, are discussed and the reasons all but the last cannot be employed to give satisfactory indications of the detonation tendencies of fuels are given. The bouncing-pin method, which is a combination of the indicator developed by the author and the apparatus designed by Dr. H. C. Dickinson at the Bureau of Standards, is illustrated and described. In this method the evolution of gas from an electrolytic cell containing sulphuric acid and distilled water measures the bouncing-pin fluctuations in a given period of time. The accuracy of this method of comparison is brought out in a table.

The qualities that a standard fuel must possess are explained and the objections to a special gasoline are pointed out. The use of a combination of a non-detonating and a detonating fuel as the standard is developed and the reasons that led to the use of hexane with diethyl selenide and isopropyl nitrite for a fuel standard are mentioned.