Reciprocating Balance in Engines of Six and Eight Cylinders

MATHEMATICAL analyses of the force required to accelerate the reciprocating parts of six and of eight-cylinder engines and of the axial and perpendicular components of the force needed to accelerate the connecting-rod are presented by the author. He then shows mathematically that the division of the connecting-rod into reciprocating and rotating elements is correct theoretically.

Having obtained exact expressions for the forces required to accelerate the reciprocating parts and the connecting-rod and having shown that the usual treatment given the connecting-rod is correct theoretically, mathematical study is made of the reciprocating balance of six and of eight-cylinder engines for comparative purposes and comparison is made numerically between six and eight-cylinder engines having equal total weight of reciprocating parts. A study of the angular acceleration of the connecting-rod is also presented in the article.

In conclusion the author states that the six-cylinder engine appears to possess axial balance superior to that of the eight-cylinder engine and that the latter is superior to the six-cylinder engine from an oscillatory standpoint.