Motor Oil

We just learned about the Timing Belt.

Another part of how a car works is Motor Oil.

When all the parts of a metal car engine are moving around, things can get very hot.
If you've ever heard metal scraping on metal, you know that two pieces of metal don't slide against each other smoothly.

To make the engine parts move smooth and not scrape against each other, cars use a slippery oil that lets helps things move around quickly without problems.

We learned before about the holes in the main engine called oil galleries.
That is where the motor oil goes, and it goes through all those holes to get to parts like the camshaft and crankshaft that need oil as they move around.

After a while the oil gets dirty from being used, so the oil has to be emptied out of a car and replaced with fresh oil.



(from: wikipedia - motor oil)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vacuum Pump

Timing Belt

We just learned about the Crankshaft.

Another part of a car's engine is the Timing Belt, Timing Chain or Cambelt.

We know that the Crankshaft spins around with the up and down movement of the pistons,
and the Camshaft spins around to open and close the intake and exhaust valves.

Both the Crankshaft and the Camshaft need to spin at exactly the same time so that the valves open and close while the pistons are going up and down.
The timing belt is wrapped around both the crankshaft and camshaft to make sure they move at the same speed so the valves and pistons are all moving at the right time together.


(from: wikipedia - timing belt (camshaft))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Steam Turbine

Crankshaft

We just learned about the Long Block.

Another part of a car is the Crankshaft.

We know the pistons go up and down with the car, and the power of those pistons is what makes the car go.

Underneath the pistons is something called the crankshaft.

When the pistons are pushed down when the gasoline burns up, they push down on the crankshaft.
That energy pushing down then turns the crankshaft and it spins around.
The spinning movement is what is used to help turn the wheels and make the car go.


(from: wikipedia - crankshaft)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Turbine

Long Block

We just learned about the Valvetrain.

Another part of the engine is the Long Block.

The long block is the cylinder head, head gasket, intake vales, exhaust valves and camshaft, together with what is called the short block.

The short block is all the parts of the engine under the head gasket.
Like the cylinder block, cylinders, coolant passages and oil galleries.


(from: wikipedia - automobile engine replacement)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pneumatic Cylinder

Valvetrain

We just learned about the Tappet.

Another part of a car is the Valvetrain.

We've learned about the camshaft that spins around with cams on it, that pushes on the intake and exhaust valves for the pistons.

The Valvetrain is the name for all of the valves hooked together on the camshaft, pushing the valves in and out.


(from: wikipedia - valvetrain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pneumatics

Tappet

We just learned about the Exhaust Valve.

Another part of a car is the Tappet.

The tappet is the part of the car that pushes on the intake or exhaust valves to open or close them.

Remember that the camshaft is above the valves, and is a rod with cams on it spinning around.
The bump on the cam pushes on the tappet, which pushes on the pushrod, which opens or closes the valves.


(from: wikipedia - tappet)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pulse Coder

Exhaust Valve

We just learned about the Intake Valve.

Another part of a car's engine is the Exhaust Valve.

Just like we learned that the intake valves bring fuel into the piston, after the fuel is used up it needs to be pushed out of the piston.
The exit, or exhaust valve opens up and lets all the burned up fuel out so the piston can start over again.


(from: wikipedia - valvetrain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hydraulic Brake

Intake Valve

We just learned about the Camshaft.

Another part of a car's engine is the Intake Valve.

There are valves right above the cylinders where the pistons go up and down, and they either let in fuel for the piston or let out the bad stuff called exhaust.

Remember we learned that pistons take in gasoline fuel, then push up so it is pressurized, it explodes with a spark, pushes the piston back down and also makes exhaust which is like smoke from a fire.

So one valve opens to let the fuel in, and the other valve opens to let the exhaust out.
The one that lets fuel in is called the intake valve.


(from: wikipedia - valvetrain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hydraulic Cylinder

Camshaft

We just learned about the Oil Galleries.

Another part of a car engine is the Camshaft.

We learned a long time ago that a Cam is a disc with a bump on it that spins around and pushes down to open up valves for the engine.

The camshaft is the long metal pole that cams are attached to.
The shaft spins around, and the cams take turns pushing down with their bumps at different times.



(from: wikipedia - camshaft)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hydraulics

Oil Galleries

We just learned about the Coolant Passages.

Some other parts of a car's engine are called the Oil Galleries.

Oil in the engine helps things run smoothly, so that the metal parts don't grind against each other.
There are holes for oil that go like tunnels all through the engine block, carrying the oil around to keep everything slippery and smooth.


(from: wikipedia - engine block)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Negative Feedback

Coolant Passages

We just learned about the Head Gasket.

Some more parts of the engine block on a car are the Coolant Passages.

The pistons going up and down with the burning fuel makes a lot of heat for the engine.
To cool the engine down, there are little tunnels or passages that go through the engine, and when the engine is running there is cooling liquid that goes in one side of those holes and out the other.

The cool liquid helps keep the engine from overheating.


(from: wikipedia - engine block)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Encoder

Head Gasket

We just learned about the Cylinder Head.

Another part of a car's engine is the Head Gasket.

We learned already that there is a cylinder block which holds all of the pistons that go up and down, and a cylinder head that goes up above the piston to give it fuel and take away the exhaust.

The Head Gasket is in between the cylinder block and cylinder head.
It helps make sure that there is no gas or liquid leaking out when the block and head are connected together.


(from: wikipedia - head gasket)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Servo

Cylinder Head

We just learned about the Cylinder in the engine block.

Another part of a car's engine block is the Cylinder Head.

The engine block cylinders are the piece that holds that pistons that move up and down.
On top of that cylinder part is the cylinder head.
This is the big metal piece that goes on top and closes in the pistons.

It also has other parts that let in fuel and take out the wasted exhaust from the piston.


(from: wikipedia - cylinder head)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Types

Coupling

We just learned about the Leading Wheel.

Another part of a steam locomotive is a Coupling, also called a coupler.

This is what connects the train cars to each other.
Some of the train couplings are loose with chains and bang into each other a lot.
Other types are very tightly linked together and don't move much.



(from: wikipedia - railway coupling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Trim

Leading Wheel

We just learned about the Driving Wheel.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Leading Wheel.

These wheels are in the front of the train, and are used to help hold up the front part of the locomotive.

They are not the driving wheels that are moved around by the steam engine, they just roll along when the driving wheels push the train along, and help hold up the train.


(from: wikipedia - leading wheel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Spring

Driving Wheel

We just learned about the Leaf Spring.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Driving Wheel.

When the steam power moves the pistons, it is connected to rods that turn the wheels.
Only some of the wheels are connected to these rods, and they are called the driving wheels.
The other wheels are just holding up the train and they turn just because the driving wheels are pulling the train along.

This is the same for most other things with wheels too, like the pedals on a bicycle usually only turn the back wheel of the bike.


(from: wikipedia - driving wheel)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gasket

Blastpipe

We just learned about the Brake Hose.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Blastpipe.

Remember we learned about the firebox where the coal burns, and the boiler where the water heats up and makes steam.

For the fire to keep burning, it needs fresh air.
The blastpipe is connected to the boiler and the firebox and the chimney.
When the boiler lets off steam, it helps pull air through the firebox, and then all of the smoke and steam goes shooting out the chimney.


(from: wikipedia - blastpipe)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Seat

Brake Hose

We just learned about the locomotive Headlight.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Brake Hose.

Remember we learned before that when the engineer wants to stop the train he pulls a lever that uses the high pressure air brakes to push the brake shoe and stop the train.

When a train has a lot of passenger or supply cars behind the main engine, they can have brake shoes to help slow them down too.

The high pressure air brakes have tubes that go from car to car to bring the air pressure that closes the brake shoes to slow down the train.


(from: wikipedia - gladhand connector)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Disc

Headlight

We just learned about the Chimney.

Another part of a locomotive is the Headlight or headlamp.

The headlight isn't really for the people driving the train, because they are going too fast to be able to stop if they saw something.
It's really meant to warn everyone to get off the tracks and to stay out of the way.
There are also workers at stations who need to know the train is coming, and they can see the light from very far away.


(from: wikipedia - steam locomotive components)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Handle

Chimney

We just learned about the Superheater.

Another part of a steam locomotive is the Chimney.

The smoke from the boiler goes up the chimney pipe so the smoke goes up high and the engineer can still see down the tracks.


(from: wikipedia - chimney (locomotive))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Valve Port