Willys Overland Knight Registry

Willys Knight Engine

J.N. Willys first put his name to a vehicle in 1909, and we see vehicles with the Willys name popping up in 1917, 1918, 1930, 1931 and 1933 onwards, but it was the Willys Knights of the 1914 - 1933 period that represented the cream of what Willys Overland could offer.  The Willys Knight engine was of course based around the basic double sleeve engine patented by Charles Knight.

Cut away view of Knight Engine

The 4 cylinder Willys Knight engine

The Knight engine has no poppet valves for inlet or exhaust like most conventional engines.  Instead it has two close fitting sleeves that actually fit around each piston, the inner sleeve actually forming the “bore” of the motor.  Each of the sleeves move up and down via a form of “camshaft” arrangement in much the same way that conventional valves move up and down except that the motion is quite smooth via the use of little “con rods” just like those on the pistons.  This up and down motion is carefully contrived so as to align circular openings (or large holes) in the sleeves themselves at the correct points in the four stroke cycle and function as exhaust and inlet ports.

Sleeve Valve Detail

The advantages of this are as follows;


The disadvantages were;

Interested readers should also look through the W.O.K.R. STARTER INDEX  for more information related to sleeve valve engines.
 

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