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| Post WWII arrangement, carburettor to the front under the exhaust (neither visible). Transfer port visible at back. One connecting rod 'piggy-backed' on another. |
The split-single (Doppelkolbenmotor to its German and Austrian manufacturers), is a variant on the two-stroke engine with two cylinders sharing a single combustion chamber.
There have been "single" (ie twin-bore) and "twin" (ie four bore) models and several important internal developments, the last of them being obvious externally too, with the carburettor (uniquely amongst motorcycles) moving to the front of the engine under the exhaust.
The split-single system sends the intake fuel-air mixture up one bore to the combustion chamber, sweeping the exhaust gases down the other bore and out of the exposed exhaust port. The split-single two-stroke thus delivers better economy than the common forms of two-stroke and runs better at small throttle openings, at the cost of a heavier engine.
In the 60 year history of this arrangement there were two important variants, earlier versions have a single, Y-shaped or V-shaped connecting rod and these look much like a regular single cylinder two-stroke engine with a single exhaust, a single carburettor in the usual place behind the cylinders and a single sparkplug. Racing versions of this design can be mistaken for a regular twin-cylinder, since they had two exhausts or two carburettors but these are actually connected to a single bore in an engine with a single combustion chamber. Some models, including those in mass-production, used two spark-plugs igniting one combustion chamber.
After World War II, more sophisticated internal mechanisms improved mechanical reliability and led to the carburettor being placed in front of the barrel, tucked under and to the side of the exhaust. This is the arrangement seen in the United States and marketed by Sears as the Twingle.
For modern vehicle taxation purposes the split-single suffers no penalty and offers no advantage, as only the swept volume is considered, not the number of cylinders or spark plugs. This remains true even if the two pistons are not the same size and have different strokes (mechanically possible, if rarely used). This simple calculation was not always the case (see Tax horsepower, as used in the UK and some European countries in the 1920s and 1930s).Lubrication weaknesses of the early "side-by-side" versions with the carburettor in the "normal" place behind the cylinder, were substantially the same as with all other two-strokes running on the same "petro-oil" mixture. However, they were greatly eased in the later ones, since the cool, lubricated mixture is delivered straight onto the hot (exhaust side) of the hotter, exhaust piston from the carburettor at the front of the engine under the exhaust.
Lubrication weaknesses of the early "side-by-side" versions with the carburettor in the "normal" place behind the cylinder, were substantially the same as with all other two-strokes running on the same "petro-oil" mixture. However, they were greatly eased in the later ones, since the cool, lubricated mixture is delivered straight onto the hot (exhaust side) of the hotter, exhaust piston from the carburettor at the front of the engine under the exhaust.