Here's an article about that car and its engine: https://www.museumofamericanspeed.org/chevyseriesm.html

Cheers, Dean

Surprise! Surprise! Vinny does  have a chevy air cooled cylinder. I am waiting for him to send me a photo so that I can post it on the forum. He is very busy with his business. Thank you for your help with the mystery engine! Paul 

We all need to be aware that GM built generators (Delco-Light plants) with air cooled engines that used components similar to the "Copper Cooled" automotive engine. I do not know if the cylinders were identical but they sure look the same to me. Maybe that is what your friend has.

I am familiar with the Delco light plant that was used in areas of our country where there were no electrical pole lines. The engines were a 32 volt and the generator was a full throttle. This is not that cylinder. The Cumberland County Fair in Maine has one.

Look at the base of the draft tube fins on the Delco. The fins are made thinner and the base of the fin is tapered the cylinder. The fins on the Chevy are much wider and appear to be straight and not taper to the cylinder. !!?? Paul

@paul-baresel 

Hi Paul

It appears to me that you are looking at a cylinder that is neither from a 4 cylinder air cooled Chev or a 4 cylinder Delco light plant engine, and must be in fact from a single cylinder engine.

I say this because the flanges for the intake and exhaust are on opposite sides of the cylinder, and in-line with the axis of the rocker arm shaft.

That would be impossible on any in-line multi-cylinder engine, and puts the intake and exhaust on opposite sides of the engine this cylinder belongs to.

Both the Copper Cooled Chevrolet and the 4 cylinder Delco had both manifolds on the same side of the engine.

Just my thoughts.  🙂

PS

You can see the 4 cylinder Delco here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uMkBXMYang

where you will notice that the bottoms of the fins aren't tapered either.

There could have been several variations of the light plant engines. I'm guessing that one of them matches the cylinder.

Mike

@35mike 

I agree.

There were several engine variants over several years.

But I think Delco only made one 4 cylinder model, so Paul needs to look for engines of the single cylinder variety.  🙂

Hi Vinny and Don,

Well, I do not know what to say about the air-cooled cylinder yet.

The mystery is the design of the Delco light plant.

Here is the best photo of a single cylinder Delco light plant. I found it on Facebook. I have asked Vinny to take some more measurements and close up photos to send them to me.

I tried to work through Smokstak.com with an inquiry, but no response.

The interesting comparison are the two air cooled fans. The fans are similar in design.

You Tube does show several Delco light plants running, but I am far from a computer expert on trying to contact one of the You Tube participants.

The saga continues.

Sorry about the delay in getting back on the air-cooled cylinder. Yes, Stovebit did hit the nail on the head with the Delco light plant. In summary, Charles Kettering was a prolific electrical engineer and is given credit for developing the electric cash register with National Cash Register. (NCR)

Kettering founded the Delco (Dayton Engineering Laboratory Company) in Dayton, Ohio around 1916.

He sold Delco to General Motors in 1918 and became head of General Motors Research.

Now, we may have a connection of the Delco light plant and the Chevy air cooled engine. As I noted previously, the air-cooling fans of the Delco Light plant photo and the cooling fan of the Chevy air cooled cylinder look very similar.

I can only surmise that the Delco Light plant air cooled cylinder may have been used in the Chevy air cooled engine.

I am planning to do more home work and propose an article for the G&D.

Also, I plan to visit Vinny and get more close up and measurements of the air cooled cylinder to see if the cylinders are similar.

Keep Tuned- Paul

First look at my post in old forum at https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/490300/whats-this.html . You can see from the photos posted there that the Delco light units had cylinders cast in blocks and Copper Cooled were attached with 3 bolts. It also includes the early air cooled prototype. The Franklin was a successful vertical fin air cooled vehicle in that era. Thanks for posting the "One Lunger".

. Can anyone identify this Chevy? (first photo)
Most striking is the grille that appears to be an early copper cooled. (Second photo) I don't see any cooling fins under to hood so I guess it's water cooled. I don't see any vacuum tank yet the carburetor is too high for gravity feed from an under seat tank. The cam appears to be on the left side where as the water cooled, Copper Cooled, FA, Buick, Nash, Olds and Delco 4 cylinder engines of that period had the cam on the right.
Since the license plate says 1919, I assume the body is 1919 Chevy 490. The front springs are quarter elliptic like the 490 and not the FA. The third photo is a copper cooled prototype with ignition distributor and generator gear driven on the Left. It has a hand E-brake making it newer than 1922. The frame has tubular cross members rather than channel. 4th photo is a Delco lighting unit.
. I am guessing it's a GM prototype. What's your guess?
Lou
.
. .

Attached Images
1923-not Copper-Cooled-.jpg 1919-CC-eng not.jpg Chassis.jpg _Delco 7501.jpg

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@paul-baresel 

Hi Paul

You've piqued my interest and I've been doing some surfing and thought you might find some of what I found to be interesting.  🙂

First, Delco made a LOT of light plant models, as per this:

http://delcolight.com/7.html

There is more interesting Delco info (including info on the 4 cylinder air-cooled model that was apparently only made from 1928 to 1934) here:

https://doctordelco.com/delco-light-plants

Of particular interest, I found a picture on the following site showing the top of the cylinder/head of a Delco engine with the rocker arms and their mounting configuration that looks like those on the cylinder in the picture you posted:

https://www.smokstak.com/forum/threads/1929-delco-light-752-32vdc-battery-charging-plant.215724/

And this site has a picture of the Chevrolet Copper Cooled with the shrouds out of the way so we can see how the rocker arms were mounted there:

https://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/the-1923-copper-cooled-chevrolet-what-went-wrong/

So, in looking at the images below (which include a portion of one of the pictures you posted) I'm thinking the cylinder in question is likely from one of the models of single cylinder air cooled Delco light plants.

Your thoughts?

@paul-baresel 

First picture is from your posted picture.

Second is of the cylinder/head of a single cylinder Delco.

Third is of a Copper Cooled cylinder.