Boxer engine 2
Where does it actually come from, the boxer engine? It is said that Carl Benz invented it and used it for the first time in 1899. But to save the honor of the in-line engine, it must be mentioned that it actually arose from a unit
with two horizontal cylinders.
Benz was convinced of the special qualities of the horizontal reciprocating piston engine. In the case of a cylinder, this was still justifiable with a vertically mounted crankshaft. But more cylinders would have given the engine
more levels.
In addition, Benz apparently slowly found out that a horizontal flywheel does not necessarily have to be. And obviously the two-cylinder boxer appealed more to the engine designer Benz than the horizontal two-in-line engine,
although the former was obviously more complex to produce.
Daimler and Maybach diligently built upwards, which has spoiled the appearance of the motorized carriage and the two-wheeler. It wasn't until the engines moved forward and dipped into the chassis that the upright in-line
engine was accommodated reasonably tolerably.
Benz seems to have got off to a better start with the combustion engine than Daimler and Maybach. His electric ignition alone was clearly superior to that of the Stuttgarter with the glow tube, even if Benz was far from able to
match their engine speed.
The first boxer engine even had water cooling. If only it had stayed that way. But that wasn't possible because Ferdinand Porsche wanted to install the engine at the rear and thus long transmission paths for the torque. In
addition, perhaps the aerodynamic considerations, which were already widespread at the time, were also decisive.
Rear water cooling is just a horror. A radiator at the end of the vehicle almost makes it worse, long pipes to the front and a lot of wasted space in the front luggage compartment doesn't make it any better either. Then the
radiator stays at the back next to the engine, but it doesn't do its job any better.
Today we know that such an engine should have been installed at the front. Have we suddenly become smarter? No, we didn't have the technology to do it yet. Because either the long drive paths again or a front-wheel drive,
for which durable joints were only invented relatively late.
And when they existed, the in-line engine had long since begun its triumphant advance with the vast majority of manufacturers. How do you want to make it clear to a commercial department to agree to a nicer new design
when the existing one will do the same.
After all, everything is under the bonnet and hardly anyone looks in anyway. In general, the technical data are being kept more and more secret from the consumers and and less and less understood by them.
And if you only make the corresponding effort for a heavily tuned version, the boxer engine has to be equipped with an expensive, small multi-disc clutch and an almost insolvable routing of the exhaust pipes, otherwise the
in-line and V-engine with dry sump lubrication are arranged almost even lower in the vehicle.
But for the series it remains unbeatable. The idea of driving the ancillary units from the flywheel side also came too late for it. Also, hydraulic tappets introduced earlier would have helped and thus put an end to the
cumbersome adjustment of the valves.
| 
