Revolutionary Engine

A new and revolutionary internal combustion engine has been invented by a Dartmouth lawyer. Robert E. Park '31 of Trenton, Tenn., has recently applied to the U.S. Patent Office for full patent coverage on a fuel-conserving engine, which converts into additional energy the heat normally produced by combustion and lost. Mr. Park for years has believed that in the engineering of locomotive engines, whether steam, gasoline or diesel, valuable heat which is produced under a boiler or in a cylinder is thrown away into the atmosphere. In his new invention, this heat is utilized as energy.

The saving on fuel can, Park claims, be enormous. With his new-type engine installed in an ordinary automobile, for instance, 85 to 130 miles of travel could be obtained from one gallon of gas. The engine is rotary, with a double fuel feed and an ingenious arrangement of valves, blocks and pistons working in a full circle. Mr. Park is confident that his invention not only will be workable, but that with the same horsepower, it will work with the thermodynamic efficiency of 79 per cent, as compared to the 18 to 31 per cent existing in present-day engines.

Married to the former Martha Jones, Park is the father of a boy and a girl. In addition to being an inventor as well as a lawyer, he has the national rating of Master from the American Contract Bridge League.