All the recent discussion of various boxer engines and what constitutes
a boxer engine, has prompted recall of an interesting but not popular
piston aircraft engine. It was certified for aircraft by the FAA, but
just never got off the ground..LOL!!

Anyway, I have been internet surfing tonight to try and find info on a
special engine, the maker and name of which I can no longer remember.

Anyway, this thing was designed to present very little frontal area, so
as to allow more streamlining of the engine cowlings. The pistons were
double ended! Yup, like I said, double ended. Like a long tube with a
flat on each end. A slot was cut into the tube. There were no crank
throws for piston rods. The  crankshaft had a waffle plate mounted on it
and the slots of the pistons were fitted to the waffle plate. There were
cylinder barrels that housed sealed end of the pistons. The piston
cylinders were arranged in a circle around the crank shaft. There was a
multi cylinder head at each end of this thing, with a spark plug for
each cylinder. Once off the ground with this thing, the pilot could turn
off the ignition switch and fuel to one end of the engine, and continue
cruising with greater fuel economy.

The combustion pressure would force the piston slot to press against the
waffle plate, forcing the waffle plate and it's associated crankshaft to
rotate. In operation, the piston with its two operational ends, would
force the crank to rotate.

So, here we have a single piston with two working ends opposite each
other, and there could be up to 8 or 12 pistons. Being the ends were
opposite each other, does this qualify to be called a "Boxer"?

Oh yes, I think it was water cooled, at least the heads.

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver.