There were a few
water-cooled motorcycle engines in the veteran years, and a few with overhead valves. But
so far as I know, there was only one which combined these two features.
Based on the F.E. Baker - built Precision motor,
the Green Precision differs from most of its water-cooled brethren in that the radiators
are attached directly onto the sides of the water jacket. In a typical installation, an
additional water tank located up with the fuel tank keeps the radiators full, but does not
contribute to the cooling effort.
At right is a 21st century facsimile of the
color fold-out inside the cover of Volume 2 of Rankin Kennedy's The book of the Motor
Car, published c1913.
The motor shown is the 3 1/2 hp
(500 cc) version, but there was also a water-cooled 2 3/4 hp (350 cc),
based on the air-cooled motor in my Bullock. In fact the only
photo I have ever seen of a machine fitted with the 2 3/4 ohv Precision
motor is a lovely Regal-Green-Precision that features in one of the Keig Collection
volumes.
A few Green-Precision motorcycles came to
Australia, and it seems that Vivian Lewis Ltd in Adelaide built a
3 1/2 hp
Green-Precision-engined Lewis some time around 1914 |