6 stroke engine?

I try to keep an open mind but I'm leary about internal combustion engine ideas that will change the world. For example: A few years ago the world was going to be turned upside down by an emission friendly two cycle car. A lot of magazines and internet sites reported on it, but.......seen it in production yet? On a closer note, about 20 years ago Bruce Crower marketed a piston/camshaft combination that let you run 13:1 compression pistons on 87 octane gas. How did he do it? The matching camshaft opened up the intake valve so very little that not much of an air/fuel ration was allowed in the combustion chamber. IT WAS THE IDEA THAT WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD OF THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE!!! After a few years it was taken off the market or at least never really heard from again.

The guy does think outside the box, but if this is ever marketed, I got to see it to believe it.

I like how the article says it would be even better if the fins on the engine were milled off to make it more efficient. Well, why doesn't he take a hand grinder and mill them off??

1) Long term steam erosion 2) Cost of distilled water offsets fuel savings

(how much energy to distill 1 gallon, to match the gallon of fuel?)

3) Would a top auto company want to pay royalties?

The potential for corrosion can be solved, if it in fact exists, with metallurgy.

Distilled water, even bought by the gallon in a supermarket is, finally, cheaper than gasoline. For many years it was not. Commercial distilled water can be obtained much more cheaply than you might believe.

There is a project, ongoing, where gasoline and water are mixed by means of a surfactant and burned in a regular engine. Published results indicate fuel efficiency improvements in the 30% range. This is in an ordinary 4-stroke cycle engine.

And last, auto companies want to sell cars. When there is an advantage as in the 6 cycle engine, or in the gasoline/water miscible fuel, it will be paid for at some level.

As someone who's done the "pour water down the carb" decarbonizing trick many times, I can say that Crower's idea makes sense, at least to me. So does the emulsion thing. What I'd be worried about, however, is engine durability - when fuel or soot washes past the rings, that's one thing, but water in a crankcase is some seriously bad juju for conventional bearings. One would need to rethink the metallurgy not only of the cylinder, piston, rings, head, and valves but for the whole engine in its entirety. I would think that corrosion would be a serious concern, and not only where you think it would be, but everywhere within the engine.

That said, if he can get it to work, even just as a proof of concept, it's a pretty neat trick and just the kind of thinking we need more of.

nate