flat and opposed-piston engines

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We've probably beaten this horse to death, but I think in common American
parlance, people refer to a "boxer" any as any flat (180-degree
opposed-cylinder) engine such as VW, Subaru, Porsche, Alfasud, Corvair, etc.
John H. rightly just barely touches the tip of the iceberg about the issue
of boxer references covering both engine that have opposite pistons moving
toward each at the same time (boxing), or engine where the pistons are
synchronized in their up and down motion on opposite sides (not boxing).  I
remember long discussion of this topic in Porsche circles somewhere years
ago with lots of high emotions involved.  Having an old Rock'em Sock'em
Robots game around for reference might help in continuing this discussion.

There are (or were) lots of opposed piston engines (two pistons coming down
the same cylinder) around.  American Fairbanks-Morse diesel locomotive,
ship, and sub engines featured this arrangement, and I believe some early
British locomotives (English Electric Deltics?) did too.  It must mean you
have two geared-together crankshafts, right?

Andrew Watry
(one "boxer" VW that couldn't fight its way out of a paper bag)
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided