Caterpillar D6 pony motor 2023 09

Many years ago, humans couldn't make electric starters with enough torque to turn a large diesel engine. The pony motor was invented. A small gasoline engine was started by the diesel engine user. A clutch was engaged to get the diesel spinning. It's sort of like having a lawnmower engine perform the role of a starter.

 

Once, I was in a communist country. The locals had a tractor with a four cylinder engine. It had a similar but smaller injection pump like this. One of the injection lines was cracked. The diesel had an obvious miss. "Aren't you going to fix this?" I asked, pointing at the cracked injector line with diesel fuel spraying all over the place. "It belongs to the state," was the reply. All the women were doing manual labor and all the men were driving the power equipment.

 

This is a two cylinder pony motor with the diesel's (6-cylinder) injection pump above it.

 

The birth of an idea is the happy moment in which everything appears possible and reality has not yet entered into the problem.

— Rudolph Diesel

 

Journalism grade image.

 

Source: 2,800x4,200 pixel 16-bit TIF file.

 

Do not copy this image for any purpose.

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