Carburetor, Carburettor, Carburetter, Tomato Can?

[jessie cheung]

Would you believe someone if they tell you that the first Harley
Davidson produced in 1903 used a tomato can for its carburetor?
You may find this story hard to believe but although undocumented,
this tomato can carburetor urban legend has been circulating for
years.
It is a fact though that the carburetor was invented by Wilhem
Maybach. As an associate of Gottlieb Daimler, Maybach designed and
developed the carburetor from which modern models are adapted from
today.
A carburetor works as a device that mixes fuel and air that burns
inside an internal combustion engine. In that internal combustion
engine, chemical energy from the fuel is them burned into a combustion
chamber. Chemical energy then transforms into mechanical energy which
eventually powers the motor of a vehicle.
But even before fuel and air is transformed into mechanical energy by
an internal combustion engine, it must first pass through the
carburetor for it to be utilized. It is in the carburetor where the
fuel, usually liquid gasoline, is atomized or changed into liquid
vapor.
To fully understand how a carburetor works, let us first get to know
its parts.
The basic carburetor has a cylindrical hollow tube encasement called a
throat or a barrel.
Inside the barrel are pistons. These pistons are solid cylinder disks
that slide back and forth in the barrel. Pistons fit snugly into the
barrel to allow it to move freely but are tight enough not to let air
or fluid leak in the barrel.
As the pistons move downward, a partial vacuum is created inside the
barrel. This partial vacuum then draws air past through the
carburetor's throat and into a nozzle that sprays fuel. The mixture of
air and fuel in the carburetor is then delivered into cylinders for
combustion.
The amount of air pulled through partial vacuum created by the pistons
is controlled by a throttle valve. The throttle valve is found at the
base of the carburetor.
When a driver accelerates his automobile by stepping on an accelerator
or a gas pedal, the throttle valve opens. The wider the throttle valve
opens, the more air flows into the carburetor. Thus more fuel flows
into the engine.
A passage way called a venturi is located at a carburetor's barrel. A
venturi looks like an hour glass when it narrows down. When air rushes
through the narrow ends of a venturi, the air pressure against the
sides of the passage way decreases.
With this, partial vacuum is created inside the barrel. This partial
vacuum then draws the fuel through the nozzle and into the air.
The pistons create partial vacuum to draw air while the venturi is
responsible for drawing partial vacuum to feed fuel into the nozzle.
A float chamber or float bowl is the reservoir where fuel that enters
the carburetor is stored. At the reservoir's surface, a device that
floats is linked to a small valve to keep a constant amount of fuel
inside the reservoir.
The carburetor also has two other nozzles are aside from the main
nozzle found at the venturi of the carburetor - the idle port and the
off-idle or transfer port.
The idle port, found just below the venturi, is responsible for
getting fuel into the engine when there is minimal airflow in the
carburetor. This happens when the engine is at a low speed.
The off-idle port, found above the idle port, feeds additional fuel to
the engine during low engine speed.
An engine vacuum draws fuel from these two ports. Collectively, the
off-idle port and the idle port keep the engine supplied with fuel
when it is running at low speed. The main nozzle is the one
responsible for keeping the engine running at normal operating speeds.
In 1985, most vehicles' carburetors had been replaced by fuel-
injection, a computerized and more efficient way of injecting fuel
into the engine. But even so, we cannot deny that the technology
brought by the carburetor made it possible for the automotive industry
to flourish and advance.
Who would have thought what a single tomato can could
do?
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