Lampredi-style valve adjustment

[Paul Valente]

I was reading an article in an old Automobile Quarterly (Vol 26 No 1) by the late Griffith Borgeson and came upon a little discussion of the valve shimming method made popular by Lampredi in the Fiat SOHC and DOHC motors. Thirty years before Lampredi used it, it was also used by Louis Chevrolet in an aero engine he helped design called the Chevrolet 333. Later when the company changed names from the Chevrolet Aircraft Corporation of Indiana to the Glenn L. Martin Co. it was called the Martin 333. It was an inverted, in-line four and as can bee seen in the patent drawing below from 1933, uses a bucket (#73) and shim (#72) arrangement.

However, Borgeson points out that the patent claims do not reference this feature presumably because it was already known art by then. The French company Salmson had used this technique as far back as 1927 in automobiles.

I did some searching on-line and found that document from 1928, as well.

Just thought it was interesting to see the origins of part of the X1/9 motor.

 

[Black-Tooth]

Interesting stuff, Paul...

... especially origins coming from an INVERTED AIR-COOLED engine!

 

[seattlex19]

agreed

Thanks for posting Paul!

 

[Rupunzell]

Got To Wonder...

How did FIAT get VW & Volvo to "license" this valve adjustment system from FIAT?

Given this was prior art and some one must have done some patent searches on this.. or is there more to this story?

This is also another little reminder that most of what's claimed as new might have been done before.

 

[Paul Valente]

Reference?

Do you have a reference that I can research for VW and Volvo licensing that technology, Bernice?

It wouldn't be the first time someone licensed something they could have had for free. It's the worst possible scenario when you are paying a royalty to make something that the competition can make for free. You need a good legal department and good patent attorneys for sure.

As far as things being claiming to be "new", you are right-on, Bernice. I have looked at a lot of patents and read a lot of car books and there are very few mechanical things that I see these days that are truly novel. I'm getting off the subject but, here is a fascinating article about Nathan Myhrvold and his company (some may call them patent trolls) but also covers the mechanism of invention in general:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_gladwell

Furthermore, the actual article that tripped this post is about the Tri-flux, or staggered valve, head that was on the stillborn 1987 Group B Lancia rally car, later renamed the ECV. It was a big deal at the time claiming 341 bhp/liter but the principle had been used back in 1923! It was on an Indy car called the Scheel-Frontenac. Using rotary valves, no less! Then again in 1931 on the Staggered Valve or SV Frontenac this time with conventional poppet valves designed by Art (not Louis) Chevrolet.
Lancia ECV

Fronty A-F 16 Head

 

[Rupunzell]

Hello Paul,

I'll do a little bit of looking to see where this reference came up. If the shim adjustment system used by FIAT was prior art and some how licensed to VW & Volvo.. it would be interesting to see how FIAT pulled this one off.

Speaking of engine curiosities, the Pratt & Whitney "Corn Cob" aero engine is one of my favorites.. 28 cylinder, about 3,500 Bhp circa 1940's..
Several of these engines powered the Hughes "Spruce Goose".. and other big aircraft from that era.

This cut away lives at the Hellyer Aircraft Museum in San Carlos:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpmOb46bvCs"]YouTube- Pratt & Whitney R-4d60 Wasp Major Cutaway[/ame]

Do you have a reference that I can research for VW and Volvo licensing that technology, Bernice?

It wouldn't be the first time someone licensed something they could have had for free. It's the worst possible scenario when you are paying a royalty to make something that the competition can make for free. You need a good legal department and good patent attorneys for sure.

 

[Sport]

While on the topic of interesting engines.

A friend of mine sent this to me. It's a Marine and locomotive engine from the 1940's. Three crankshafts and numerous pistonsmg:. Neat animation and a good read. Click on the image for the animation.
Rolf.
http://wis.co.uk/justin/deltic-engine.html

 

[Rupunzell]

Got to wonder how they came up with this configuration and why?

Speaking of marine engines.. here is one of the largest Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C, Built in Japan, two stroke turbo diesel.

http://www.emma-maersk.com/engine/Wartsila_Sulzer_RTA96-C.htm

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXHvY-zY9hA"]YouTube- Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C the biggest engine in the world[/ame]

Then we have Hyundai Heavy Industries.. They build ships, BIG ships:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uFW-GgQRg8"]YouTube- Hyundai Discovery Engine Room 1[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abtjGIbxZJI&feature=related"]YouTube- Hyundai Discovery Engine Room 2[/ame]

Hyundai has been quietly taking car market share in the US and else where.. They are a very, very capable company. Producing every thing from consumer electronics to super oil tankers and more.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6-s3OlQLyI"]YouTube- Hyundai Heavy Industries company movie[/ame]

A friend of mine sent this to me. It's a Marine and locomotive engine from the 1940's. Three crankshafts and numerous pistonsmg:. Neat animation and a good read. Click on the image for the animation.
Rolf.
http://wis.co.uk/justin/deltic-engine.html

 

[Sport]

Very Impressive!

Thanks for posting the videos Bernice.
Rolf.

 

[Paul Valente]

Speaking of engine curiosities, the Pratt & Whitney "Corn Cob" aero engine is one of my favorites.. 28 cylinder, about 3,500 Bhp circa 1940's..
Several of these engines powered the Hughes "Spruce Goose".. and other big aircraft from that era.

That is cool! I'm reading a book about P&W right now but it is all jet and rocket stuff.

I did some looking last night to see what patents reference the Salmson patent and didn't find anything from Fiat. I was thinking maybe Fiat had patented some improvement to it, like adding those little slots to aid in getting the shim out or something, but I came up empty. :sad:

Thanks for looking for me!
PV

 

[Paul Valente]

Finally spent a little more time on this.

I did some looking last night to see what patents reference the Salmson patent and didn't find anything from Fiat. I was thinking maybe Fiat had patented some improvement to it, like adding those little slots to aid in getting the shim out or something, but I came up empty. :sad:
PV

Finally spent a little more time on this.

In a later Automobile Quarterly (Vol 27 No 2) our late freind Griffith Borgeson dedicates several pages to the subject of OHC valve adjustment history sighting the key players and the key patents involved. At the very end he mentions,

"The need to remove the cup in order to regulate tappet clearance was eliminated in 1966 with the introduction of the quickly interchangable shim disks in the top of the cup.This feature was critical to the economic viability of the worlds first mass produced twin-cam engine, the Fiat 124 of Aurelio Lampredi and his design team.
​

So I went back and looked again for a Lampredi patent and found nothing of interest so I broaden my search and found the one I was looking for. Italian application 118,504 or British patent 1,165,446. No individual inventor is listed just Fiat Spa.

As it turns out, my speculation was correct. The only thing Fiat patented was the little slots that allow you to get a tool under the shim. Here are the claims:

The way you read these things is that it is all basically background information and references until you get to the claims part. In the claims part there will be a description of what the applicants claims as intellectual property. In order to be covered by the patent, your widget would have to have everything listed after the word "comprising". Typically everything in each claim is well known in the art except one item that is new and that is the one they are trying to protect. So in this case, they describe a shim arrangement that is identical to the Salmson patent that predated it by 40 years but add that the rim that holds the disc concentric with the bucket is, "....interuppted by at least one notch which permits the introduction of a tool beneith the spacer member to facilitate the replacemnt of the latter."

So if someone paid Fiat to licsence this patent, they paid for the notch in the bucket's rim. If they were to have say for example, put the notch in the disc itself they'd have been safely around the Fiat patent and perhaps in a position to file their own patent if indeed, that solution was novel.

 

[mx5rush]

It's always amazed me how almost everything cutting edge and 'awesome' in the car engine field... was probably tried or used in aviation engines years and years ago. Direct injection, nitrous, sodium filled valves, intercooling, oil squirters to cool pistons, etc etc etc... The list simply goes on and on... nearly all of them were tried on aviation engines before 'car guys' thought about using them.

 

[JimD]

Very interesting Paul

Thanks for finishing the research! c:

Having a slow summer?

 

[jjay911]

You know those ship yards are amazing. I had the privilege of touring the Daewoo Ship yards in Pusan South Korea. I even Rode in a helicopter and toured the entire harbor. I have many pics of that event but have not scanned them yet. Check this photo of my Marketing group. See if anyone can spot me....

 

[myexonenine]

Interesting that someone researches such parts, I just see them as common parts of the engine, as I've seen these shims in so many cars including my LandCruiser...

But its still all interesting to read

 

[bbrown]

A little Photoshop Magic

Makes it easier to see....