I saw the story in the November 2004 issue of GEM about
the K.C. Lightning hay press engine and I had to tell about another
opposed piston engine made by Sun-Doxford Co. of England.
In 1948 and 1949, I went to Hemphill Diesel School in New York
under the G.I. Bill. The teacher took us to Philadelphia to a
shipyard to see a Sun-Doxford. The engine was big as a house!
The bore and stroke was 36-by-72-inch and it was a 4-cylinder
opposed-piston type. It was so hard to start that it was never shut
down, just turned to idle.
It was a diesel and had three injectors in the middle of the
cylinder. At idle, only one was used. The oil in the crankcase was
never changed. It ran through a separator to take the dirt out and
then some kind of filter to take the acid out, then returned to the
engine. New oil was added if needed.
The crankcase had doors so you could go inside as it ran and
walk over the mains and out the other side.
Neal Mayes
Unadilla, N.Y.
