> John Wright wrote:

>> Mortimer wrote:

>>> "Boltar" yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
>>> news:fa4beb99-dc9b-4796-864f-cbe0739940e8@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
>>>

>>>> Do large petrol engines get used anywhere these days outside of muscle
>>>> cars and speedboats? I have heard that some east european trucks used
>>>> them but I've on idea if thats true. Are there any trucks or buses
>>>> manufacturered today that use them (not including LPG conversions) or
>>>> any other bits of heavy equipment, or is it diesel all the way?

>>>
>>> And, as a corollary, when did British lorries and vans switch over
>>> from petrol to diesel? It came as a surprise to me that as recent as
>>> the era of the Transit van and the Land Rover, petrol versions were
>>> made.
>>>
>>> Was the *usable* diesel engine (ie usable power/torque-to-weight) a
>>> comparatively late development compared with the petrol engine? I
>>> believe some WWII planes (maybe German ones) experimented with using
>>> diesel engines.

>>
>> The original Junkers Jumo was an opposed piston diesel engine, the
>> basis of which became (when the Brits got hold of it) the Napier
>> Deltic, which was also an opposed piston design, but with more
>> cylinders - usually in a triangular form hence the name.
>>
>> I think the Jumo was a 4 piston in 2 very long cylinder device IIRC,
>> the smallest Deltic I'm aware of had 9 cylinders, and thus 18 pistons.
>> The famous Deltic had twice that.
>>

> That would be the so called 'baby deltic'

> The famous 'Deltic' started life as a marine engine IIRC