Now, why do engines all turn in the same direction?

[george mills]

I used to have a fishing boat with a "make 'n break" in it. Single
*big* piston with maybe 5-6 hp potential. Made by the Lunenburg
Foundry in the Maritimes (called "The Atlantic" I think) and probably
began production in the 1930's. Bearings were made of lead. Prop was
at least a foot in diameter, maybe 15 inches, with very aggressive
angle of attack, and ran right off the crank. Boat was a schooner
design made for sail but the fisherman just put these engines in them.
There was a little priming cup on the top, fill it up, open up the
cock to allow gas to enter cylinder, turn ignition on, grab handle on
flywheel and rotate to compression stroke in either direction
depending on which direction you wanted to go, fore or aft. In any
case, reverse was: shut off ignition (no spark plug, just internal
heavy duty contact points, wait for revs to slow, just before TDC
ignition on, presto! reverse achieved. The "points" were hooked up to
a battery and run off a cam on the crank and basically came together
(make) and parted (break) with resultant spark...boom. Didn't need
many tools to fix that baby. Bit of fine sand paper and a screw driver
to get the points out to clean them up a bit. Some enthusiasts still
keep those old engines in working condition, but I haven't seen one in
a boat for many years. If Audi engines were so simple there might be
no Audifans...well...maybe just for the electrical, door handle,
special events, rants, etc. schtuff. hehe

Best regards,
Geo
>It is possible to run an engine backwards. That's how I get reverse on the 11 HP diesel on my boat. :)