Aviation Engines

Aviation Engines: Design, Construction, Operation and Repair is by Victor Wilfred Pagé. A notice for the book calls it a practical work containing valuable instructions for aviation students, mechanicians, squadron engineering officers and all interested in the construction and upkeep of airplane power plants. A chapter on operating principles says that the two-cycle engine is the simplest because there are no valves in connection with the cylinder.

In the four-cycle engine, the text says, the explosive gas is admitted to the cylinder through a port at the head end closed by a valve, while the exhaust gas is expelled through another port. The piston, the text says, must make four strokes in the cylinder for each explosion or power impulse obtained. A list of faults matches a valve seat that is warped or pitted and covered with carbon, with loss of compression, to the remedy of using a reseating reamer and cleaning off and grinding the valve to seat.