THEORY PUT IN PRACTICE

THEORY PUT IN PRACTICE

Young Men Give Practical Results of their Education

NEW TYPE OF ENGINE

Built by Them in Engineering Shops - Great Improvement on Present Engines

W. H. Radford, of Detroit, and R. B. Otis, of this city, both members of the '03 class, have succeeded in giving a practical demonstration of the benefits of the training they received in their four years' course and have evolved from the theory laid before them during that time something that bids fair to be of great practical use in mechanics as well as a financial benefit to themselves.

These young men have, outside of their class work, given a great deal of study to the gasoline engine and the various improvements being made upon it in order to adapt it to the many new fields opening for it - more especially that of automobile construction. They became possessed of the idea that something better than was now in use could be made, and Mr. Otis, who was formerly employed in the designing department of the Alberger Co. of Buffalo, has designed and he and Mr. Radford have jointly completed, a gasoline engine that by reason of its simplicity of parts and ease of working is almost sure to have a great commercial future.

The engine is of the four-cycle, four-cylinder type and devedops 12 horsepower at 700 resolutions per minute and its superiority rests in the fact that it requires but one oil cup to lubricate the entire engine, that all valves are operated mechanically and that the necessity of four sparking coils is obviated by the employment of a special commutator, the design of Mr. Otis.

The engine has been constructed entirely in the engineering shops, has required a year in the building and has cost the young men $200 exclusive of all labor. At the preliminary test given the machine on Monday great freedom from noise and vibration was observed, showing the adaptability of this type of engine for automobiles of high power. The builders expect to ship the machine to Detroit, where it eventually will be placed in a launch and given a practical working test.

Mr. Radford has accepted a position with the Northern Mfg. Co., of Detroit, and Mr. Otis leaves Saturday for Warren, O., where he will enter the employ of the Packard Motor Car Co.