Unusual Engine Designs. Wooler Motorcycles.

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Consider a solid shaft with a piston at either end and you ha e one of the most fuel efficient engines. They were gaining world records for fuel consumption while racing on the Isle of Man TT. They never quite won any events but they were still competative... But the unusual and brilliant designs really made the Wooler stand out.

Pics/vids? Not sure I’ve ever heard of a Wooler before & likely have never seen one.

This post reminds me: I miss my motorcycle. It’s been in a shop since November 29th. Should be ready soon, though. Licence lapsed, redoing it in a week or so + skills test to have restrictions removed blah blah hopefully back in the saddle in August.

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It sounds like a ingenious motor design ,, but if it got good mileage am sure the big oil companies would
Have to killed the idea . Woolser. The miracle motor , here I am playing around with motorized bicycles .
Or. Attempting to motorized bicycles.. and getting discouraged by. Extreme outside temperatures. And other
Demands on my life .

Never heard of Wooler engine before I saw this thread. Looked it up in wiki.

Definitely uncoventional.The advantage is that it takes up less space than inline or radial piston engines. Cant say that I quite grasp the concept of it though.

The basic idea is that the pistons are parallel to the crankshaft instead of perpendicular to it (as in inline or radial or V engines). The pistons are arranged like the bullet chambers on a revolver pistol. And they take turns firing, as in conventional piston engines, but each firing somehow pushes the crankshaft in the same direction as the thrust, rather than by turning a crankshaft set up perpendicular to the thrust.

wooler

Hate to even offer a thought as not too sure wooler and duke motors are the same ?
It appears that both are. Great designs , the wooler appeared to me, ( judging by the picture of the motorcycle)
As a 2 cylinder pancake motor , horizontally opposed . Much less sophisticated than the duke motor.
Albeit did not see a close up picture of the wooler engine . Have seen a 2 cyl horizontally opposed motors in the past.

The main Wooler engine design (They tried a few designs and one was said to be like a beam engine) is basically in its simpler form a single cylinder with a single bar piston rod with a piston at either end. Drive is taken from the centre of the cylinder and the back and fore movement is then converted into a circular movement for its drive. Just after WW2 or thereabouts they made a larger double version as one of their later designs.



If you look on a search engine for photos, the earlier simpler design is a black and yellow motorcycle.

I have found the beam engined example.

Well there go my post , please excuse my interpretation. Of this motorcycle,,, and it is a 4 cyl. Much less !
Sorry ....... ty. MG

Very cool concept. Never heard of it before. 140mph is plenty fast! Way faster than I expected bikes to be able to go back then tbh. I’ve only had mine up to 140kmh and tbh that’s more than fast enough for me - much more comfortable cruising at ~110kmh or so. Speed limit is 90 or 100, anyways.

The 100mpg part is intriguing, too. Granted, that would be Imperial gallons vs US gallons - but still approximately twice as fuel efficient as my bike.

Anyways, never heard of one of these. You’d think some American motorcycle company would build a bike with one and call it a Revolver. :p

AFAIK the engine in my motorcycle isn’t super common, either. Probably a hell of a lot more common than a Wooler or a Duke seeing as I’ve never seen or heard of one ?? but still I don’t think very many bikes have a water cooled inline 3 like mine.

I wonder if that Duke company is currently making brand new engines and bikes? And if these will actually ever catch on and be widespread or nah just some weird rare oddity that only a select few engine geeks will ever buy? Seems like a shift to less weight, fewer moving parts, and way better fuel efficiency would be welcomed by many.

Then again, maybe no one cares? Especially in North America. Most people who ride motorcycles seem to be Okay with the costs and expenses as they are and like their traditional engines, their sounds and feelings. I’m sure that’s a huge part of the reason my older brother bought a big Harley Dyna Electra Glide. Some (like my twin brother) are even okay with spending absurd amounts of money maintaining Ducati engines. (Cool, but wasteful IMO - but whatever, he doesn’t have a car so can justify blowing more on a bike I guess.) Personally, I’m okay with the ~37mpg US I get - as my overall cost of operation should decline significantly once I’m able to apply for and get Collector plates. Hellllooooo ~$225/year insurance instead of $1100+.

75 horseponies of in-line 3 between my legs accelerating from ~60-110kmh as I enter the highway sounds and feels AMAZING. Truly, it’s The Most fun few seconds of every motorcycle ride.

Now, if a Wooler can Also sound and feel like that then I can see people going for it. But maybe almost no one will, things will stay the same because people like familiarity, and truly new bikes will all go electric like Zero Motorcycles and whatever that overpriced electric Harley model is. Sensations of acceleration will be smooth and super quiet, though.. which kind of takes away a part of the fun.

*sigh* I haven’t seen my bike for 7.5 months. Could be ready any day now. Soooommmetime this summer I’ll be back in the saddle doing loops around town for no other reason than to accelerate every time I enter onto a highway.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.