John's Octane Engine Page, CFR / Octane / Supercharge / Cetane / D2699 / D2700

The engine in the above pictures was our Main Research Method in the Laboratory. After it blew a crank seal in 1990 and begun to leak nearly a gallon of oil per day, it was time to update it to the modern "48" Crankcase ( available since 1952 ). I watched previous outdated engines get scrapped after 40+ years of continuous use, only to be thrown out like the garbage. Of course, this is a business and not in the routine of saving old junk. I could not bear to see another engine go to "Engine Heaven" so I restored it in hopes of donating it to my favorite old engine museum. But instead, the engine remained at our plant. From 1990 to 2001, this engine participates in our Refinery's open houses. Here it gets the appreciation of hundreds of school kids & Refinery neighbors.
Someday, I would like to donate this engine to the year round Old Engine & Tractor Museum in Vista, California, so it can be seen by thousands of engine nuts like me.

GOOD NEWS:
Sept. 2005 Update: The old octane engine has been donated by my oil company, to the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, California. The engine was picked up by Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum member, Chuck Goebel on Sept 26th, 2005.
See the October 2005 photos here: Museum's Octane Engine
Use the "ad" free LINK at RUNYARD.ORG for Museum Info & Map.

My work involves running and maintaining these interesting engines in a West
Coast Oil Refinery. We have two Research Engines, two Motor Method Engines
and a Cetane Engine for testing Diesel Fuel. And yes, I'm a bit of an engine nut :~)
Click here to see our "3C" Engine (Supercharged Aviation Engine) of days passed.

These pages are for people to get some information on octane,
octane engines, history of the octane engines and is
no way connected to, or endorsed by this oil company.
These are personal pages and have no reference to oil company
names or contacts. Only octane services have reference.
Thank you very much.

The Cooperative Fuel Research ( CFR ) Committee which formed to respond to the need of refiners and engine builders to develop a means of measuring and defining gasoline combustion characteristics. In 1928 the committee had reached the decision that a standardized single cylinder test engine was needed as a first step in developing a gasoline knock-test method. In December 1928 the decision was made to proceed with a design, and the Fuel Research Engine was designed and built in 45 days to be ready for the January 1928 SAE meeting! This engine is still preserved at Waukesha Engine today. This engine gave the engine and fuel industries the first universally accepted standard test engine which could be produced in sufficient quantity to meet industry needs.

There were other knock test engines in the running but each of these had drawbacks which prevented universal acceptance, so by the early 1930's most of these had gone out of use in favor of the new Waukesha CFR engine. This design has survived and flourished through two upgrades of the crankcase to the present time without any change in combustion chamber shape, compression arrangement, so that a rating made on the earliest engine will still match the octane made on today's engine nearly 70 years later. The means for quickly and accurately varying the compression ratio without affecting valve clearances or basic combustion chamber configuration was probably what caused this design to prevail over all other rivals.

Moving the entire cylinder up and down with respect to the piston was far better than changing shims, moving a plug in the combustion chamber, or running with fixed compression. These engines were produced on a three-shifts-per-day basis during World War II, making principally the supercharged aviation gasoline test unit which helped in the development of 100 octane and eventually the 115/145 grade fuel which gave the allied air forces an edge over the axis nations which did not have such fuel at the time, thus contributing to the fall of the totalitarian powers.

Waukesha Engine Link

Parts are now bought through "Compass Instruments" for your Waukesha Engine.
CFR Bulletins

THE CFR TRADING POST Updated: 05/11/2010	CFR, Around the World: Octane, Cetane, Supercharge and CFR Dynometers	CFR ENGINE HISTORY PICS	VIEW GUESTBOOK
ENGINE PICS # 1	SUPERCHARGED AVIATION TEST ENGINE ( 3-C )	BOUNCING PINS PAGE 1	SIGN GUESTBOOK

Homebrew Gasoline Octane Boosters Homebrew Gasoline Octane Boosters #2	Gasoline FAQ - Part 1 of 4	Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, California ( Home of this Engine )
Octane Explanation	Gasoline FAQ - Part 2 of 4
Octane Blending Chart: 100 + 92 Octane	Gasoline FAQ - Part 3 of 4
IN MEMORY OF SYD MALLET	Gasoline FAQ - Part 4 of 4	The one and only... WWW.RUNYARD.ORG

JOHN'S OCTANE ENGINE PAGE