Last Call: Engines You Should Know Edition

Wooler
The Wooler Flat Four is an amazing engine that eschews the traditional rods and crank for… well, rods and a crank. The difference is that each pair of cylinders is connected by a shared rod, and acts on a trunnion that actuates a secondary rod in an up and down motion that is then transferred into reciprocating motion on a separate crank.
It was dreamed up by a man named John Wooler who put the clever motor in an equally clever shaft-drive motorcycle back in 1955. Sadly, Wooler died in 1956 and hence there are only five examples of his genius extant in the world. I thought you might like to know about them.
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  1. BigRedCaveTroll Avatar
    BigRedCaveTroll

    I found out today that none of the credits from my school in Alabama will transfer to the one I’m planning on going to in Washington, except for the credits from my psychology class, which was the worst taught class I’ve ever had. Even though I received all A’s the school will only use them for placement, and even then they’ll barely place me in the equivalents (I could get a higher math placement with my high school transcripts). It’s really, really irritating. It’s like I wasted a year of my life and a few thousand dollars. I’m going to send them the Alabama school’s catalog and give them a call and see if they’ll be more reasonable.

    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      I went to The Lowell Institute School, which is a night-only school for engineers. It had been part of MIT, but moved to Northeastern U. decades before I attended. NU accounted for classes in “quarter-hours” due to their co-op job weirdness. Lowell used traditional semester credits.
      When NU converted to semester credits, they discounted all the semester credits we Lowell students had already earned. This is the parent institution not valuing credits from their own school!
      Then the NU night school just completely absorbed the Lowell Institute, and told us all we had to take a bunch of non-engineering ‘core classes’. After a couple of years of seeing students on the cusp of graduating taking 100 level classes with me because NU wouldn’t let them go without paying for just a few more credits, I dropped out.
      You get a better deal trading in a used car to a factory dealership than you do transferring college credits. It’s a posturing thing. You could try to transfer credits from Yale to wherever you’re going and they’d still turn their nose up at them.

      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        That’s hurtful reading, but completely in line with my experience. My wife is a senior level administrator at the local university and even though she is trying really hard to accomodate students coming from other schools, there are so many institutionalized barriers – it’s close to impossible to climb them. Thinking about how these courses are organized, and to what scale lots of decisions depend on individuals (who tend to fight each other), it is just plainly bizarre that they’d be so harsh.
        And in Norway, education is paid for by the state. There shouldn’t be that much of a financial incentive for delays as financing comes from the same pocket either way.
        I hope BRC gets to see some reason – good luck! 🙂

        1. BigRedCaveTroll Avatar
          BigRedCaveTroll

          I’m slightly surprised that that’s a problem in a place like Norway, but I suppose people are human all around the world.
          Thank you!

          1. Sjalabais Avatar
            Sjalabais

            I guess they are checking courses’ contents and if something’s lacking, the discussions start. And even though the semester point system (30p per semester) should be normed (“Bologna rules”), it isn’t always compatible – especially across countries.

      2. BigRedCaveTroll Avatar
        BigRedCaveTroll

        Wow, that’s rough, and completely ridiculous that a parent school wouldn’t honor their own credits. The school I’m transferring to is on the quarter system (from semesters in Alabama), so I wonder if that’s part of the problem.

    2. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      The school will likely have an appeals process. Find it, study it, and come up with a good appeal. Pay close attention to deadlines and other strict requirements. If you’re succesful in your appeal, you can move your graduation that much closer, and save on the associated tuition. If you are not successful, you are out a little bit of time, but will have gained the experience.
      I once got a school to rethink their denial of a friend’s MBA. They ended up granting credit for courses they previously said were too old to count. It was a pretty straightforward process.

      1. BigRedCaveTroll Avatar
        BigRedCaveTroll

        I’m definitely going to do that. Thank you for the advice.

        1. cap'n fast Avatar
          cap’n fast

          i just know it is needless to say, the degree you have is not looked at as critically as where you have the degree from.

  2. Rover 1 Avatar
    Rover 1

    I thought MD Harrell had one of these powering one of his cars.
    But I can’t be sure, it’s so hard to keep up.

    1. Tanshanomi Avatar

      Those photos showing a complete motorcycle are pictures of the Woller Flat Flour, which was a completely different, more conventional engine Wooler developed after the Beam Engine was abandoned. The Beam Engine bike looked like this.
      http://bmwdean.com/wooler49.jpg

      1. Rover 1 Avatar
        Rover 1

        This is why we have the internet. Thanks.

      2. outback_ute Avatar
        outback_ute

        Thank you, I was (briefly) going nuts as to why the cutaway did not match the engine in the motorcycle photos

    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      “Petrol tank incorporating electrical equipment”. With the world-renowned British quality of electrics and leak-proofing, I can’t see how that could possibly go wrong…

    1. Tanshanomi Avatar

      I believe that second photo is of the 1919-1920 Wooler 350 twin, knicknamed the “Flying Banana.”

      1. dead_elvis Avatar
        dead_elvis

        Quite possibly! http://goawaygarage.blogspot.com/ never includes any info.
        I’m guessing it shares some of the architecture of the 4 cylinder Wooler.