1 , a
Highest Powered Stock Motor Per Cubic Inch
Displacement The World Has Known
EVENING EDGEBHADBiPHIA, TffURSPAT, JANTJAEY 13, 1916.
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Save in One Respect the Super-Six Is Not Unlike
Other Standard Motors
We use neither aluminum pistons nor other special parts of that nature such
as are being featured by some other manufacturers. There is nothing experimental
about the HUDSON Super-Six motor. It is in every respect except for our newly
discovered system of balancing, on which we have obtained a basic patent, exactly
like the standard practice of design and CDnstruction.
It has not been necessary to resort to abnormally light reciprocating parts,
ball bearings, or to complicated valve me:hanism.
In motors of every type, the application of our newly discovered and pat
ented invention will obtain a gain in power for them.
Our patent is recognized by the United States Patent Office, therefore
it must cover a new idea.
All World's Records Broken
Up to 100 Miles
Made at Shcepshcad Bay under supervision of American Automobile Association, with
a 7-passcnger fully equipped stock-car Super-Six. Breaking all stock-car records for any size,
or any price, or any number of cylinders. No changes were made in the motor. Compression
was not raised. Valve turning was standard. Oiling system no different than used in all
Super-Sixes.
100 miles in 80 min., 21.4 sec., averaging 74.67 mile per hour, with driver and passenger.
Previous best stock-car record was made with a multi-cylinder car carrying driver only.
75.69 milci in one hour with driver and passenger.
Laps were made at 76.75 milct per hour. , , '.
With top and windshield up, carrying five passengers, 70.74 miles in one hour.
Standing Start to 50 miles per hour in 16.2 sec.
Note that the Super-Six tvas not built to be a speed car. But speed requires power, and it also
proves endurance.
What these tests demonstrate is greater endurance than any driver tcill ever require of his car.
Data From an Affidavit Submitted to the United States Patent Office With an
Application Which Resulted in Our Obtaining Patent No. 1165861
It is well understood that the ordinary four
cylinder internal combustion engine is in bal
ance, but the centre of gravity of the four pistons
does not remain at the same point during the
revolution of the motor. On the contrary, it
changes position vertically up to about one-halt
inch. This change in position of the centre ot
gravity of the pistons of the four-cylinder engine
produces a vibration which becomes-periodically
noticeable as the speed increases, there being
certain critical speeds at which the vibration is
maximum.
In the six-cylinder motor, the centre of grav
ity of the pistons is stationary throughout the
entire revolution of the crank shaft, and the
crank shaft is statically in balance that is to
say. the mass is distributed symmetrically about
the axis rotation. Therefore it has ahvays been
believed that the six-cylinder motor should give
the least vibration.
The Limits of the Six
It has been found in practice, however, that
it is impossible to run a six-cylinder motor above
a certain critical speed, varying according to the
particular motor. At such a speed the vibration
becomes so great and the loss of energy due to
friction increases to such a degree that the motor
will not give increased power in proportion to
the increased speed beyond that point.
Designers then resorted to multiple cylinder
engines in the hope of overcoming this difficulty.
It will be understood, of course, that the ideal
automobile engine is one which has maximum
flexibility ; that is to say, can be operated at the
widest range of speeds and which will have the
power to accelerate rapidly.
The small-bore, high-speed, six :-cylinder
engine is particularly flexible. Its limit of speed
has ordinarily been about 2000 revolutions, at
which point the vibration, due to the unbalanced
centrifugal force in the crank shaft, has betn so
great as to preclude any increase in - ";.d and
power. Various attempts to overcome Jus diffi
culty have been made.
The Limits of the Eight and Twelve
Cylinder Motors
The eight-cylinder engine with the cylinders
set at an angle 6f 90 degrees has the same ejec
tions as found in the ordinary four - cylinder
engine, except that there is a component of the
vibration force in each bloc of four -cylinders,
which tends to reduce each other. Th is elimi
nates the trouble, to a small extent, but intro
duces additional complication, increased number
of parts and expense without adding to the
power of the motor or increasing its economy
of operation. '
The twelve-cylinder motor is another at
tempt to overcame this difficulty, but the same
troubles Tare present in the twelve - cyinder
engine as in the ordinary six-cylinder, only the
c?ft?al speeds" re higher because of the reduced
weieht of the moving parts and preodures. in
K&ve-cylinder engine there is less counter
Pn' effect of the vibration force in one bloc
o' cylinders against the corresponding vibration
force in the Xr bloc of cylinders than there .3
in the eight-cylinder motor.
We Built Eights and Twelves
We have designed, built and tested in our
rMUl-RPMiiiqfi it is impossible to reduce the vibra
tion &toriWtb. twelve , and (eight cylin
der motors we went back to the six -cylinder
m0t0Sther attempts have been .made , ta , do away
with this trouble in six-cylinder engines, . or
instance, attempts have been made to make the
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R. P. M.
FOR COMPARISON, ALL MOTORS HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO THE UNIT OF SIZE
OF THE HUDSON SUPER-SIX 288.7 CUBIC INCHES.
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X-IndU:atOo.f th. po; er cur .f a wll-known .IghfoyHnd.r motor. -1. amal.er .UgflE f I ht.-w.U Known.
crank shaft very light, but this increased the
flexibility of the crank shaft and therefore in
creased the trouble due to vibrations. Crank
cases have been made exceedingly heavy in the
hope of holding the shaft in place. It has also
been attempted to make the crank shaft very
large, to approach as nearly as possible perfect
rigidity.
' The best proof of this is found in the curves
showing the power developed by various types of
motors at different speeds, this power being de
termined by the ordinary brake test. For this pur
pose we have prepared a chart showing the
horsepower developed by eight different motors.
Of these motors, four are six-cylinder engines
having the ordinary balanced crank shafts. Two
are eight-cylinder engines, one of these being the
well-known X Eight and the other the Z Eight,
which is a considerably smaller- engine.
The twelve-cylinder engine is the famous
Y twelve cylinder. In the case of the S Six the
curve ia that published by the makers of the
engine in the papers of the Society of Automo
bile Engineers. The curve of the first-mentioned
twelve was obtained in the same way. The curves
for the T Six, X Eight and Z Eight were ob
tained in the same way, but in the case of these
motors, we tested the motors themselves in the
Laboratory of the Hudson Motor Car Company.
We adopted the published curves as being the
best result for these motors. The curves for the
three Hudson models were obtained from our
own Laboratory tests.
It will be noted that while the various
motors tested had different piston displacements,
the curves are plotted on the basis of a piston
displacement of 288.7 cubic inches as unity for
the purpose of comparison.
Greater Motor Speed, Greater Power
This chart shows that the engine having the
compensated crank shaft (i. e. The Hudson
Super-Six) and having a cylinder size and con
struction otherwise identical with previous mod
els, not only gave a much greater horsepower at
every speed, but was able to attain a much
higher speed. The increased horsepower was
particularly noticeable from 1600 revolutions to
2000, beyond which the previous model motors
could not be forced with increase of power. The
increase in power in the Super-Six over the best
"eight" and "twelve" engine is almost equally
noticeable, being about twelve h6rsepower be
tween 2000 and 2200 revolutions.
As these are well-known makes of cars, we refraii from mentioning them by name.
Other Motors Self-Destructive
In making these tests, the increase in vibra
tion of the crank case was carefully observed.
In all other sixes the motors were fairly free
from vibration up to 1500 R. P. M., at which
point the vibration increased to about 1800.
From 1800 R. P. M. the vibration increased rap
idly and apparently had wide amplitude. It was
impossible to run other sixes much beyond 2000
R. P. M. with increasing power without danger
of collapse of the bearings.
On another occasion a high - grade six of
ordinary balanced construction was spun idle by
an electric motor. At 2200 R. P. M. one of the
bearings burned out. Just prior to this time the
vibration had become excessive and the motor
had evidently approached a point of self
destruction. Vibration Practically Nil in Super-Six
With the Hudson Super-Six compensated
crank shaft there was almost total absence of
vibration and the crank shaft speed was prac
tically unlimited.
Tests have also been made by spinning bare
"rank shafts in the crank cases and bearings in ,
which they are intended to be employed. These
tests also showed in a very marked degree the
lessening of vibration due to the compensating
system described in our patent application. We
have made tests in this manner on various crank
shafts, which showed conclusively that the vibra
tion is due to the unbalanced forces in the crank
shaft itself.
We also recently saw a test of a six-cylinder
crank shaft of a well-known car. It was a three
bearing shaft without connecting rods. It was
supported in the rear and centre bearings, the
shell of the front bearing was taken out, so that
the front end of the crank shaft rotated freely
and was unsupported. The shaft was spun up
to 2900 R. P. M. by an electric .notor. Upon
examination it was found that the crank shaft
had taken a permanent set, or bend out of line of
about one-eighth inch. This shaft was made of
a higher grade material than is ordinarily used.
During the test it was noticeable that as this
high speed was reached, the front end of the
shaft appeared blurred; showing the distortion
that was taking place.
Proved in Gruelling Tests
Before applying for the Super-Six patent
we built three Super-Six engines with compen
sated crank shafts. These engines were put into
cars and tested on the road. The engines were
as smooth at 45 to 70 miles per hour as they were
at 30 miles per hour, while in previous model
Hudson Six 40's the engines which had the usual
balanced crank shafts began to lose smoothness
at about 35 miles per hour. This roughness in
creased as the speed increased.
One of the Hudson Super-Sixes was driven
approximately 7000 miles, from Denver to the
west coast and back to Las Vegas, N. M. During
this trip the car was given the roughest possible
road treatment. This sort of use increases very
rapidly the wear on the engine over what would
be apparent for ordinary use. When the car got
back to Detroit, the engine was tested in the
Laboratory, and there was no discoverable re-
duction in horsepower.
The engine was also taken down'for the pur
pose of examining and taking up the bearings.
The previous Hudson model Six-40's ordinarily
required having the bearings taken up from 2
. to 2V thousandths of an inch after 7000 miles
use. In the new Super-Six motor there was no
perceptible wear on the bearings, and it was not
necessary to take them up at all.
We regard this as the strongest possible
proof that the chief strain on the bearings is due,
not to the motor load, but to the vibration of the
ordinarily balanced crank shaft, and that the sys
tem of compensating described in our application
completely overcomes this difficulty,
Hudson Motor Car Co.
1350 Miles at Speed Exceeding 70 Miles an Hour Without Discoverable Wear
to Any Part. That Means Super Endurance
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