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Commer TS3

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Commer TS3
Manufacturer Commer
Configuration three-cylinder, six-piston opposed piston engine with rocker drive to a single crankshaft.
Displacement 3.261 litres (200 cu in)
Cylinder bore 3 ¼ inch (83 mm)
Piston stroke 4 inch (102 mm)
Fuel type Diesel
Oil system Wet sump
Cooling system Water-cooled
Power output 105 brake horsepower (78 kW) at 2,400 rpm
Torque output 270 lb.ft at 1,200 rpm

The Commer TS3[1] was a diesel engine fitted in Commer trucks built by the Rootes Group in the 1950s and 1960s. It was largely the product of Tilling-Stevens, but was developed by Rootes Group when they bought out Tilling-Stevens. The engine was the first diesel engine used by Rootes Group and was of unorthodox design.

It was unusual in being an opposed piston engine, an engine where each horizontal cylinder contains two pistons, one at each end, that move in opposition to each other.[2] Even more unusually, both sets of pistons drove only a single crankshaft; most opposed piston engines have a separate crankshaft at each end of the cylinder. The TS3 engine used a single crankshaft beneath the cylinders, each piston driving it through a connecting rod, a rocker bellcrank and a second connecting rod. The crankshaft had six crankpins and there were six rockers.[3]

The engine was a two-stroke, compression-ignition diesel engine with uniflow-ported cylinders.[3] Scavenging was performed by a Roots blower.[4] and was mounted on the front of the engine and driven by a long quill shaft from a chain drive at the rear of the engine. Although the engines gained a reputation for good performance, this quill shaft was somewhat prone to breaking if over-worked.

Rootes' intention for the engine was to produce a new range of Commer trucks with the modern "cab forward" design, which required an engine low enough to mount under the driver's cab rather than in front of it as previously. Eric W Coy, Rootes' Chief Engineer, was responsible for the development of the engine by a core team of only seven people, at the Humber plant at Stoke Aldermoor.[5][6] "TS" in the engine's name derives from its Tilling-Stevens, acquired by Rootes in 1950. From 1954 Rootes diesel production was moved to the Tilling-Stevens plant in Maidstone, Kent.[7]

Dimensions Edit

Data from [3]

General characteristics
  • Type: Three cylinders, opposed pistons. Uniflow ports.
  • Bore: 3 ¼ inch (83 mm)
  • Stroke: 4 inch (102 mm)
  • Displacement: 3.261 litres (200 cu in)
  • Power output: 105 brake horsepower (78 kW) at 2,400 rpm
  • torque: 270 lb.ft at 1,200 rpm</li>
  • BMEP: 105</li>

    Applications Edit

    Trucks Edit

    The TS3 was used in both the Commer and Karrier range of trucks. As the horizontal cylinders were lower than a vertical engine, the engine was mounted beneath the floor of the cab. The bonnet (hood) of the truck could be dispensed with, moving the windscreen and driver forward to give one of the first of the now common cab forward trucks.[5] The engine's distinctive exhaust bark was always apparent, leading to their popular name of "Knockers".

    Commer TS3 2 Stroke Taking Off on YouTube

    Buses Edit


    Variants Edit

    Rootes-Lister Edit

    Rootes Group, Commer's parent company, entered into a partnership with Lister to market the engines as industrial stationary engines through a joint company Rootes-Lister Ltd.[8] The venture was not a success for industrial engines, although some were sold as marine engines by Lister Blackstone Marine Ltd. Many of these marine engines survive today.

    Rootes Lister Blackstone (3-cylinder 2-stroke) TS3 engine in action. on YouTube

    Commer TS4 Edit

    The TS4 engine was an enlarged four-cylinder version of the TS3. It ran 1.2 million miles as a pre-production prototype. The project was cancelled after Chrysler bought Rootes in 1968.[9]

    Comparable engines Edit

    Sulzer ZG9 Edit

    There are very few similar engines. Opposed-piston diesel engines are rare enough at this size, the bellcrank arrangement was almost unheard of. Probably the only engine using a similar arrangement was the pre-war Sulzer ZG9.[10] This was an opposed-piston engine with a choice of two, three and four cylinders (2ZG9, 3ZG9, 4ZG9); the two-cylinder version developed 120 bhp. Its layout was very similar to the Commer engines, but it used a piston scavenge pump rather than a Roots blower. This was mounted vertically above one rocker, driven by another bellcrank from the main rockers. This engine is sometimes cited as an inspiration for the Commer design.[8]

    Data from [10]

    <h3>General characteristics

    • Type: Two cylinders, four opposed pistons.
    • Bore: 90 mm
    • Stroke: 120 mm
    • Power output: 120 brake horsepower (89 kW) at 1,500 rpm
  • BMEP: 84</li>

    See also Edit

    Early French cars, circa 1900, using opposed pistons driven from a single crankshaft by a long overhung yoke.
    An opposed-piston aircraft engine of the 1930s, using twin crankshafts.
    A much larger multi-bank engine, reducing the number of crankshafts by sharing them between cylinder banks.

    References Edit

    1. "Original brochure cover". “The Commer 'TS3' Diesel Engine. Precision built by the Rootes Group.”
    2. "The TS3". Retrieved on 2009-01-26. “The engine was a direct injection, high-speed diesel engine with three horizontal cylinders, each containing two pistons, facing head-to-head. Each cylinder had specially designed ports to control the inlet of air and outlet of the exhaust which are controlled by the pistons. The pistons that control the inlet ports are known as the air pistons (left-hand side of the engine), the others being the exhaust pistons.”
    3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chapman, C.W. (1956). Modern High-Speed Oil Engines, 2nd Vol II, Caxton, 46–47. 
    4. Roots is a different company to Rootes. The blower was actually made by Wade in Birmingham
    5. 5.0 5.1 "The TS3". Retrieved on 2009-01-26. “The TS3 was initially designed by Rootes Power Units Chief Engineer Eric W Coy (and under him, designers Bennett and Mileluski) at the Humber plant (Stoke-Aldermore) in 1948. It was designed solely to meet Rootes production planning requirements for an underfloor 105 hp diesel engine for the new forward- control Commer range of heavy trucks.”
    6. "Working inside Rootes".
    7. Brian Vogt. "Commer TS3 Truck and Engine at the Greenock Aviation Museum".
    8. 8.0 8.1 "Rootes-Lister TS3".
    9. "The TS4 Prototype". Retrieved on 2009-01-26. “All the 14 prototype TS4s were test bed run initially. Eight were then put in trucks for road evaluation before going into production, running up to 1.2 million miles between them, trouble free. They were then pulled out and scrapped on instructions from Chrysler to protect Chrysler’s joint venture in England with Cummins.”
    10. 10.0 10.1 Chapman, C.W. (1956). Modern High-Speed Oil Engines, 2nd Vol I, Caxton, 222–223. 

    External links Edit

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

    Partially exposed TS3 display in motion on YouTube

    Template:Commer range

    Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Commer TS3. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia

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