Some Unusual engines

“Some Unusual Engines” by L. J. K. Setright. 138 pp. 10 in. x 7 1/2 in. (The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, MEP Ltd., PO Box 24, Northgate Avenue, Bury Si. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 6BW. £5.50.)

Published last year as one of a number of books in the IME Mechanical Engineers Library series, here we have Setright lightheartedly writing about unusual engines and Michael Worthington-Williams providing and captioning more than 70 illustrations of such prime-movers. Setright confines himself to describing the classic examples. The chapters divide these engines into those with unusual respiration in charging and scavenging, those simply of unusual construction, engines with unusual valve apparatus (wherein he is thinking in terms mainly of rotary and sleeve-valve power units), engines of unusual format, and engines with unusual translation of power, i.e., axial and swash-plate engines, etc.

What better subject for the industrious Leonard to tackle? This is a book with a note of authority about it, of interest to aeronautical students and engineers, as well as to motoring folk who revel in the unconventional.—W.B.