1.
Checker Motors Corporation
–
Checker Motors Corporation was a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based vehicle manufacturer and tier-one subcontractor that manufactured taxicabs used by Checker Taxi. Checker Motors Corporation was established by Morris Markin in 1922 through a merger of Commonwealth Motors, Checker made the iconic American taxi cab, valued by taxicab companies for its durability in heavy use. Special features included wide rear doors, large rear seats and trunks, the company had trouble competing with fleet discounts offered by the larger manufacturers, as well as economies of scale in procuring components. The final models were produced in 1982, on January 16,2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in U. S. Bankruptcy Court. Morris Markin became the owner of Markin Automobile Body, a manufacturer based in Joliet, Illinois. The facility made bodies for Commonwealth Motors, which marketed the vehicles to cab companies under the trade name Mogul, Commonwealth Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy, but had an order from Checker Taxi. Markin merged Commonwealth Motors with Markin Automobile Body to honor the contractual commitment, in 1930 Checkers came in either black, maroon, yellow or canary. Markin was later to buy the Checker Taxi Company, 1920s Models The company entered the consumer passenger car business in 1958 and consumer automobiles were phased in regionally across the US in 1959, starting in New York and New England. Nationally, introduction of the Checker Superba took place at the Chicago Auto Show on February 8,1960, the dealer network continued to grow throughout the early 1960s, and throughout the decade Checker usually managed its target volume of 6000-7000 cars a year. In 1962 production topped 8000, although most of those were taxis, four-door sedans and station wagons also were advertised to individual customers in upscale publications. The ads emphasized the durability of the Checker and the attention to quality improvements, in 1962 almost 3,000 cars were sold to individuals--20% of production--but that percentage declined to 10% in the 1970s. In addition to production, Checker played a significant role as a third-party automotive supplier of OEM body stampings. In the late 1930s Checker produced truck bodies for Hudson in addition to manufacturing complete Ford truck cabs, Checker also produced truck bodies for the REO Motor Car Company. During World War II Checker was one of producers of the G518 Ben Hur trailer for the U. S. Army. Rather than allow Checker drivers to begin buying different brands of cars, the next year the company switched from the standard Continental engine, offering either Chevrolet 230 cu in overhead-valve I6s or 283 cu in small block V8s. In March 1977, seven years after the death of Morris Markin, retired GM President Ed Cole bought into Checker with the intent of re-energizing the company and developing a new, coles plan was to purchase partially completed Volkswagens from VWs new Westmoreland Assembly Plant. He was going to ship the VWs to the Checker Motors factory in Kalamazoo, cut them in half, insert a section to lengthen the VW, raise the roof and then sell the reconfigured vehicle as a taxi. Shortly thereafter, less than 90 days after joining Checker, Cole died when his plane crashed near Kalamazoo in May 1977, in August of 77 the VW project was introduced in Road and Track magazine
Checker Motors Corporation
–
1982 Checker taxicab in green and cream with Checker's trademark checkerboard trim. This example is the very last automobile produced by the company, and today it resides in the Gilmore Museum in Kalamazoo.
Checker Motors Corporation
Checker Motors Corporation
–
Checker Taxi
2.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
–
Kalamazoo /ˌkæləməˈzuː/ is a city in the southwest region of the U. S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County, as of the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a total population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolitan Statistical Area. Kalamazoo is equidistant from the major American cities of Chicago and Detroit, one of Kalamazoos most notable features is the Kalamazoo Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall. The city created the mall in 1959 by closing part of Burdick Street to auto traffic, Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University, a large public university, Kalamazoo College, a liberal arts school, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, a two-year community college. Originally known as Bronson in the township of Arcadia, the names of both the city and the township were changed to Kalamazoo in 1836 and 1837, respectively, the Kalamazoo name comes from a Potawatomi word, first found in a British report in 1772. However, the Kalamazoo River, which passes through the city of Kalamazoo, was located on the route between Detroit and Fort Saint-Joseph. French-Canadian traders, missionaries, and military personnel were quite familiar with this area during the French era, the name for the Kalamazoo River was then known by Canadians and French as La rivière Kikanamaso. The name Kikanamaso was also recorded by Father Pierre Potier, a Jesuit missionary for the Huron-Wendats at the Assumption mission, while en route to Fort Saint-Joseph during the fall of 1760. Legend has it that Ki-ka-ma-sung, meaning boiling water, referring to a footrace held each fall by local Native Americans, still another theory is that it means the mirage or reflecting river. Another legend is that the image of boiling water referred to fog on the river as seen from the hills above the current downtown, the name was also given to the river that flows almost all the way across the state. The name Kalamazoo, which sounds unusual to English-speaking ears, has become a metonym for exotic places, today, T-shirts are sold in Kalamazoo with the phrase Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo. The area on which the city of Kalamazoo stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a mound in downtowns Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to decline after the 8th century and was replaced by other groups, the Potawatomi culture lived in the area when the first European explorers arrived. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, passed just southeast of the present city of Kalamazoo in late March 1680, the first Europeans to reside in the area were itinerant fur traders in the late 18th and early 19th century. There are records of several traders wintering in the area, during the War of 1812, the British established a smithy and a prison camp in the area. The 1821 Treaty of Chicago ceded the territory south of the Grand River to the United States federal government, however, the area around present-day Kalamazoo was reserved as the village of Potawatomi Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish
Kalamazoo, Michigan
–
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan
–
Location of Kalamazoo within
Kalamazoo County, Michigan
Kalamazoo, Michigan
–
North Burdick St. in 1908
Kalamazoo, Michigan
–
Academy St. in 1908
3.
Car classification
–
Governments and private organizations have developed car classification schemes that are used for innumerable purposes including regulation, description and categorization, among others. This article details commonly used classification schemes in use worldwide, vehicles can be categorized in numerous ways. Regulatory agencies may also establish a vehicle classification system for determining a tax amount, in the United Kingdom, a vehicle is taxed according to the vehicles construction, engine, weight, type of fuel and emissions, as well as the purpose for which it is used. Other jurisdictions may determine vehicle tax based upon environmental principles, such as the user pays principle, another standard for road vehicles of all types that is used internationally, is ISO 3833-1977. In the United States, since 2010 the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety uses a scheme it has developed that takes into account a combination of both shadow and weight. The United States Federal Highway Administration has developed a scheme used for automatically calculating road use tolls. There are two categories depending on whether the vehicle carries passengers or commodities. Vehicles that carry commodities are further subdivided by number of axles and number of units, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has developed a classification scheme used to compare fuel economy among similar vehicles. Passenger vehicles are classified based on a total interior passenger. Trucks are classified based upon their gross vehicle weight rating, heavy duty vehicles are not included within the EPA scheme. A similar set of classes is used by the Canadian EPA, in Australia, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries publishes its own classifications. This is a table listing several different methods of vehicle classification. Straddling the boundary between car and motorbike, these vehicles have engines under 1.0 litre, typically only two passengers, and are sometimes unorthodox in construction. Some microcars are three-wheelers, while the majority have four wheels, microcars were popular in post-war Europe, where their appearance led them to be called Bubble cars. More recent microcars are often electric powered, the size of ultracompact cars will be less than minicars, but have engine greater than 50cc displacement and able to transport 1 or 2 persons. Ultracompact cars cannot use standard, because of strict safety standards for minicars. The regulation about running capacity and safety performance of cars will be published in early autumn. Today, there are smaller than ultracompact cars, called category-1 motorized vehicles which it has 50cc displacement or less
Car classification
–
Aixam
Car classification
–
Citroën C1
Car classification
–
Renault Clio IV
Car classification
–
Ford Focus (International)
4.
Sedan (car)
–
A sedan /sᵻˈdæn/ or saloon is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with A, B & C-pillars and principal volumes articulated in separate compartments for engine, passenger and cargo. The passenger compartment features two rows of seats and adequate passenger space in the compartment for adult passengers. The cargo compartment is typically in the rear, with the exception of some rear-engined models, such as the Renault Dauphine, Tatra T613, Volkswagen Type 3 and it is one of the most common car body styles. A battery electric sedan such as the Tesla Model S has no engine compartment, but a front cargo compartment, the primary purpose of the sedan is to transport people and their baggage on ordinary roads. Sedan versions of the body style have a central pillar that supports the roof and come in two-. Sedans usually have a two-box or three-box body, popular in the U. S. from the 1950s through the 1970s, true hardtop body designs have become increasingly rare. For example,1962 Rambler Classic sedans feature identical windshield, A-pillar, roof, C-pillar, and rear window. A two- or four-door design built on a chassis, but with a shorter roof and interior space. Originating from the car on a Pullman passenger train that was well appointed. A notchback sedan is a sedan, where the passenger volume is clearly distinct from the trunk volume of the vehicle. The roof is on one plane, generally parallel to the ground, the window at a sharp angle to the roof. A fastback sedan is a sedan, with continuous slope from the roof to the base of the decklid. They are not fastbacks because their bodyline changes from the roof to the rear deck and their steeply raked rear windows end with a decklid that does not continue down to the bumper. Instead, their ends are tall — sometimes in a Kammback style — to increase trunk space. Typically this design is chosen for its aerodynamic advantages, automakers can no longer afford the penalty in fuel consumption produced by the traditional notchback three box form. In historic terminology, a sedan will have a frame around the door windows, a true hardtop design also has no center or B pillar for roof support behind the front doors). This pillarless body style offers greater visibility, however, it requires extra underbody strengthening for structural rigidity. The hardtop design can be considered separately, or it can be called a hardtop sedan, during the 1960s and 1970s, hardtop sedans were often sold as sport sedans by several American manufacturers and they were among the top selling body styles
Sedan (car)
–
1962 Rambler Classic 2- and 4-door sedans
Sedan (car)
–
Typical
pillar configurations of a sedan (
three box),
station wagon (
two box) and
hatchback (
two box) from the same
model range
Sedan (car)
Sedan (car)
–
1938 Cadillac Club Sedan
5.
Station wagon
–
The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design — to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down rear seats to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. Can be loaded through a tailgate, when a model range includes multiple body styles, such as sedan, hatchback and station wagon, the models typically share their platform, drivetrain and bodywork forward of the A-pillar. In 1969, Popular Mechanics said, Station wagon-style, follows that of the production sedan of which it is the counterpart. Most are on the wheelbase, offer the same transmission and engine options. Station wagons have evolved from their use as specialized vehicles to carry people and luggage to and from a train station. Station wagon and wagon are the names in American, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian and African English, while estate car. Both names harken to the role as a shuttle, with storage space for baggage. Having shared antecedents with the British shooting-brake, station wagons have been marketed as breaks, early U. S. models often had exposed wooden bodies and were therefore called woodies. Manufacturers may designate station wagons across various model lines with a proprietary nameplate. Examples include Estate, Avant, Touring, Tourer and Cross-Tourer, SW for Station Wagon or Sports Wagon, Estate, MCV, Tourer, Kombi or Variant and Sports Tourer, SW - Sportswagon or Caravan. Both station wagons and hatchbacks typically share a two-box design configuration, with one shared, flexible, interior volume for passengers and cargo — and a rear door for cargo access. Further distinctions are highly variable, Pillars, Both configurations typically feature A, B & C-pillars, station wagons feature a D-pillar, cargo Volume, Station wagons prioritize passenger and cargo volume — with windows aside the cargo volume. Cargo floor contour, Favoring cargo capacity, a station wagon may prioritize a fold-flat floor, seating, Station wagons may have two or three rows of seats while hatchbacks may only have one or two. Rear suspension, A station wagon may include reconfigured rear suspension for additional load capacity, Station wagons have also enjoyed numerous tailgate configurations. Hatchbacks may be called Liftbacks when the area is very sloped. You could have a 90-degree break in the back and have a station wagon, a model range may include multiple configurations, as with the 2005–2007 Ford Focus which offered sedan, wagon and three and five-door hatchback models. The first station wagons were a product of the age of train travel and they were originally called depot hacks because they worked around train depots as hacks
Station wagon
–
1964–1967
Buick Sport Wagon
Station wagon
–
Typical
pillar configurations of a sedan
(three box), station wagon
(two box) and hatchback
(two box) from the same
model range.
Station wagon
–
Peugeot 508 RXH, a modern hybrid SW
Station wagon
–
Renault Clio IV Estate, a segment-B station wagon. Nowadays, station wagons also exist in smaller segments.
6.
Automobile layout
–
In automotive design, the automobile layout describes where on the vehicle the engine and drive wheels are found. Many different combinations of engine location and driven wheels are found in practice, factors influencing the design choice include cost, complexity, reliability, packaging, weight distribution, and the vehicles intended handling characteristics. Layouts can roughly be divided into two categories, front- or rear-wheel drive, four-wheel-drive vehicles may take on the characteristics of either, depending on how power is distributed to the wheels. Front-wheel-drive layouts are those in which the front wheels of the vehicle are driven, the most popular layout used in cars today is the front-engine, front-wheel drive, with the engine in front of the front axle, driving the front wheels. As the steered wheels are also the wheels, FF cars are generally considered superior to FR cars in conditions such as snow, mud. The weight of the engine over the wheels also improves grip in such conditions. Electronic traction control can avoid wheelspin but largely negates the benefit of extra torque/power, a transverse engine is commonly used in FF designs, in contrast to FR which uses a longitudinal engine. This is another reason luxury/sports cars avoid the FF layout, exceptions do exist, such as the Volvo S80 which uses transversely mounted inline 6 and V8 engines, and the Ford Taurus SHO, available with a 60° V8 and front-wheel drive. There are some exceptions to this as rear engine designs do not take away interior space and it also has fewer components overall and thus lower weight. However, this may apply for cars with moderate power-to-weight ratio. According to road test with two Dodge Daytonas, one FWD and one RWD, the layout is also important for what configuration is the fastest. Weight shifting limits the acceleration of a front-wheel-drive vehicle, however, since front-wheel-drive cars have the weight of the engine over the driving wheels, the problem only applies in extreme conditions in which case the car understeers. On snow, ice, and sand, rear-wheel drive loses its traction advantage to front or all-wheel-drive vehicles which have greater weight over the driven wheels. Rear-wheel-drive cars with engine or mid engine configuration retain traction over the driven wheels. A rear-wheel-drive cars centre of gravity is shifted rearward when heavily loaded with passengers or cargo, on front-wheel-drive cars, the short driveshaft may reduce drivetrain elasticity, improving responsiveness. Instead, the tunnel may be used to route the exhaust system pipes. Weight, Fewer components usually means lower weight, improved fuel efficiency due to less weight. Cost, Fewer material components and less installation complexity overall, however, the considerable MSRP differential between a FF and FR car cannot be attributed to layout alone. Few modern family cars have rear-wheel drive as of 2009, so a direct cost comparison is not necessarily possible, assembly efficiency, the powertrain can often be assembled and installed as a unit, which allows more efficient production
Automobile layout
–
FF layout
7.
FR layout
–
In automotive design, an FR, or front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout is one where the engine is located at the front of the vehicle and driven wheels are located at the rear. This was the automobile layout for most of the 20th century. Modern designs commonly use the front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, the first FR car was an 1895 Panhard model, so this layout was known as the Système Panhard in the early years. The layout has the advantage of minimizing mechanical complexity, as it allows the transmission to be placed in-line with the output shaft. In comparison, a vehicle with the engine over the driven wheels eliminates the need for the drive shaft, in order to reduce the relative weight of the drive shaft, the transmission was normally split into two parts, the gearbox and the final drive. The gearbox was produced with its highest gear being 1,1. The final drive, in the axle, would then reduce this to the most appropriate speed for the wheels. As power is the product of torque and angular velocity, spinning the shaft faster for any given power reduces the torque, in an era when gasoline was cheap and cars were heavy, the mechanical advantages of the FR drivetrain layout made up for any disadvantage in weight terms. It remained almost universal among car designs until the 1970s, after the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the 1979 fuel crises, a majority of American FR vehicles were phased out for the FF layout – this trend would spawn the SUV-van conversion market. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most American companies set as a priority the eventual removal of rear-wheel drive from their mainstream, chrysler went 100% FF by 1990 and GMs American production went entirely FF by 1997 except the Corvette, Firebird and Camaro. This configuration is referred to as a transaxle since the transmission. In Europe, front-wheel drive was popularized by small cars like the Mini, Renault 5 and Volkswagen Golf, upscale marques like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Jaguar remained mostly independent of this trend, and retained a lineup mostly or entirely made up of FR cars. Japanese mainstream marques such as Toyota were almost exclusively FR until the late 1970s, toyotas first FF vehicle was the Toyota Tercel, with the Corolla and Celica later becoming FF while the Camry was designed as an FF from the beginning. The Supra, Cressida, Crown, and Century remained FR, luxury division Lexus has a mostly FR lineup. Subarus BRZ is an FR car, currently most cars are FF, including all front-engined economy cars, though FR cars are making a return as an alternative to large sport-utility vehicles. In North America, GM returned to production of FR-based luxury vehicles with the 2003 Cadillac CTS, as of 2012, all but the SRX and XTS are FR-based vehicles. Chevrolet reintroduced the FR-based Camaro in 2009, and the Caprice PPV in 2011, Pontiac also had a short run with the FR-based G8 and Pontiac Solstice. A Chevrolet replacement for the G8 called the Chevrolet SS was released in 2013, chrysler and Dodge reintroduced the 300 and Charger on a FR platform
FR layout
–
All
Chevrolet Corvette from the second generation (model year 1963) through current models are FMR layouts as seen in the engine bay of the
Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1.
FR layout
–
FR layout
FR layout
–
The
Honda S2000 engine sits clearly behind the top of the shock towers.
FR layout
–
The peler
Morgan +4 and
4/4 are classic "front mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layouts."
8.
Checker Aerobus
–
The Checker Aerobus is an automobile manufactured on two different wheelbases by the Checker Motors Corporation from 1962 until 1977. It was offered as seven- or nine-door station wagon, and as a six- or eight-door sedan, meant primarily to serve as an airport shuttle, as indicated by the name, it is an extended version of the iconic Checker Marathon. From its introduction through the 1964 model year, the Aerobus used Chrysler V8s, but when Checker Motors shifted from Continental to Chevrolet engines for 1965, the early cars used Chryslers A318 V8, originally with 190 hp and later 200 hp. During 1965, the Aerobus switched to Chevrolets 327 cu in small-block engine and this was in a lesser state of tune than the 250 hp unit used in the regular Marathons, with lower 8,1 compression and twin rather than quadruple carburetors. Top speed was around 84 mph, standard equipment for 1966 included power brakes, windshield washer, and a front stabilizer bar. The rear wheel cutouts were radiused, unlike the sedans, for 1969, the bigger 350 engine took over, with 200 hp. Output climbed to 215 hp for 1971, or 155 hp SAE net, available only with an automatic and with standard power steering, top speed for a 1974 is 99 mph. After none were built in 1975,107 more eight-door sedans were built in 1976 and 1977, the engine output for 1977 again increased somewhat, to 170 hp. Called the Aerobus 15 since it could seat 15, it did not prove very successful, production of the short-wheelbase versions, always considerably lower than the longer ones, ended with the 1969 model year. They can seat 9, while the station wagon seated 12 people. Marketing material mentioned a special prisoner transport version of the Aerobus called the Convoy, in total,3,568 Checker Aerobuses of all versions were built. Media related to Checker Aerobus at Wikimedia Commons Checker Aerobus at the Internet Movie Cars Database
Checker Aerobus
–
Checker Aerobus
9.
Wheelbase
–
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles, the wheelbase is defined as the distance between the axle and the centerpoint of the driving axle group. In the case of a truck, the wheelbase would be the distance between the steering axle and a point midway between the two rear axles. The wheelbase of a vehicle equals the distance between its front and rear wheels, at equilibrium, the total torque of the forces acting on a vehicle is zero. So, for example, when a truck is loaded, its center of gravity shifts rearward, the amount the vehicle sinks will depend on counter acting forces like the size of the tires, tire pressure, and the stiffness of the suspension. If the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, extra torque is placed on the rear or front tire respectively, so, as is common experience, when the vehicle accelerates, the rear usually sinks and the front rises depending on the suspension. Likewise, when braking the front noses down and the rear rises, because of the effect the wheelbase has on the weight distribution of the vehicle, wheelbase dimensions are crucial to the balance and steering. For example, a car with a greater weight load on the rear tends to understeer due to the lack of the load on the front tires. This is why it is crucial, when towing a single-axle caravan, likewise, a car may oversteer or even spin out if there is too much force on the front tires and not enough on the rear tires. Also, when turning there is lateral torque placed upon the tires which imparts a turning force that depends upon the length of the distances from the CM. Wheelbases provide the basis for one of the most common vehicle size class systems, some luxury vehicles are offered with long-wheelbase variants to increase the spaciousness and therefore the luxury of the vehicle. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair was given a version of the Rover 75 for official use. In contrast, coupé varieties of vehicles such as the Honda Accord are usually built on shorter wheelbases than the sedans they are derived from. The wheelbase on many commercially available bicycles and motorcycles is so short, relative to the height of their centers of mass, in skateboarding the word wheelbase is used for the distance between the two inner pairs of mounting holes on the deck. This is different from the distance between the centers of the two wheel pairs. A reason for this use is that decks are sold with prefabricated holes. It is therefore easier to use the holes for measuring and describing this characteristic of the deck. A common misconception is that the choice of wheelbase is influenced by the height of the skateboarder, however, the length of the deck would then be a better candidate, because the wheelbase affects characteristics useful in different speeds or terrains regardless of the height of the skateboarder
Wheelbase
–
Wheelbase (measured between rotational centers of wheels)
10.
5 mph bumper
–
A bumper is a structure attached to or integrated with the front and rear ends of a motor vehicle, to absorb impact in a minor collision, ideally protecting occupants and minimizing repair costs. Invented by Briton Frederick Simms in 1901, bumpers ideally minimize height mismatches between vehicles and protect pedestrians from injury, bumpers were at first just rigid metal bars. On the 1968 Pontiac GTO, General Motors brought forth an Endura body-colored plastic front bumper designed to absorb low-speed impact without permanent deformation and it appeared in a television commercial where John DeLorean hit the new car with a sledgehammer and no damage resulted. Similar elastomeric bumpers were available on the front and rear of the 1970-71 Plymouth Barracuda, current design practice is for the bumper structure on modern automobiles to consist of a plastic cover over a reinforcement bar made of steel, aluminum, fiberglass composite, or plastic. Bumpers of most modern automobiles have been made of a combination of polycarbonate, a bumper valance or valance panel is a trim piece located in the lower part of the front or rear bumper. Bumper valances are intended to improve efficiency of the vehicle by directing airflow in the same way that an air dam does. Bumper valances may also include the lip at the bottom. However, in many cases valance panel plays a role by covering a lower part of the radiator in the front of the vehicle or concealing the gap between dual exhaust pipes in the rear. Bumpers offer protection to other components by dissipating the kinetic energy generated by an impact. This energy is a function of mass and velocity squared. The kinetic energy is equal to 1/2 the product of the mass, until 1959, such rigidity was seen as beneficial to occupant safety among automotive engineers. Modern theories of vehicle crashworthiness point in the direction, towards vehicles that crumple progressively. A completely rigid vehicle might have excellent bumper protection for vehicle components, bumpers are increasingly being designed to mitigate injury to pedestrians struck by cars, such as through the use of bumper covers made of flexible materials. Front bumpers, especially, have lowered and made of softer materials, such as foams and crushable plastics. The height and placement of bumpers may be specified, to ensure that when vehicles of different heights are in an accident. Bumpers cannot fully protect against moderate or high speed collisions, underride collisions, in which a smaller vehicle such as a passenger sedan slides under a larger vehicle such as a tractor-trailer often result in severe injuries or fatalities. The platform bed of a typical tractor-trailer is at the height of seated adults in a typical passenger car. Around 500 people are killed this way in the United States annually and they are required to be not more than 22 in from the road
5 mph bumper
–
Chrome plated front bumper on a 1958
Ford Taunus
5 mph bumper
–
Detail of a rear bumper with integrated
tail lamps and a rubber-faced guard
5 mph bumper
–
Ford Model A (1927–31) with metal bumpers
5 mph bumper
–
Pontiac GTO (1968-1972) designed to absorb impact without permanent deformation at low speeds
11.
L-head
–
A flathead engine is an internal combustion engine with valves placed in the engine block beside the piston, instead of in the cylinder head, as in an overhead valve engine. As the cylinder cross-section has the shape of an upside-down L, the sidevalves poppet valves are usually sited on one side of the cylinder. A recess in the head creates a corridor connecting the valves. The valve gear comprises a camshaft which operates the valves via simple tappets, indian, however, employs both rocker arms and pushrods to transmiit motion from the cam lobes to the valve stems. Flathead designs are commonly built new for many small engine applications of one. The main advantages of an engine are simplicity, reliability, low cost, compactness, responsive low-speed power, low mechanical engine noise. The absence of an overhead valve valvetrain allows a compact engine that is less expensive to manufacture. Even today, flatheads are common in lawnmowers and basic farm machinery, if a valve head breaks off, it may become lodged between the piston and the head causing severe damage. At top dead centre, the piston gets very close to the portion of the cylinder head above. The typical flathead engine has its valves adjacent, but the T-head variant acts as a cross-flow head, the main disadvantages of a sidevalve engine are poor gas flow, poor combustion chamber shape, and low compression ratio, all of which result in a low power output. The sidevalve configuration makes intake and exhaust gases follow a route, with low volumetric efficiency. Although a sidevalve engine can operate at high speed, its volumetric efficiency swiftly deteriorates. High volumetric efficiency was important for early cars because their engines rarely sustained extended high speeds. A compromise used by Willys, Rover and Rolls-Royce in the 1950s was the F-head, in there is one side valve. An advance in technology resulted from experimentation in the 1920s by Sir Harry Ricardo. Because the exhaust follows a path to leave the engine. In a T-head engine, the pairs have a crossflow configuration. American LaFrance powered their fire engines with T-head engines from the 1920s to the 1950s, the Cleveland Motorcycle Manufacturing Company produced a T-head four-cylinder in-line motorcycle engine in the 1920s, and early Stutz engines were T heads
L-head
–
Harley-Davidson flathead engine
L-head
–
Engine block of the
Ford flathead V8 engine showing the location of the valve ports (the holes above the large cylinder bores). These blocks were the basis of the original "Hotrod" Engines
L-head
–
T head sidevalve arrangement
12.
Straight-six engine
–
The straight-six engine or inline-six engine is an internal combustion engine with the cylinders mounted in a straight line along the crankcase with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft. The bank of cylinders may be oriented at any angle, and where the bank is inclined to the vertical, the straight-six layout is the simplest engine layout that possesses both primary and secondary mechanical engine balance, resulting in much less vibration than engines with fewer cylinders. In automobiles, the design is used for engine displacements ranging from approximately 2 to 5 litres. It is also used for smaller engines but these, although very smooth running. Since the length of an engine is proportional to the number of cylinders in one bank. Pre-World War II engines could be large by modern standards — such as the Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts 7.4 L engine and the 824 cu in of the 1910s Peerless, Pierce. They were used in a variety of including the de Havilland Dragon Rapide. The largest are used to ships, and use fuel oil. The straight-six can also be viewed as a modular component of larger motors which stack several straight-sixes together, e. g. flat- or V-12s, W-18s. Straight-six engines were introduced earlier than V6 engines. While the first straight-six was manufactured in 1903 by Spyker, it was not until 1950 that a production V6 was introduced, V6s had intrinsic vibration problems not present in the straight-six. The poor secondary harmonic balance of four-cylinder engines is largely addressed with the use of balance shafts although it can never match the in-line six, TVR used a straight-six configuration exclusively in their final cars before their demise. In a reversal of trends, Mercedes-Benz announced a return to inline-6 engines in October 2016. This was a part of a trend toward higher efficiency engines with fewer cylinders, manufacturers began to replace V8 engines with straight-6 engines and V6 engines with straight-4 engines, while V8 engines became smaller. Straight-sixes continue to be used in medium to large trucks, Ford is one notable exception using a V8 in medium duty trucks. GM pickup trucks abandoned the straight-six in 1984 for the 4.3 V6, in 2002, General Motors introduced the Vortec 4200 as part of the modular straight-four, straight-five and straight-six GM Atlas engine line. It was used in their sport utility vehicles. Jeep abandoned the straight-six in 2006 with the 2006 Jeep Wrangler being the last vehicle, Ram Trucks continues to offer straight-six engines in its heavy duty pickup truck and chassis cab models, although only V6 and V8 engines are available in the smaller versions
Straight-six engine
–
A
BMW M20B25 engine with the
cylinder head removed, showing the
pistons in the six cylinders of the engine
Straight-six engine
–
A
MAN B&W 6S60MC inline six-cylinder slow-speed
diesel engine. This example is used on a 70,000 t (
deadweight)
bulk carrier, and produces 9,014.8 kW (12,089.0 hp) at 90.3 rpm (1.5 Hz) (703,130 ft.lbs torque).
Straight-six engine
–
Crankshaft with 4 main bearings
Straight-six engine
–
BMW M1 engine
13.
OHV
–
An overhead valve engine is an engine in which the valves are placed in the cylinder head. This was an improvement over the flathead engine, where the valves were placed in the block next to the piston. Overhead camshaft engines, while overhead valve by definition, are usually categorized apart from other OHV engines. Lifters or tappets are located in the block between the camshaft and pushrods. By contrast, overhead camshaft design avoids the use of pushrods by putting the camshaft directly above the valves in the cylinder head, in 1900, Marr was hired as chief engineer at the Buick Auto-Vim and Power Company in Detroit, where he worked until 1902. Marr said he got the idea of overhead valves when making the small tricycle engine, marrs engine employed pushrod-actuated rocker arms, which in turn pushed valves parallel to the pistons, and this is still in use today. This contrasts with previous designs which use of side valves. Marr left Buick briefly to start his own company in 1902, the Marr Auto-Car. The OHV engine was patented in 1902 by Buicks second chief engineer Eugene Richard, at the Buick Manufacturing Company, precursor to the Buick Motor Company. The worlds first production overhead valve engine was put into the first production Buick automobile, the 1904 Model B, the engine was designed by Marr and David Buick. Eugene Richard of the Buick Manufacturing Company was awarded US Patent #771,095 in 1904 for the valve in head engine. Arthur Chevrolet was awarded US Patent #1,744,526 for an adapter that could be applied to an existing engine, in 1949, Oldsmobile introduced the Rocket V8. It was the first high-compression I-head design, and is the archetype for most modern pushrod engines, general Motors is the worlds largest pushrod engine producer, producing both I4, V6 and V8 pushrod engines. Nowadays, automotive use of side-valves has virtually disappeared, and valves are almost all overhead, however, most are now driven more directly by the overhead camshaft system. Few pushrod-type engines remain in production outside of the United States market and this is in part a result of some countries passing laws to tax engines based on displacement, because displacement is somewhat related to the emissions and fuel efficiency of an automobile. This has given OHC engines a regulatory advantage in those countries, however, in 2002, Chrysler introduced a new pushrod engine, a 5. 7-litre Hemi engine. The new Chrysler Hemi engine presents advanced features such as variable displacement technology and has been an option with buyers. The Hemi was on the Wards 10 Best Engines list for 2003 through 2007, Chrysler also produced the worlds first production variable-valve OHV engine with independent intake and exhaust phasing
OHV
–
Picture of a
V8 engine block (with
intake manifold removed), showing the camshaft, pushrods, and rockers.
OHV
–
Components of a pushrod valve actuation system
14.
Chevrolet small-block engine
–
The Chevrolet small-block engine is a series of automobile V8 engines built by the Chevrolet Division of General Motors using the same basic small engine block. The small blocks small physical size also set apart from their massive physical size cousins. Retroactively referred to as the Generation I small-block, it is distinct from subsequent Generation II LT and Generation III/IV LS, engineer Ed Cole, who would later become GM President, is credited with leading the design for this engine. Production of the original small-block began in the fall of 1954 for the 1955 model year with a displacement of 265 cu in, growing incrementally over time to 400 cu in by 1970. Several intermediate displacements appeared over the years, such as the 283 cu in that was available with fuel injection. Introduced as an engine in 1967, the 350 went on to be employed in both high- and low-output variants across the entire Chevrolet product line. Although all of Chevrolets siblings of the period designed their own V8s, over the years, every American General Motors division except Saturn used it and its descendants in their vehicles. In all, over 100,000,000 small-blocks have been built in carbureted, the small-block family line was honored as one of the 10 Best Engines of the 20th Century by automotive magazine Wards AutoWorld. The first generation of Chevrolet small-blocks began with the 1955 Chevrolet 265 cu in V8 offered in the Corvette, by 1957 it had grown to 283 cu in. Fitted with the optional Rochester mechanical fuel injection, it was one of the first production engines to make 1 hp per 1 cu in, the 283 would later be extended to other Chevrolet models, replacing the old style 265 V8s. A high-performance 327 cu in variant followed, turning out as much as 375 hp and it was, however, the 350 cu in series that came to be the best known Chevrolet small-block. Installed in everything from station wagons to sports cars, in commercial vehicles, from 1955 to 1974, the small-block engine was known as the Turbo-Fire V8. All Chevrolet V8s, from the big-blocks to todays LS7 and LS9, of the three engines in this family, two of them, the 265 and the 283, have gone down in automotive history. The first of this family was the 265, introduced in 1955, the 265 had a 3.75 in bore. The stroke of the 265 was 3.00 in, like the 283, the last of this family was the 307 cu in, which was a stroked 283 with a medium journal. The 265 cu in Turbo-Fire V8 was the first Chevrolet small-block, coles design borrowed the valve train design scheduled to be used at the time in the Pontiac V8. Internal GM rules at that time were that once an automotive division had introduced a technological innovation no other GM division could use it for a period of two years. The stud mounted independent ball rocker arm design patented by Pontiac engineer Clayton Leach was scheduled for introduction in the Pontiac 1955 V8
Chevrolet small-block engine
–
LT-1 from a 1970
Chevrolet Camaro Z28
15.
Oldsmobile Diesel engine
–
Oldsmobile produced three versions of a diesel engine between 1978 to 1985, a 5.7 litre V8 1978-85, a 4.3 litre V8 in 1979, and a 4.3 litre V6 1982-1985. Both powered rear-wheel drive vehicles, the 4.3 litre was adapted to both transverse and inline front-wheel drive applications, sales peaked in 1981 at approximately 310,000 units, which represented 60% of the total U. S. passenger vehicle diesel market. The Oldsmobile diesel subsequently gained a reputation for unreliability and anemic performance that damaged the North American passenger diesel market for the next 30 years, in spite of this, the Oldsmobile diesels strong blocks continue to see use in gasoline-powered race engines. The LF9 is a 350 cu in diesel V8 produced from 1978 to 1985, earlier versions and those used in pickups produced 120 hp and 220 ft·lbf torque, while later versions produced 105 hp and 205 ft·lbf torque. Applications,1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon 1979 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme/Cutlass Calais The LT6 is 4.3 liter V6 produced from 1982 to 1984, power was rated at 85 bhp @3600 rpm and 165 lb·ft @1600 rpm. Power was rated at 85 bhp @3600 rpm and 165 lb·ft @1600 rpm, applications,1985 Buick Electra 1985 Cadillac de Ville 1985 Cadillac Fleetwood 1985 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight List of GM engines
Oldsmobile Diesel engine
–
Oldsmobile Diesel
16.
Diesel engine
–
Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a degree that it ignites atomised diesel fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber. This contrasts with spark-ignition engines such as an engine or gas engine. In diesel engines, glow plugs may be used to aid starting in cold weather, or when the engine uses a lower compression-ratio, the original diesel engine operates on the constant pressure cycle of gradual combustion and produces no audible knock. Low-speed diesel engines can have an efficiency that exceeds 50%. Diesel engines may be designed as either two-stroke or four-stroke cycles and they were originally used as a more efficient replacement for stationary steam engines. Since the 1910s they have used in submarines and ships. Use in locomotives, trucks, heavy equipment and electricity generation plants followed later, in the 1930s, they slowly began to be used in a few automobiles. Since the 1970s, the use of engines in larger on-road and off-road vehicles in the US increased. According to the British Society of Motor Manufacturing and Traders, the EU average for diesel cars accounts for 50% of the total sold, including 70% in France and 38% in the UK. The worlds largest diesel engine is currently a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C Common Rail marine diesel, the definition of a Diesel engine to many has become an engine that uses compression ignition. To some it may be an engine that uses heavy fuel oil, to others an engine that does not use spark ignition. However the original cycle proposed by Rudolf Diesel in 1892 was a constant temperature cycle which would require higher compression than what is needed for compression ignition. Diesels idea was to compress the air so tightly that the temperature of the air would exceed that of combustion, to make this more clear, let it be assumed that the subsequent combustion shall take place at a temperature of 700°. Then in that case the pressure must be sixty-four atmospheres, or for 800° centigrade the pressure must be ninety atmospheres. In later years Diesel realized his original cycle would not work, Diesel describes the cycle in his 1895 patent application. Notice that there is no longer a mention of compression temperatures exceeding the temperature of combustion, now all that is mentioned is the compression must be high enough for ignition. In 1806 Claude and Nicéphore Niépce developed the first known internal combustion engine, the Pyréolophore fuel system used a blast of air provided by a bellows to atomize Lycopodium
Diesel engine
–
Diesel generator on an oil tanker
Diesel engine
–
A Diesel engine built by
MAN AG in 1906
Diesel engine
–
A
Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine working at the
Great Dorset Steam Fair
Diesel engine
–
Diesel's original 1897 engine on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany
17.
Checker Taxi
–
Checker Taxi was an American taxi company. It used the Checker Marathon produced by Checker of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Checker, particularly the 1958–82 Checker A series sedans remain the most famous taxi cab vehicles in the United States. The vehicle is comparable to the London Taxi in its nationally renowned styling, which went largely unchanged throughout its use, motorized taxi cabs began to appear on the streets of major cities beginning in the early 1900s. Particularly in Chicago, where numerous railroads had terminals, there was considerable need for on-demand, hotels, department stores, and office buildings embraced the amenity, but often limited access to their facilities to a single cab company. Kickbacks were common, and the system favored larger operators, who had the resources to play the game. By 1920, there were two dominant taxi-cab companies operating in Chicago, Yellow Cab and Checker Taxi, Yellow Cab Company was founded in 1910 by John Hertz who subsequently established his own cab manufacturing business in 1917. Checker Taxi did not own its own cab manufacturing company, but principally used Mogul Cabs, the facility made bodies for Commonwealth Motors, which marketed the vehicles to cab companies under the trade name Mogul. Commonwealth Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy but had an order from Checker Taxi, Markin acquired Commonwealth Motors via a stock swap, and merged it with Markin Automobile Body, forming Checker Cab Manufacturing in order to honor the contractual commitment. Checker cabs were manufactured in Joliet for two years, then production was shifted to Kalamazoo, Michigan, the sturdy Checker cabs gained the acceptance and loyal following of Checker Taxi operators in Chicago. Markin began buying up Checker Taxi operators licenses in 1924, gaining control of the company in 1937. Markin followed Hertzs business plan in having drivers open doors for the fares, Checker became the first cab company to hire African-American drivers and the first to require that drivers pick up all fares, not just European-American ones. Competition for fares in Chicago was fierce in the 1920s, the fighting between the two cab companies escalated to the point where Markins home was firebombed, which prompted Markin to relocate Checker Cab Manufacturing to Michigan. In 1940, Parmelee became the largest cab company in the United States, prior to selling the Yellow Cab company, Hertz had sold his taxi-cab, truck, and coach manufacturing arm in 1925 to General Motors. GM wanted to part of the acquired business and made an offer to Markin. Rather than eliminate the capacity of Yellow Manufacturing, General Motors entered the business in New York City as Terminal Taxi Cab. General Motors operated Yellow Coach as a subsidiary until 1943, at time the company was merged with GMC Truck Division. A second taxi war broke out, with Checker Taxi Co, over the next three decades, Markin was involved in the formation of Checker Taxi or Checker Cab companies in a number of major U. S. cities. At one point, Markin sold Checker Cab Manufacturing to E. L, Cord, but bought it back again in 1936
Checker Taxi
–
The very last Checker Taxicab built by the company, in green and cream with Checker's trademark checkerboard trim. It is a 1982 A11 and is currently on display at the Gilmore Car Museum in Kalamazoo.
Checker Taxi
–
A yellow Checker taxi in New York City.
Checker Taxi
–
Metal die-cast model of a 1981 Checker taxicab by SunStar
Checker Taxi
–
New York City, 2011
18.
Taxicab
–
A taxicab, also known as a taxi or a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice, Taxicab is a compound word formed from contractions of taximeter and cabriolet. Taximeter is an adaptation of the German word taxameter, which was itself a variant of the earlier German word, taxe is a German word meaning tax, charge, or scale of charges. The Medieval Latin word, taxa, also means tax or charge, meter is from the Greek metron meaning measure. A cabriolet is a type of carriage, from the French word cabrioler, from Italian capriolare. Both instituted fast and reliable postal services across Europe, the taxicabs of Paris were equipped with the first meters beginning on March 9,1898. They were originally called taxamètres, then renamed taximètres on October 17,1904, horse-drawn for-hire hackney carriage services began operating in both Paris and London in the early 17th century. The first documented public hackney coach service for hire was in London in 1605, in 1625 carriages were made available for hire from innkeepers in London and the first taxi rank appeared on the Strand outside the Maypole Inn in 1636. In 1635 the Hackney Carriage Act was passed by Parliament to legalise horse-drawn carriages for hire, coaches were hired out by innkeepers to merchants and visitors. A further Ordinance for the Regulation of Hackney-Coachmen in London and the places adjacent was approved by Parliament in 1654, a similar service was started by Nicolas Sauvage in Paris in 1637. His vehicles were known as fiacres, as the vehicle depot apparently was opposite a shrine to Saint Fiacre. The hansom cab was designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, Hansoms original design was modified by John Chapman and several others to improve its practicability, but retained Hansoms name. These soon replaced the hackney carriage as a vehicle for hire and they quickly spread to other cities in the United Kingdom, as well as continental European cities, particularly Paris, Berlin, and St Petersburg. The cab was introduced to other British Empire cities and to the United States during the late 19th century, being most commonly used in New York City. The first cab service in Toronto, The City, was established in 1837 by Thornton Blackburn, Electric battery-powered taxis became available at the end of the 19th century. Bersey designed a fleet of cabs and introduced them to the streets of London on 19 August 1897. They were soon nicknamed Hummingbirds’ due to the idiosyncratic humming noise they made, in the same year in New York City, the Samuels Electric Carriage and Wagon Company began running 12 electric hansom cabs. The company ran until 1898 with up to 62 cabs operating until it was reformed by its financiers to form the Electric Vehicle Company, the modern taximeter was invented and perfected by a trio of German inventors, Wilhelm Friedrich Nedler, Ferdinand Dencker and Friedrich Wilhelm Gustav Bruhn
Taxicab
–
Taxicabs in
Vilnius, Lithuania
Taxicab
–
Taxicabs of the Philippines
Taxicab
–
Hyundai i40 taxi in Singapore
Taxicab
–
Taxicab in
Yekaterinburg, Russia
19.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
New York City
–
Clockwise, from top:
Midtown Manhattan,
Times Square, the
Unisphere in
Queens, the
Brooklyn Bridge,
Lower Manhattan with
One World Trade Center,
Central Park, the
headquarters of the United Nations, and the
Statue of Liberty
New York City
–
New Amsterdam, centered in the eventual
Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the year
England took control and renamed it "New York".
New York City
–
The
Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the
American Revolution, took place in
Brooklyn in 1776.
New York City
–
Broadway follows the Native American Wickquasgeck Trail through Manhattan.
20.
Manhattan
–
Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the citys historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1,1683, Manhattan is often described as the cultural and financial capital of the world and hosts the United Nations Headquarters. Many multinational media conglomerates are based in the borough and it is historically documented to have been purchased by Dutch colonists from Native Americans in 1626 for 60 guilders which equals US$1062 today. New York County is the United States second-smallest county by land area, on business days, the influx of commuters increases that number to over 3.9 million, or more than 170,000 people per square mile. Manhattan has the third-largest population of New York Citys five boroughs, after Brooklyn and Queens, the City of New York was founded at the southern tip of Manhattan, and the borough houses New York City Hall, the seat of the citys government. The name Manhattan derives from the word Manna-hata, as written in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, a 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River. The word Manhattan has been translated as island of hills from the Lenape language. The United States Postal Service prefers that mail addressed to Manhattan use New York, NY rather than Manhattan, the area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – was the first European to visit the area that would become New York City. It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, a permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624 with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam, the 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 to US$23, variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars, as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006, based on the price of silver, Straight Dope author Cecil Adams calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director General of the colony, New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2,1653. In 1664, the English conquered New Netherland and renamed it New York after the English Duke of York and Albany, the Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city New Orange. Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16,1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British political, British occupation lasted until November 25,1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city
Manhattan
–
View from
Midtown Manhattan, facing south toward
Lower Manhattan
Manhattan
–
Peter Minuit, early 1600s.
Manhattan
–
The
Castello Plan showing the Dutch colonial city of
New Amsterdam in 1660 – then confined to the southern tip of Manhattan Island.
Manhattan
–
J.Q.A. Ward 's statue of
George Washington in front of
Federal Hall (on
Wall Street) where he was inaugurated as the first
U.S. President in 1789.
21.
Gorky Park (film)
–
Gorky Park is a 1983 film based on the novel Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. It was directed by Michael Apted, dennis Potter won a 1984 Edgar Award for his screenplay for the film. Pacuła was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, the film also featured Alexei Sayle as a black marketeer. Three young people are seen ice skating in Gorky Park, three days later, Soviet militsiya officer Arkady Renko investigates the discovery of their bodies a short distance from the skating rink. All have been shot in the chest and mouth, their faces, Renko is left anxious and paranoid when the KGB refuse to take over the investigation. Renko enlists the help of Professor Andreev to reconstruct their faces, at a weekend getaway at the dacha of Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy, Renko makes the acquaintance of the American sable importer Jack Osborne and his girlfriend Irina Asanova. During his investigation, Renko crosses paths with William Kirwill, a New York detective who is in the Soviet Union investigating the disappearance of his brother James. Renko is eventually able to piece together the victims identities, James Kirwill and he discovers that the three were busy constructing a chest for Osborne. Renkos suspicion of Osborne mounts over time, during their polite, when Irina is attacked by a KGB officer who attempts to inject her with a fatal overdose, Renko saves her. Nursing her back to health in his apartment, they begin an affair, Kirwill finally locates the barn where the three victims were building Osbornes chest. It was designed to smuggle six sables out of the country and to break the Soviet monopoly on their fur, Irina stubbornly continues to believe that her friends are alive. Osborne had promised to them out of Soviet Union in return for their work. Renko confronts her with Prof. Andreevs reconstructed head of one of her friends and she confesses the full details of the plot to him and then runs away. Renko and Kirwill go to Andreevs to retrieve the second reconstructed head and they follow him, and Renko is crushed to find they are back at Iamskoys dacha. They watch from a distance as Osborne and Iamskoy supervise the destruction of the head by the KGB agent, to Kirwills horror, it is his brothers head. Renko confronts Iamskoy in a bath house, Iamskoy cordially admits that he kept Renko on the case because Osborne was unwilling to pay a high enough price to smuggle out the sables. Renkos investigation was intended to frighten Osborne into paying more and he offers to cut Renko in on Osbornes kickback. Renko reveals that he has recorded the conversation, and Iamskoy jumps up, in the ensuing struggle, Renkos gun goes off and kills Iamskoy
Gorky Park (film)
–
1983 Theatrical Poster
22.
Mission: Impossible
–
Mission, Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill, Jim Phelps, a hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series was filmed and financed by Desilu Productions, and aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, the series was revived in 1988 for two seasons on ABC, retaining only Graves in the cast. It also inspired a series of motion pictures starring Tom Cruise. The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force, a team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations. On occasion, the IMF also mounts unsanctioned, private missions on behalf of its members, the identities of the higher echelons of the organization that oversees the IMF are never revealed. In the 1980s revival, it is suggested the IMF is an independent agency of the United States government, the leader of the IMF is initially Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill. As an Orthodox Jew, Hill had to leave on Fridays at 4 p. m. to be home before sundown and was not available until after dark the next day, Hill had other problems as well. Unable to come to terms with Hill, the producers re-shot the episode without him, as far as Hills religious requirements were concerned, line producer Joseph Gantman simply had not understood what had been agreed to. He told author Patrick J. White, If someone understands your problems and says he understands them, but if he doesnt care about your problems, then you begin to really resent him. Steven Hill may have exactly the same way. In theory, Briggs and Phelps are the only members of the IMF. Still, many also feature guest stars playing one-time additional agents who have special skills. His contract gave producers an option to have him render services for additional episodes, to fill the void left by Hills Sabbath absences, producers wound up using Landau for more episodes, always as a guest star. He eventually struck a deal to appear in all the first seasons remaining episodes, Landau contractually became a series regular in season two. As actors left the series time, others became regulars. Replacements often possessed the skills as their predecessors
Mission: Impossible
–
Original series logo
Mission: Impossible
–
Steven Hill as Dan Briggs and Martin Landau as Rollin Hand (in disguise) in the premiere episode, September 17, 1966.
Mission: Impossible
–
Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter, 1969.
Mission: Impossible
–
The Season 5 1970–1971 cast from left: Leonard Nimoy, Greg Morris, Lesley Ann Warren, Peter Lupus, and Peter Graves.
23.
Soviet Union
–
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
Soviet Union
–
Vladimir Lenin addressing a crowd with Trotsky, 1920
Soviet Union
–
Flag
Soviet Union
–
Stalin and
Nikolai Yezhov, head of the
NKVD. After Yezhov was executed, he was
edited out of the image.
Soviet Union
24.
Chaika (car)
–
A Chaika, which means gull, is a luxury automobile from the Soviet Union made by GAZ. The vehicle is one step down from the ZIL limousine, Chaika production consisted of two generations, the M13 of 1959 to 1981 and the M14 of 1977 to 1988. The Mark 1 Chaika, the GAZ M13, debuted in 1958 and it was produced from 1959 to 1981, with 3,179 built in all. The M13 was powered by a 195-hp SAE gross 5.5 L V8 and it was offered as a saloon, limousine, and four-door cabriolet with an electrohydraulic top. The cabriolet was made in 1961 and 1962 for official parades, RAF in Riga produced the GAZ 13A Universal, an estate, in the 1960s in Riga, this was also built as the GAZ 13C ambulance, as well as a hearse. Produced for a few years in the 1960s, it is the lowest-volume Chaika variant, small numbers were also built for Mosfilm. As a limousine-class car, Chaikas were available only to the Soviet government, however, citizens were allowed to rent Chaikas for weddings. For their larger size and more powerful V8, Chaikas were also ordered in quantity by the KGB. The M13B was built for two years 1961 and 1962. The GAZ13 was discontinued in 1981, the M14 debuted in 1977, and ran to the end of Chaika production in 1988. Enthusiasts often point to the 1955-56 U. S. Packards as the inspiration for the early Chaikas styling, nevertheless, Packards of 1955-56 are also have a lot in common with earlier Soviet concept ZIS-112 Odnoglazka. The vintage 1950s-style M13 was succeeded by the more modern Chaika M14 introduced in 1977, although visually modern and fitted with the latest electronic luxury features, the M14 was in fact built around the drivetrain and undercarriage of the older model. The M14 engine was a modernized 5,526 cc and achieved 220 hp SAE gross, a seven-seater, with special soundproofing, it measured 611 cm long overall and weighed in at 2,600 kg. A four-door convertible, the 14-95, appeared in 1982, the Chaika M14 remained in production from 14 October 1977 to 1988, when the Chaika limousine brand was ended. Around a hundred M14s were built each year, with production reaching 1,114. On orders from Mikhail Gorbachev, the blueprints and tooling were destroyed as part of his fighting privileges campaign under perestroika, the Hungarian Railway Museum features a Chaika that has been converted to travel on rails. Photograph Autosoviet listing International Chaika Club
Chaika (car)
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A c. 1960 GAZ Chaika parade car
Chaika (car)
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M13 Chaika
Chaika (car)
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Front view
Chaika (car)
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Rear of a 1974 model. Notice the tailpipe integrated in the rear bumper as well as the late-1950s American-style tailfins.
25.
Carburettor
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A carburetor, or carburettor, or carburator, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine in the proper ratio for combustion. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America or carby in Australia. To carburate or carburet is to blend the air and fuel or to equip with a carburetor for that purpose, carburetors have largely been supplanted in the automotive and, to a lesser extent, aviation industries by fuel injection. They are still common on engines for lawn mowers, rototillers. The word carburetor comes from the French carbure meaning carbide, carburer means to combine with carbon. In fuel chemistry, the term has the specific meaning of increasing the carbon content of a fluid by mixing it with a volatile hydrocarbon. The first carburetor was invented by Samuel Morey in 1826, a carburetor was invented by an Italian, Luigi De Cristoforis, in 1876. Another carburetor was developed by Enrico Bernardi at the University of Padua in 1882, for his Motrice Pia, a carburetor was among the early patents by Karl Benz as he developed internal combustion engines and their components. Early carburetors were the surface type, in which air is charged with fuel by being passed over the surface of gasoline. In 1885, Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler developed a float carburetor for their engine based on the atomizer nozzle, hungarian engineers János Csonka and Donát Bánki patented a carburetor for a stationary engine in 1893. Frederick William Lanchester of Birmingham, England, experimented with the wick carburetor in cars, in 1896, Frederick and his brother built the first gasoline-driven car in England, a single cylinder 5 hp internal combustion engine with chain drive. Unhappy with the performance and power, they re-built the engine the next year into a horizontally opposed version using his new wick carburetor design. Carburetors were the method of fuel delivery for most US-made gasoline-fueled engines up until the late 1980s. 1991, Jeep Grand Wagoneer with the AMC360 cu in V8 engine, low-cost commercial vans and 4WDs in Australia continued with carburetors even into the 2000s, the last being the Mitsubishi Express van in 2003. Elsewhere, certain Lada cars used carburetors until 2006, many motorcycles still use carburetors for simplicitys sake, since a carburetor does not require an electrical system to function. EEC legislation required all vehicles sold and produced in countries to have a catalytic converter after December 1992. This legislation had been in the pipeline for some time, with cars becoming available with catalytic converters or fuel injection from around 1990. Fords first fuel-injected car was the Ford Capri RS2600 in 1970, general Motors launched its first fuel-injected car around the same time, when began to introduce fuel-injected engines to its Vauxhall Cavalier/Opel Ascona range
Carburettor
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Bendix-Technico (Stromberg) 1-barrel downdraft carburetor model BXUV-3, with nomenclature
Carburettor
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1979 Evinrude Type I marine sidedraft carburetor
Carburettor
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A high performance 4-barrel carburetor
Carburettor
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Holley "Visi-Flo" model #1904 carburetors from the 1950s, factory equipped with transparent glass bowls.
26.
Chevrolet Straight-6 engine
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The Chevrolet inline 6 otto engine was Chevrolets sole engine from 1929, through 1954, and was the base engine starting in 1955 when they added the small block V8 to the lineup. It had finally been completely phased out by 1990 in North America and it was replaced by more recently developed V6 and four-cylinder engines. Many popular cars and trucks, including the Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet did not offer another inline 6 until the 2002 General Motors Atlas engines debut in the Chevrolet TrailBlazer. The first mass-produced GM inline 6 was introduced in 1929 on Chevrolet cars and trucks, richard Grant insisted that the new design boast overhead valves. Chevrolet had long known for its valve-in-head four-cylinder engines. William S. Knudsens cast-iron wonder was produced through 1936 and it was 193.9 cubic inches in size and produced 50 hp. This engine used a steel crankshaft with three bearings and cast-iron pistons. Bore and stroke was 3.3125 in by 3.75 in, the 194 was shared with Chevrolet and GMC trucks for 1935 and 1936. A balanced crankshaft was introduced for 1932, while a higher compression ratio upped output to 60 hp, applications,1929 Chevrolet Series AC International 1930 Chevrolet Series AD Universal This engine was used in all Chevrolet passenger cars 1929-1933, and the 1934 Standard models. A 181-cubic-inch version was used by Chevrolet and GMC trucks in 1935 and 1936,206. 8-cubic-inch variant was used by Chevrolet and GMC trucks in 1934,1935, and 1936. The 1934 Chevrolet Master Deluxe series used this engine, as did all 1935-1935 Chevrolet passenger cars and this newly revised engine put out 80 hp. In 1935 and 1936, GMC and Chevrolet used an Oldsmobile 213 L-head engine, for 1937 and 1938, they used Oldsmobiles 230 L-head engine. The next-generation Chevrolet inline 6 was introduced in 1937 and phased out in 1963 in the US and it is often known as the Blue Flame engine, although that name was only officially applied beginning in 1953, and then only for one certain model of the engine. This engine had a 216. 48-cubic-inch displacement with a 3. 500” bore, a four-bearing crankshaft was added, along with 6.5,1 compression pistons, for 85 hp. A new cylinder head in 1941 increased output to 90 hp and this generation did not use a fully pressurized oiling system. The connecting rods were oiled using an oil trough built into the oil pan that had spray nozzles that squirted a stream of oil at the connecting rods, rod bearings were made of babbitt cast integral with the rod. The bearing was adjustable for wear by removing copper shims placed between the rod cap and connecting rod, in this way specified oil clearance could be maintained. If the crankshaft were to be turned undersized, or if the bearing was damaged or worn out, rod and bearing were replaced as a unit and this engine was also used in GMs British Bedford truck
Chevrolet Straight-6 engine
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First Generation
Chevrolet Straight-6 engine
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1933 Chevrolet L6 engine
Chevrolet Straight-6 engine
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1953 Corvette Blue Flame
27.
Chevrolet
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Chevrolet, colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors. Louis Chevrolet and ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant started the company on November 3,1911 as the Chevrolet Motor Car Company. Durant used the Chevrolet Motor Car Company to acquire a stake in General Motors with a reverse merger occurring on May 2,1918. Chevrolet-branded vehicles are sold in most automotive markets worldwide, with the exception of Oceania. However, GM reversed this move in late 2013, announcing that the brand would be withdrawn from Europe, with the exception of the Camaro, Chevrolet vehicles will continue to be marketed in the CIS states, including Russia. After General Motors fully acquired GM Daewoo in 2011 to create GM Korea, in North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Durant was cast out from the management of General Motors in 1910 for five years and he took over the Flint Wagon Works, incorporating the Mason and Little companies. As head of Buick Motor Company prior to founding GM, Durant had hired Louis Chevrolet to drive Buicks in promotional races, Durant planned to use Chevrolets reputation as a racer as the foundation for his new automobile company. Actual design work for the first Chevy, the costly Series C Classic Six, was drawn up by Etienne Planche, the first C prototype was ready months before Chevrolet was actually incorporated. However the first actual production wasnt until the 1913 model, so in essence there were no 1911 or 1912 production models, only the 1 pre-production model was made and fine tuned throughout the early part of 1912. Then in the fall of that year the new 1913 model was introduced at the New York auto show, Chevrolet first used the bowtie emblem logo in 1914 on the H series models and The L Series Model. It may have been designed from wallpaper Durant once saw in a French hotel room, more recent research by historian Ken Kaufmann presents a case that the logo is based on a logo of the Coalettes coal company. An example of this logo as it appeared in an advertisement for Coalettes appeared in the Atlanta Constitution on November 12,1911, others claim that the design was a stylized Swiss cross, in tribute to the homeland of Chevrolets parents. Chevrolet eventually unified all vehicle models with the gold bowtie in 2004, Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant over design and in 1914 sold Durant his share in the company. By 1916, Chevrolet was profitable enough with successful sales of the cheaper Series 490 to allow Durant to repurchase a controlling interest in General Motors. After the deal was completed in 1917, Durant became president of General Motors, in 1919, Chevrolets factories were located at Flint, Michigan, branch assembly locations were located in Tarrytown, N. Y. Norwood, Ohio, St. Louis, Missouri, Oakland, California, Ft. Worth, Texas, mcLaughlins were given GM Corporation stock for the proprietorship of their Company article Sept.23,1933 Financial Post page 9. In the 1918 model year, Chevrolet introduced the Series D, Sales were poor and it was dropped in 1919
Chevrolet
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2008
GMC Sierra
Chevrolet
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First logo of the company (1911).
Chevrolet
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2010
Chevrolet Silverado
Chevrolet
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1946 Chevrolet Pickup
28.
Exhaust gas recirculation
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In internal combustion engines, exhaust gas recirculation is a nitrogen oxide emissions reduction technique used in petrol/gasoline and diesel engines. EGR works by recirculating a portion of an engines exhaust gas back to the engine cylinders and this dilutes the O2 in the incoming air stream and provides gases inert to combustion to act as absorbents of combustion heat to reduce peak in-cylinder temperatures. NOx is produced in a band of high cylinder temperatures and pressures. In a gasoline engine, this inert exhaust displaces the amount of matter in the cylinder. In a diesel engine, the exhaust gas replaces some of the oxygen in the pre-combustion mixture. Most modern engines now require exhaust gas recirculation to meet emissions standards, the first EGR systems were crude, some were as simple as an orifice jet between the exhaust and intake tracts which admitted exhaust to the intake tract whenever the engine was running. Difficult starting, rough idling, and reduced performance and fuel economy resulted, by 1973, an EGR valve controlled by manifold vacuum opened or closed to admit exhaust to the intake tract only under certain conditions. This prevented driveability problems due to unnecessary exhaust induction, NOx forms under elevated temperature conditions generally not present with a cold engine, later, backpressure transducers were added to the EGR valve control to further tailor EGR flow to engine load conditions. Most modern engines now need exhaust gas recirculation to meet emissions standards, however, recent innovations have led to the development of engines that do not require them. The 3.6 Chrysler Pentastar engine is one example that does not require EGR, the exhaust gas, added to the fuel, oxygen, and combustion products, increases the specific heat capacity of the cylinder contents, which lowers the adiabatic flame temperature. In a typical automotive spark-ignited engine, 5% to 15% of the exhaust gas is routed back to the intake as EGR, although EGR does measurably slow combustion, this can largely be compensated for by advancing spark timing. The impact of EGR on engine efficiency largely depends on the engine design. A properly operating EGR can theoretically increase the efficiency of gasoline engines via several mechanisms, the lower peak temperatures result in more of the released energy remaining as sensible energy near TDC, rather than being bound up in the dissociation of combustion products. This effect is compared to the first two. EGR is typically not employed at high loads because it would reduce power output. This is because it reduces the charge density. EGR is also omitted at idle because it would cause unstable combustion, since the EGR system recirculates a portion of exhaust gases, over time the valve can become clogged with carbon deposits that prevent it from operating properly. Clogged EGR valves can sometimes be cleaned, but replacement is necessary if the valve is faulty, in modern diesel engines, the EGR gas is cooled with a heat exchanger to allow the introduction of a greater mass of recirculated gas
Exhaust gas recirculation
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EGR valve on top of the inlet manifold of a
Saab H engine in a 1987
Saab 90
29.
V6
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A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankshaft in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a 60 or 90 degree angle to each other. The V6 is one of the most compact engine configurations, usually ranging from 2.0 L to 4.3 L displacement, shorter than the inline 4, because of its short length, the V6 fits well in the widely used transverse engine front-wheel drive layout. The V6 engine has become widely adopted for medium-sized cars, often as an engine where an inline 4 is standard. Modern V6 engines commonly range in displacement from 2.0 to 4.3 L, though larger and smaller examples have been produced, such as the 1991 Mazda MX3, some of the first V6-powered automobiles were built in 1905 by Marmon. This firm became something of a V-engine specialist, beginning with V2 engines, then V4s, V6s, V8s, and, in the 1930s, Marmon was one of the few automakers of the world to offer a V16-powered automobile. From 1908 to 1913 the Deutz Gasmotoren Fabrik produced benzene electric train sets used a V6 as generator engine. Another V6-powered car was designed in 1918 by Leo Goosen for Buick Chief Engineer Walter L. Marr, only one prototype Buick V6 car was built in 1918, it was long used by the Marr family. The first series-production V6 was introduced by Lancia in 1950 with the Lancia Aurelia model, Lancia sought a smoother and more powerful engine that would fit into an existing narrow engine bay. A Lancia engineer, Francesco De Virgilio, began analyzing the vibration of alternative V-angles for a V6 engine in 1943 and he found that a V6 with its cylinders positioned at a 60° V-angle could be made uniquely smooth-running in comparison with other possible V-angles. There was resistance to his conclusion, because the V6 was a virtually unknown engine type in the 1950s and his design featured four main bearings and six crankpins, resulting in evenly spaced firing intervals and low vibrations. Other manufacturers took note and soon other V6 engines were designed, the use of the sweet spot of 60 degrees V-angle maximized power while minimizing vibration and exterior dimensions of the engine. In short, GMC introduced a compact V6 design at a time when the engine was considered the pinnacle of 6-cylinder design. To save design time and expense, it was much like a V8 that had two cylinders chopped off. This uneven firing caused harmonic vibrations in the train that were perceived as a rough-running engine by the buyers. GM sold the tooling to Kaiser-Jeep in 1967, later, as a result of the 1973 oil crisis. In 1977, Buick introduced a split pin crankshaft to implement a version of this engine in which cylinders fired consistently every 120°. The V6 does not have the inherent freedom from vibration that the inline-six and flat-six have, counterweights on the crankshaft and a counter rotating balance shaft are required to compensate for the first order rocking motions. This causes an end-to-end rocking motion at crankshaft speed in a straight-three engine and this results in an engine which is short, light, and relatively smooth, but too wide for most engine compartments
V6
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A V6, 24-valve,
DOHC engine
V6
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Lancia V6
V6
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Nissan VG30E engine
V6
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MG Rover groups KV6 engine
30.
V8 engine
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A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder V configuration engine with the cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two sets of four, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft. Most banks are set at an angle to each other, some at a narrower angle, with 45°, 60°. In its simplest form, the V8 is basically two parallel inline-four engines sharing a common crankshaft, since the 1920s, most V8s have used the somewhat more complex crossplane crankshaft with heavy counterweights to eliminate the vibrations. This results in an engine that is smoother than a V6, most racing V8s continue to use the single plane crankshaft because it allows faster acceleration and more efficient exhaust system designs. In 1902, Léon Levavasseur took out a patent on a light and he called it the Antoinette after the young daughter of his financial backer. From 1904 he installed this engine in a number of competition speedboats, the aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont saw one of these boats in Côte dAzur and decided to try it on his 14-bis aircraft. Its early 24 hp at 1400 rpm version with only 55 kg of weight was interesting, Santos-Dumont ordered a larger and more powerful version from Levavasseur. He changed its dimensions from the original 80 mm stroke and 80 mm bore to 105 mm stroke and 110 mm bore, obtaining 50 hp with 86 kg of weight and its power-to-weight ratio was not surpassed for 25 years. Levavasseur eventually produced its own line of V8 equipped aircraft, named Antoinette I to VIII, hubert Latham piloted the V8 powered Antoinette IV and Antoinette VII in July 1909 on two failed attempts to cross the English Channel. However, in 1910, Latham used the VII with the engine to become the first in the world to reach an altitude of 3600 feet. Voisin constructed pusher biplanes with Antoinette engines, also, notably the one first flown successfully by Henry Farman in 1908, the V8 engine configuration became popular in France from 1904 onward, and was used in a number of aircraft engines introduced by Renault, and Buchet among others. Some of these found their way into automobiles in small quantities. In 1905, Darracq built a car to beat the world speed record. They came up with two racing car built on a common crankcase and camshaft. The result was monstrous engine with a displacement of 1,551 cu in, victor Hemery fixed that record on 30 December 1905 with a speed of 109.65 mph. Rolls-Royce built a 3,535 cc V8 car from 1905 to 1906, in 1907 The Hewitt Motor Company built a large 5 passenger Touring Car. It was equipped with a hefty V8 engine that developed 50/60 horsepower and had a bore of 4 inches, the Hewitt was the first American Automobile to be equipped with a V8 engine. De Dion-Bouton introduced a 7,773 cc automobile V8 in 1910 and it was produced only in small quantities, but inspired a number of manufacturers to follow suit
V8 engine
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Experimental
Liberty V8 aircraft engine shows the V-shaped configuration when looking at it from the front or back. Automotive versions usually use a wider, 90° block angle.
V8 engine
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Short block of an
American Motors V8 engine showing the four cylinders on each side of the V configuration
V8 engine
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Assembled Oldsmobile 400 CID overhead valve engine with heads and complete valve train but without manifolds, rocker covers, timing chain cover or oil pan
V8 engine
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Assembled Ford 460 and installed with all components
