The flywheels store energy on the combustion stroke and supply the stored energy to the mechanical load on the other three strokes of the piston. The flywheels maintain engine speed during engine cycles that do not produce driving mechanical forces. A flywheel engine is an engine that has a large flywheel or set of flywheels connected to the crankshaft. It is a type of hit-and-miss engine.(2min 16sec, 320x240, 340kbit/s video)Ī hit-and-miss engine is a type of flywheel engine. This is a video montage of the Otto engines running at the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion ( WMSTR), in Rollag, Minnesota. The main usage here was to drive traditional skiff style utility and fishing boats. In the Canadian Atlantic Provinces, primarily in Newfoundland, these engines were known, in colloquial conversation, as 'Make-and-Break' engines. Some of the largest engine manufacturers were Stover, Hercules, International Harvester ( McCormick Deering), John Deere (Waterloo Engine Works), Maytag and Fairbanks Morse. Many engine manufacturers made hit-and-miss engines during their peak use-from approximately 1910 through the early 1930s, when more modern designs began to replace them. The snorting is caused by the atmospheric intake valve used on many of these engines. The sound made when the engine is running without a load is a distinctive 'Snort POP whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh snort POP' as the engine fires and then coasts until the speed decreases and it fires again to maintain its average speed. This is as compared to the ' throttle governed' method of speed control. The name comes from the speed control on these engines: they fire ('hit') only when operating at or below a set speed, and cycle without firing ('miss') when they exceed their set speed. It was conceived in the late 19th century and produced by various companies from the 1890s through approximately the 1940s. They are usually 4-stroke but 2-stroke versions were made. 1917 Amanco 2 + 1⁄ 4 hp (1.7 kW) 'Hired Man'Ī hit-and-miss engine or Hit 'N' Miss is a type of stationary internal combustion engine that is controlled by a governor to only fire at a set speed.

Stover hit miss engine serial numbers