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Ladies and Gentlemen
Ladies and Gentlemen
Mesdames, Messieurs
Meine Damen und Herren
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here is something everybody on this planet should have seen:
- A great development on the basis of the "famous Crossley horizontal heavy-oil engine",
- "manufactured for long life",
- with "oustanding qualifications" (Crossley advert).
It's the winner of the hearts of proud engine owners (own experience)...
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The Crossley Diesel Engine of the types HD / HDE
and their relatives, the types HDS / HH / IHD / IHH,
and their relatives, the types HDS / HH / IHD / IHH,
a horizontal single cylinder four stroke engine, being designed in a number of similar variations and sizes.
Especially the "Small Diesel Engines" are really nice, although they are far away from being small.
The expression "small" may be a little bit misleading in this context, but it is caused by the fact, that these engines were designed as a "miniature of the famous Crossley horizontal heavy-oil engine" (Crossley brochure) which was built earlier and which is quite large in size. The diesel engines were built in a number of interesting variations:
Especially the "Small Diesel Engines" are really nice, although they are far away from being small.
The expression "small" may be a little bit misleading in this context, but it is caused by the fact, that these engines were designed as a "miniature of the famous Crossley horizontal heavy-oil engine" (Crossley brochure) which was built earlier and which is quite large in size. The diesel engines were built in a number of interesting variations:
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a) the "Industrial Type" HD
- HD stands for heavy duty and/or horizontal diesel
- equipped with 2 flywheels
- lubrication in this case on the illustration by drip oiler / "plunger lubricator".
- note: the water outlet branch above the cylinder is not shown, while the water inlet
below the cylinder is in place
(it's the engine of the front page of the diesel engine brochure)
(it's the engine of the front page of the diesel engine brochure)
That looks really good!
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b) the "Electric Type" HDE
and the "Special Electric Type" HDS
- E stands for electric,
- S stands for special electric (a heavier version of the HDE, which is quite rare),
- with a single heavy flywheel and an outrigger bearing,
- this provides a constant power output for generating electric energy,
- lubrication in this case on the illustration by drip oiler / "plunger lubricator".
- the water outlet branch above the cylinder is not shown, while the water inlet
below the cylinder is in place
It's simply beautiful!
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c) the more powerful type HH
- with a slightly larger cylinder bore and the same piston stroke compared to
the HD / HDE of the same size, this results in more power output of +11% ... +25%
the HD / HDE of the same size, this results in more power output of +11% ... +25%
depending on the engine size;
- accordingly to the higher power some external dimensions are slightly larger than those
of the HDE (for example diameters of some bearings and their counterparts).
The HH-types can be seen as a first step of an improvement of the HD-engines towards a higher power output, but this was done only for the larger engines of the sizes 6 and higher. For the smaller types of the sizes 3 ...5 the improvement in terms of additional hp was probably too small. Consequently the stronger HH-types replaced most of the anterior HD-types in the marketing activities of the 1950s although some HH-types were built already much earlier.
What shall I say, it's great!
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d) the most powerful types IHD and IHH
- with an improved injection system, valve timing and combustion process,
resulting in additional +10% ... +13% more power output in most cases,
compared to the earlier HH-types
resulting in additional +10% ... +13% more power output in most cases,
compared to the earlier HH-types
- with the same general design of the earlier HD- and HH-types, but in most cases
with slightly modified external geometries due to the higher power output.
The IHD- and IHH-types are the result of a second improvement step towards more power output. The types IHD were available in the small sizes 4 and 6 (same bore dia. as the HD-types), the IHH in the larger sizes 6 and higher (same bore dia. as the HH-types). They appeared on the market at around 1960 and consequently replaced the less powerful earlier HD- and HH-types in the marketing activities of the 1960s.
That`s really the crown of all!
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For those who are interested in some technical details:
The following table gives an overview about the smaller types and power data.
All this can be a little bit confusing at first glance, but this diagram shows the technical development more clearly:
The following illustration shows the left side of a HDE / HDS:
- with a view at the heavy flywheel and the outrigger bearing with it's foundation.
- A starting wick holder is at the side of the breech end.
- The water inlet branch below the cylinder is in position, while the water outlet
branch is not shown, which is normally above the cylinder.
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There are also larger sizes:
- the example on the illustration is a HD 14 or HDE 14,
- all of the large engines with only one large flywheel,
the flywheel of the HDE is much heavier than that of the HD
the flywheel of the HDE is much heavier than that of the HD
- with a vertical governor,
- in this case with a T&K-mechanical lubricator (this illustration shows a lubricator with 4 oil pumps)
- the illustration shows a flywheel with straight spokes, but there are also engines
with curved spokes
- the water outlet branch above the cylinder and the exhaust pipe are not shown here
- besides of the HD and HDE the heavier special electric type HDS was offered, too.
- later in the 1950s the marketing focussed on the more powerful HH-types,
and in the 1960s the IHH-types followed with a further increase of the power rating
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Especially the larger types aren't simply large, they are huge and mighty and it is an unforgettable impression, when you once stood next to one of them.
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The following table gives an overview about the types and power data and the diagrams show the technical development of the large engine types:
The new types look similar to the earlier ones:
The illustration of this engine can be found in a publication about Crossley diesel engines of the year 1950, which represents one of the larger types of diesel engines and in particular the HH14 according to the power rating.
This illustration of the beginning of the 1960s shows a IHH10.
The exhaust pipe and the water pipes are not shown.
For very high power demands 2 engines were placed side by side on a monobloc bedframe,
- with a single common governor acting on both cylinders,
- with a common crankshaft
- with one single flywheel,
- the power output is twice of that of a single cylinder engine,
- with a stepwise optimization of the power output according
to the types HD -> HH -> IHH:
to the types HD -> HH -> IHH:
This illustration from the beginning of the 1960s shows an engine of the type 2IHH14
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For a certain time period within the first half of the 1930s the large HDs were called "Heavy-Oil Engines", see for example this contemporary specification:
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In later years when the Diesel fuel became more common, the expression "Diesel Engine" became more common in the Crossley literature from the second half of the 1930s on, too.
So these HDs can be seen as a specialized modification of the earlier Oil Engine of the type O/OE with specific features for a fast combustion within the cylinder for a higher power output:
- narrower tolerance of the fuel specification:
more similar to that of Diesel oil,
- symmetric fuel injection;
the injector is placed on the centre line of the cylinder axis at the front side.
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. For a certain time period within the first half of the 1930s the large HDs were called "Heavy-Oil Engines", see for example this contemporary specification:
In later years when the Diesel fuel became more common, the expression "Diesel Engine" became more common in the Crossley literature from the second half of the 1930s on, too.
So these HDs can be seen as a specialized modification of the earlier Oil Engine of the type O/OE with specific features for a fast combustion within the cylinder for a higher power output:
- narrower tolerance of the fuel specification:
more similar to that of Diesel oil,
- symmetric fuel injection;
the injector is placed on the centre line of the cylinder axis at the front side.
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Besides of the diesel and oil engines there are also engines for gas and benzene of a similar design, and indeed the great design of the diesel and oil engines was developed with these earlier engine types, but that is a different story...
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| detail of our air filter |
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Finally some remarks about this website:
When the Crossley Brothers designed these HDs in different variations they have done without any doubt a great job. But unfortunately when they made the manuals and broshures about these engines they haven't seen the problem, that about 70 years later engine enthusiasts are interested in design details, for example:
- Is the design of my HD the original one or not?
- Is the lubricator of my HD the original one although it is not shown in the Crossley broshures?
- Is the air starting device the original one or not?
- Is it normal, that the spokes of my flywheel are straight while others are curved?
- How do the engines of other HD-types look like?
- What is the sound of other HDs?
- What is the typical colour?...
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The Crossley manuals and broshures do not give a complete or satisfactory answer on questions like these. It is my impression that in this situation the engine enthusiasts have to help themselves by looking on other engines and compare them in order to come to a final conclusion. But the number of engines is quite limited in these days and they are distributed over the whole planet, so it is not so easy to find many of them.
In this difficult situation I thought that it would be quite helpful for enthusiasts who have the same problem, if a couple of photos or videos of other HDs could be seen side by side at the same place. So that's the reason why I put some other engines on this website, too.
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regarding the language:
For the music of Wagner the relevant literature is written in German language, for Debussy it is the French language and for Vivaldi it is Italian. For Crossley engines the language is English, so the English language is used here, too.
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If you would like to see now some examples of these great diesel engines please go to one of the following pages.
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| detail of our air filter |
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