From the German MOTORRAD magazine, October 1938 (Translation:
Hartmut Schouwer):
In Italy five aero engineers once built the RONDINE. Now it’s called
GILERA and is destined to win a lot of races for the GILERA brand. When
technicians do something with love, something good will turn out.
Three years ago five technicians from Munich started to design another
nonconformistic motorcycle, but they had another target: they created a
modern bike with front-wheel-drive and and aerodynamic, rational shape.
That means a bike for daily use. And now it’s ready for the show.
Our readers will remember the MEGOLA story. The magazine staff had restored
an old MEGOLA to recollect the merits of this multiple-cylinder front-wheel-drive
bike. We wrote: “Fantastic behaviour in curves . . . a child could ride
it on sand . . .”
What the five technicians from Munich – the names of the designers/engineers
are KILLINGER and FREUND – now completed is more than an improved MEGOLA.
The engine displacement is again 600cc and it is also incredibly light:
135 Kilogr. (with fuel), but this bike has a three-cylinder two-stroke
engine in the front wheel, it HAS a transmission and a clutch, it has a
comfortable front and rear suspension and looks elegant and thrilling.
There’s always a crowd of people around the displayed bike indicating
that there’s happening something great. If you join them and listen to
them you will be astonished that most of them like the shape of this bike.
That’s important because the technicians wanted to build a bike that can
be sold in large numbers some day. The people are used to aorodynamic shapes
of car bodies now and it seems that they already expectedsomething like
that. The shape was developed to meet all these requirements: all moving
parts covered, dirt protection, multicylinder and front-wheel-drive. Another
target was to reduce the numbers of different parts. This bike has less
parts than a light 100cc-bike!
At first sight you realize the dirt-protective and aerodynamic covers
of the front and rear wheel. Frame, fork and fuel tank are also aerodynamically
improved. We were impressed by the nice details and good shaped transitions
of the different body parts, as seen on race bikes.
And now the construction: the middle of the frame and the rear wheel
cover are currently built as sheetmetal shells around a tube frame. For
the mass-production version there are plans to build the middle frame as
a boxed frame, welded together from two pressed sheetmetal parts. Of course
this supermachine has a rear suspension. It is linked to the lower end
of the (inner) tube frame and fixed with flexible (rubber/metal???) elements
which don’t need any service. A lid in the box frame allows access to the
seat springs to regulate the hardness of the seat’s suspension.
The steering is like that of a normal bike, but the telescopic elements
(80 mm lift) are more vertical than usual. That means that the wheelbase
won’t change much when the front fork dives in.
The front-wheel-drive is much better than the Megola design. First,
the weight of the engine (unsuspended mass) is lower. The front wheel with
engine has a weight of 50 Kilos. Second, a custom carb without a float
needle doesn’t have problems that could be caused by vibrations. And third,
the light-weight battery ignition allows to start the engine without problems
and helps to keep the engine weight low. The distributor and the points
are located in the hub. The technicians originally intended to build a
dynastarter. These improvements (plus transmission and clutch) had been
impossible to add to the MEGOLA design.
The three-cylinder two-stroke engine uses a Drehschieber (= turning
disk with a hole for more exact timing of the intake of the fuel-air mixture).
The fresh fuel-air mixture is sucked in by the vacuum in the three crankshaft
housings as usual. The Drehschieber does the intake timing for all three
cylinders. The engine is not a radial engine as known from planes. And
there is no need for a flywheel. All three cranks seem to work on one common
gear. This arrangement and the recoil of the pistons in the turning direction
should secure a perfect balance of the moving parts. The cylinders are
made of KS (brand name) iron cylinder walls and are totally embedded in
the Silumin (kind of alloy) engine housing. Alloy cylinderheads with lots
of cooling fins and the exhaust pipes are the only things that can be identified
as engine parts between the spokes of the cast alloy wheel. These flat
spokes are designed to serve as a cooling fan. The two-speed transmission
is built as a differential transmission and uses slope-meshed gears. The
clutch is made of usual clutch disks. The clutch (with the springs at the
outer circle) is located in front of the transmission. The transmission
is actuated by steel cables (foot-operated). All parts of the engine allow
easy access for service work. After the removal of the engine – only two
bolts and some wiring have to be removed – all important parts are within
reach. The tire can also be removed easily. You have to unlock a safety
mechanism and can remove the tire completely with the split rim. The front
brake is installed in the hub. The rear suspension also has telescopic
oil-filled shock absorbers. The gasoline runs down through flexible hoses.
Five men worked for three years on this machine. The bike was test-driven
already and the engine was tested on a test-stand. As there are so many
progressive ideas built into this bike, we hope that the developers will
have a chance to complete their work, because we would like to experience
the preferences of this bike some day:
Better handling – more safety – less weight – simple construction –
no chain or cardan shaft – no valves – tangential arrangement of the cylinders
for smooth engine characteristics.
Ch. Christophe
Many thanks to the person who sent the image
above, which I believe to be the one published in Motorrad. Ed.
That is the whole engine with transmission and clutch in the front wheel.
You can see the three tangentionally arranged cylinders and the cylinderheads
outside the engine housing. The removal of the front wheel is just as easy
as the removal of the rear wheel on a normal bike. The most interesting
detail is the split rim, like those designed by Josef Stelaer for the BMW
six-days competition bikes. This allows to remove the tire after unbolting
some nuts and avoids the usage of a special two-ended air tube like in
the MEGOLA (a “normal” endless tube could be used).
October 25, 2002
I located the Killinger & Freund page and found the
following.
The following 10 statements are from this Killinger &
Freund page..
#1..."this bike has a three-cylinder two-stroke engine
in the front wheel"
#2..."This bike has less parts than a light 100cc-bike.
#3..."The technicians originally intended to build a
dynastarter"
#4..."The three-cylinder two-stroke engine uses a Drehschieber
(=turning disk with intake holes)"
#5..."mixture is sucked in by the vacuum in the three
crankshaft housings"
#6..."The engine is not a radial engine"
#7..."All three cranks seem to work on one common gear."
#8..."the recoil of the pistons in the turning direction"
#9..."– no valves –"
#10..."the three tangentionally arranged cylinders and
the cylinderheads outside the engine housing."
My comments on the 10 items follow.
#1...this bike has a three-cylinder two-stroke engine
in the front wheel.
""not So.""
"this bike has THREE ONE CYLINDER, TWO STROKE ENGINES
with seperate crankcases & crankshafts tangentially mounted on a 4th
central housing and radially geared to a common internal fly wheel, clutch
and 2 speed transmission."
#2..."This bike has less parts than a light 100cc-bike.
"" not so "" If referring to the power plant only and
not to the chassis parts, including the spokes, screws and nuts.
#3..."The technicians originally intended to build a dynastarter"
""good intention""
#4..."The engine uses a Drehschieber (= turning disk with
intake holes)" "a rotary disc valve"
""correct"" But this contradicts item #9 -no-valves-
#5..."mixture is sucked in by the vacuum in the three
crankshaft housings"
""correct"" but three crank cases dictate three engines.
As well as three intake valves and crankshafts. Contradicted by item #9
that states -no-valves-
#6..."The engine is not a radial engine"
""correct"" but it is round (-;¶
#7..."All three cranks seem to work on one common gear.".
""correct"" this 'common gear' being the equivalent to
the 'ring gear' on a conventional 'flywheel'.
#8..."the recoil of the pistons are in the turning direction"
""correct""
#9..."– no valves –"
""not so""
#10..."the three tangentionally arranged cylinders and
the cylinder heads are outside of the engine housing."
""correct""
Items #2 thru #5 contradict the statement made in Item
#1.
#2 & #4 "three crankshaft housings" = Three crankcases.
& Three crankshafts. Or Three Engines.
It is a very interesting concept. I see no reason why
this would not function. I do see a very serious potential problem
that would, in my estimation, cause early mechanical failure of the 3 engine(s)
crankshaft gears mating to the flywheels ring gear.
A reciprocating engine has hi energy rotational, cyclic
oscillations (radial power and inertial vibrations) that are damped out
by the flywheels mass. If these vibrations and masses are not coupled directly,
and are seperated by the gear clearance in this design, the gears will
very likely wear out very rapidly,
I made a little free-hand sketch of what this power plant
would approximately look like.
The piston travel is "Tangential" to the circumference
of the flywheel.
And all other items mentioned are complied with, except
the "Drehschieber" the rotary disc valve plate.
There are several methods of incorporating the Drehschieber
in the sketch, but the sketch was getting crowded..
Regards,
Ralph-1 at webtv.net
If you have a query about Killinger & Freund motorcycles, or wish
to share information or images of these classic German machines, please contact
us!
Killinger
& Freund at Ebay
Killinger
& Freund at Ebay Germany
More eBay Sites by Country
Search Wikipedia:
