2 1/2 hp Gray Hit & Miss Engine

[Squarerig]

It appears to lead a life of its own,without any rhyme or reason:wonderful!

[celesteraez]

almost has a musical tone to it...

[Squarerig]

Who invented this strange primary power source?And where?Does it have advantages over normal 4 stroke engines?Is it more economical?In anticipation of assistance my thanks in Voraus!

[MRoesterreicher1]

@Squarerig it only fires when it needs to

[Squarerig]

Why the appellation "Hit and Miss"?

[Cletrac]

@Squarerig "Hit & Miss" describes the governing system. See the other comments for an explanation.

[butnut11]

Wow I just found these, and am facinated by them. Can someone tell me how these work exactly and what they were used for? Thanks.

[Cletrac]

These engines were used as portable power sources around the farm. They were belted up to whatever machine was needed at the time.

It is basically a four cycle engine with the speed being governed by holding the exhaust valve open and allowing it to coast. Hence, the name "hit & miss".

[goldie103103]

There was one in the UK that I knew of but I couldnt afford it. Nice rare engines.

[butnut11]

But by todays standards wouldnt they still be pulling in fuel through a vacume on the coasting cycles? what was the point of the coast cycles? Wouldnt that be loosing hp during the decreased rpm's? Or did they just not know how to make it fire on a continious 4 stroke firing pattern? I know the heavy flywheel kept the engine spinning but under a load it seems that it would bog down and stall very easily.... Thanks for the initial answer......

[Cletrac]

@butnut11 There is no vacuum on the coasting cycles due to the exhaust valve being held open.

The engine will not stall under a normal load. The governor will allow it to fire more often as the load increases to the point where it will fire at every fourth cycle.

[coyotestalking]

that is a really nice engine. I'd love to have one just to play with.

[Cletrac]

Thanks! Go ahead and get yourself an engine to play with. I have to warn you though, you won't be happy with just one!

[farmerphil]

Nice Gray. You sure dont see to many of them. I mostly have internatinal engines. Phil

[Cletrac]

Thanks, Phil! It's one of my favorites.