Re: flat and opposed piston engines

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Andrew Watry is unquestionably correct that "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." but "common American
parlance" is not a very demanding standard, and it arguably behooves any
wannabe tifosi to seek empathy for the nuances of Italian parlance ("nel
linguaggio corrente", if you want to go whole hog). Further, only if one
accepts the propriety of some differentiating term such as "boxer" does it
make sense to call the other type "a 180 degree V", which I understand Ferrari
does. It is not a "V" in form, but the term may make sense if it is
articulated the way V engines normally are.

In any case, Fusi does not refer to the early prototypes I cited as "a 180
degree V", (rather as "12, a due gruppi di 6 cilindri, contrapposti") and does
refer to 33 TT 12 layout as "boxer, a 12 cilindri orizzontali contrapposti",
and d'Amico & Tabucchi (who do not cover the non-production competition cars)
regularly refer to the Alfasud/Arna/33 engine as a "boxer". (The word 'boxer',
incidentally, is not native to the Italian language, which makes do with
'pugilatore').

Andrew mentions the twin-crank opposed piston diesels of Fairbanks Morse
(similar to the Junkers) and of some British locomotives (with which I am not
familiar) adding "It must mean you have two geared-together crankshafts,
right?" Right. Otherwise you would have a randomly variable compression ratio,
(all the way down to zero) which would play hob with the running of a diesel
(compression ignition) engine. The only twin crankshaft engine I know of which
did not have the two crankshafts geared together (or otherwise linked) was a
Fiat aircraft engine (a V-24) on which the two cranks drove contrarotating
propellers, and it was reputed to be not the smartest thing an Italian
engineer ever did.

Alfa's one excursion into true twin crank engines (ignoring the 8Cs) was the
tipo 316 GP car, which had two 158 (Alfetta) engines, including crankshafts,
on a common crankcase. It could be considered a U-16 (like the WW1 Bugatti or
the Blackhawk Stutz) but the two blocks were at a 60 degree angle, and it
looked like a V-16. The 1931 Tipo A GP car had a similar layout, but its two
1750 engines were completely separate. Maserati also had something similar,
but I don't know whether the engine(s) were separate like the A or siamesed
like the 316.

John H., Raleigh N.C.
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