I guess from the stories I have been sharing here all of you must think that
I must be about 100 years old, but I am only a little over half of that! But
talking about starting big engines... Back in the mid '60's I worked for
Texsun Corp, a juice/canning plant. This plant even converted the citrus
pulp to cow feed! in this process the excess water, citrus oil and left over
juice was concentrated into "molasses" by boiling it at a low temperature.
The equipment used was a very large air compressor/engine that operated from
one crankshaft with the power cylinder at one end and the compressor at the
other end. This unit had 2 flywheels on it that were 6 to 7 ft in dia.
Starting sequence was very interesting, and consisted of the following
steps. 1. The engine was turned over by hand until the engine piston was
just past TDC. 2. Then the operator manipulated some small hand valves
introducing air into the cylinder in order to mane the engine start to turn
over, similar to a steam engine. 3. When the engine was rotating at a fir
rate (>20 rpm) the operator switched other valves on the engine to conduct
in natural gas and started the ignition system. This would start the engine
firing and bring it up to speed, which seemed to be about 100 to 200 rpm.
After this plant closed I guess those units were scrapped. What A Waste!