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Once upon a time, the straight six was a dominant engine design. Jaguar put them in its best cars, Jeep built its late 20th century reputation upon them, and almost every humdrum family car or pickup truck in America had one as standard—then they nearly died out. For years, V6 engines were killing off the straight six, also known as an I6 or inline six, and the entire design appeared destined for oblivion. But Mercedes-Benz has performed a resurrection. It brought back the straight six in the form of the M256, an entirely new engine design, to replace many of...

...snip... Weaver was a teenager in March 1968 when his dad offered to “buy me something new.” They lived in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and first visited Grabiak Chevrolet “down the road,” where the 19-year-old spotted a black 427 Corvette coupe that he “was interested in getting.” Except, “My God, the insurance was over $1,000 a year,” which was “a fortune” in those days. “So we went up to Yenko [Chevrolet] to see about getting a Camaro.” They entered a candy land of “at least 50 Z/28s, different colors, different gear ratios—4.10s, 4.56s, 4.88s.” Weaver recalled it like it was yesterday. “I...

Major European cities such as Madrid and Paris are discriminating against diesel engines due to officials’ concerns about the types of pollution oil-burners produce...The four-cylinder EcoBlue is the most advanced diesel engine Ford has ever produced. Starting with a clean sheet, engineers focused on developing an engine that has very low internal friction.

2018 Detroit Auto Show: Achates, Aramco Launch 37-MPG Pickup Engine John O'Dell January 15, 2018 Auto Shows, Detroit Auto Show Achates Power and Aramco Services have outfitted a Ford F150 with Achates' new compression-ignition, gasoline powered, opposed-piston engine the company says will deliver 37 mpg fuel economy without hurting truck's working capabilities. (Photo: Achates) FacebookTwitterLinkedInE-mailReddit The developers of a gasoline-engine pickup on display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit hope to enter the national conversation on fuel efficiency and emissions reductions.Achates Power, a California-based engine developer, and Aramco Services, the transportation-focused U.S. arm of Saudi Arabian Oil...

I saw elsewhere on the net, that Linux Journal is ceasing publication. From their homepage: Linux Journal Ceases Publication EOF It looks like we’re at the end, folks. If all goes according to a plan we’d rather not have, the November issue of Linux Journal was our last.

Wärtsilä 31SG coming off the factory line in Vaasa, Finland. Photo credit: WärtsiläFinnish technology group Wärtsilä has introduced a gas-fueled version of its Wärtsilä 31 marine engine, which is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s most efficient 4-stroke diesel engine. The engine, dubbed the Wärtsilä 31SG, builds on the efficiency of the successful Wärtsilä 31 engine, but with added flexibility and efficiency compared to its conventionally-fueled and dual-fuel predecessor. “The defining feature of the Wärtsilä 31SG is its ability to achieve simple-cycle efficiency levels in excess of 50 % (compared to around 40 % with modern gas turbines),...

The explosion occurred during a "qualification test" of a Merlin engine, the type that powers SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, the Post reported. (The two-stage Falcon 9 has nine Merlins in its first stage and one in its upper stage.) SpaceX has suspended engine testing while it investigates what caused the incident, which didn't injure anyone, the Post added. In a statement provided to the Post, SpaceX representatives said they didn't expect the explosion to affect the company's launch schedule. SpaceX has experience investigating accidents. In September 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad during a routine preflight...

A flight has been canceled after a 76-year-old woman was found flipping coins into aircraft engine, the airlines said Thursday. The 8L9960 flight, scheduled Wednesday from Anqing, east China's Anhui Province, to Kunming, Yunnan Province, did not depart until 10 a.m. Thursday after a thorough safety check, said a statement by Lucky Air, a Kunming-based low-cost airline affiliated with HNA group. The flight was grounded after airport workers noticed the woman, surnamed Fang, throwing something at the engine while boarding and later found a coin on the ground. Fang is in police custody. A similar case was reported in late...

The state-owned Aero-Engine Group of China was created by combining a group of existing aircraft-engine companies, according to local media reports. It has about 50bn yuan ($7.5bn) in registered capital and will develop both military and commercial engines. China already makes its own planes, but has struggled for decades to develop engines that meet global requirements. 'Strategic move' China currently buys its commercial aircraft engines from General Electric and United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney. China's military jets uses Russian-made engines. President Xi Jinping called the new creation of the new company a "strategi

Driving force: an Ant combines microscopic gold balls with a polymer gel to propel nanobots. Medicine is one potential application =============================================================================================================== High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1af0efea-1045-11e6-bb40-c30e3bfcf63b.html#ixzz47bCzo78r Scientists have developed a microscopic engine, the smallest in the world, that they say is the first one capable of driving nanobots, including medical robots that could travel through the body. The prototype device, known as an actuating nano-transducer or...

The DoD IG opened an investigation today, regarding allegations made by former United Launch Alliance (ULA) vice president Brett Tobey. DoD IG will be looking into national security space launch protocols. This investigation will include, but is not limited to, site visits, interviews and documentation review with DoD and ULA personnel. http://spaceksc.blogspot.com/2016/02/lipstick-on-pig.html "We all agree" that we must end dependence on Russia RD-180 (kerosene/LOX), and make our own (Hydrogen/Lox),engines here in the U.S.

**SNIP** The Specialty Equipment Market Association says the companies it represents support a $1.4 billion industry, selling car racing products and aftermarket vehicle parts. The business association contends that the EPA rule under consideration would make it illegal for businesses to sell car parts intended to convert traditional production engines to engines that don’t meet emissions standards. The EPA intends to finalize its proposed regulations this summer and it has reopened public comment on the issue. Three other congressmen have signed McHenry's bill: U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Bill Posey, R-Fla., and Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.,...

BEIJING: China has built a potent military machine over the past 30 years but is struggling to develop advanced engines that would allow its warplanes to match Western fighters in combat, foreign and Chinese industry sources said. The country's engine technology lags that of United Technologies unit Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls-Royce, said Douglas Barrie, senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. China's Defence Ministry, in a brief statement to Reuters, said there was a "definite gap" between Chinese military technology and some developed countries, adding Beijing would continue to strengthen...

Defence giant BAE Systems to buy a stake in Britain's Reaction Engines, which is developing revolutionary SABRE engines for ultra-fast aircraft How an aircraft fitted with the SABRE engines might look ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hypersonic air travel and cut-price satellite launches will move a step closer when BAE Systems buys a stake in a UK company developing engines able to power aircraft at 2,500mph and into space. The FTSE 100 group is set to purchase 20pc of Oxfordshire-based Reaction Engines for £20.6m, in a deal that will see the defence giant’s expertise applied to research on the privately-held company’s engine, which combines...

With a capacity to carry 19,000 TEUs, the recently named MV CSCL Globe is the world’s largest containership by cargo capacity. But that’s not all it’s known for. The newbuild for China Shipping Container Lines is also noteworthy for being powered by what is physically the largest engine ever constructed.

New Zealand's Duke Engines has been busy developing and demonstrating excellent results with a bizarre axial engine prototype that completely does away with valves, while delivering excellent power and torque from an engine much smaller, lighter and simpler than the existing technology. We spoke with Duke co-founder John Garvey to find out how the Duke Axial Engine project is going. The Duke Axial Engine is lighter, more compact and already slightly more powerful than a typical equivalent engine, even though this is just a prototype Duke Engines' 3-liter, five cylinder test mule is already making a healthy 215 horsepower and...

In a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, Columbia University researchers present several devices powered by the shrinking and swelling of bacterial spores in response to changes in humidity. The initial prototypes may look like child's play, but the researchers are convinced that they've only just begun to tap the energy potential of the technology. ... In the new study, his team has cobbled together devices that create lifting and piston-like motions by harnessing the natural tendency of the spores -- which are commonly produced in great quantities for probiotic supplements -- to expand and contract. The devices contain strips...

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – New Russian Navy destroyers, originally intended to be equipped with Ukrainian gas turbine engines (GTE), will receive Russian-made engines exceeding the Ukrainian analogues, a United Shipbuilding Corporation spokesman told RIA Novosti on Monday. "The first three patrol ships of the project 11356 and the first two ships of the project 22350 are already equipped with GTEs manufactured in Ukraine. Subsequent ships of both projects will be equipped with Russian-made power units with characteristics superior to Ukrainian GTEs," the spokesman said. He added that the modernization of existing Russian GTEs has begun and will be finished in late...

The U.S. Air Force is taking a serious look at overhauling the nearly 60 year-old B-52 bomber—including a new engine for the ancient plane. The question is not whether it makes sense, but why it hasn’t been done before. The answers include poor planning, budgetary procedures that defied economic logic, and at least one bone-headed accounting error. The B-52 first entered service in the mid-1950s. Putting new engines on the “Buff,” or Big Ugly Fat (cough) Fella, became a possibility after 1978, when the commercial airplane business launched two modern engines, the Rolls-Royce RB.211-535 and the PW2000. Unlike the first...

We’ve grown accustomed to senseless liberal logic insinuating that anything that has to do with the color spectrum is somehow racist or racially charged, however; the most recent attack by The Guardian filth-spiller, Tracy van Slyke, is so stupid it just made me chuckle. Check out what she said about the demonic Thomas the Tank Engine. From The Guardian: For the record, all the “villains” on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I’d like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump...