Building the Atkinson Differential Engine
by Vince Gingery 
After a year of constant work, the differential engine book is finally ready. It's been so long since I heard from Vince, I thought he was deceased, deranged, demented or all of the above. But it was worth the wait.
You learn not only how to build this particular engine, but you learn the general skills that can be applied to all engines: patternmaking, molding, casting, boring, lapping, and all the rest.
Contents include: building a wooden mockup, casting, patternmaking,
side panel pattern, side panel molding procedure, front & rear panels, oscillating
arm patterns, piston rod pattern, 
preparing
the base, assembling the main frame, boring crankshaft bearings and arm pivots,
the ignition plate, the water jack assembly, making a copper lap, milling
the cylinder ends, mounting valves on the cylinder, the electrical system,
and much more.
This 1886 engine predates the Atkinson Cycle engine. The front
panel is about 8" tall. A pair of 1-1/8" bore by 2-1/4" stroke pistons drive
a 8-3/4" diameter flywheel. The 
arms
of this engine move the two pistons toward one another in such a way as to
compress and ignite the fuel charge so that all four strokes are completed
in one revolution of the flywheel. The action looks like a street corner con
man running a shell game! Check out the animated photos
on our website, and see what we mean. It's exceptionally unusual...
Loaded with drawings, photos, specs, and wall-to-wall detailed how-to. More of the usual quality that always come out of Gingery Publications.
Great book. Unusual info. Get a copy. 8-1/2 x 11 softcover 112 pages
No. 1509 ... $24.95
From the backcover...
Even
before James Atkinson developed his unorthodox
"cycle" engine, he developed this totally unconventional "differential"
engine in an attempt to circumvent Nicolaus Otto's patents on the four-stroke
engine, and to allow Atkinson to compete with Otto headon in the new gas engine
market.
Here, you get detailed plans based on Atkinson's original patent that will allow you to create a working version of this most unusual engine. Numerous prototypes were built in the process of developing this book. The secrets learned will allow you to sidestep potential bottlenecks, and the learn the hidden details Atkinson chose not to reveal in his patent.
Even if you are not likely to build this engine anytime soon, by studying the contruction secrets revealed here, you can journey back in time and taste the state of the IC engine art as it was in the 1880's. Discover how this amazing engine was able to complete all four strokes in a single revolution of the crank without the aid of timing gears or separate cam shaft.
If you have built, or at the very least, have studied our earlier book on the Atkinson "Cycle" engine, then you already know what an amazing engineer (in the truest sense of the word) Atkinson was. Here, you'll find the linkage action and peculiar differential motion of the two pistons working together in the same cylinder to be hypnotic. If you thought the "Cycle" engine was unique, "then you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
You
get step-by-step instructions from Vince and Dave Gingery showing how the
Atkinson "Differential" engine is built from original patent drawings. A lathe,
a milling machine or milling attachment, and other commons tools are required.
Castings are suggested for the main frame, oscillating arms and flywheel,
but none of these parts are so complex that they could not be made from stock
material. Other parts such as piston rings are readily available from the
suppliers listed. But if you want to make your own piston rings, we'll show
you how to do that, too.
An Atkinson "Differential" engine is a machine you'll be proud to have built. And we think you'll find as we have, that this engine is an essential component in understanding the genius that was James Atkinson.
Few people have seen the differential. When you start it up, and tell them that you built it, your friends will be amazed. They will swear it's magic.
Build a differential engine! Start today!
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