Figure 39. —Front of 1894 

 Balzer automobile. 



was selected by shifting an internal keying arrangement 

 (not readily examined now), which keyed one or another 

 of the driven gears of the change gear to its shaft. Clutch 

 and gear shift were both operated by a lever at the right of 

 the vehicle's seat. Brushes that wiped segments on a com- 

 mutator on the driving shaft distributed current to the elec- 

 trical make-and-break ignition system of the cylinders. 



Two poppet valves are provided for each cylinder, an inlet 

 valve of the automatic type opened by atmospheric pres- 

 sure when the piston was on its suction stroke, and an ex- 

 haust valve operated by a cam that revolved at the required 

 speed on the stationary crankshaft. The cam was driven 

 by gearing connected to the revolving crankcase; it oper- 

 ated the make-and-break linkage as well as the exhaust 

 valve. Gasoline or vapor (it is not clear which) was piped 

 from a tank beneath the floorboard and led through a fit- 

 ting (now incomplete) which may have been a mixing 

 valve. The mixture was led by a hollow shaft to a connec- 

 tion with three pipes within a chamber built on the rotat- 

 ing crankcase. It passed through these pipes to the inlet 

 valves. The exhaust gases left the cylinders by means of 

 three other pipes leading into the chamber on the crank- 

 case. This chamber has many small holes drilled through 

 its outer wall and could have served as a muffler as well as 

 a stove to heat the incoming mixture. 



51 



