Throttle Plate Control

[Lfaustini at aol.com]

   Ok, silly question..   I read once, I don=92t remember where, that the=
re is
a limited range of A/F that can be ignited by a spark. This is not hard t=
o
believe. I think it was 12-1 on the rich side, and 16-1 on the lean side.=

That was for -spark- ignition. If, on the other hand, you were using a fl=
ame
to produce ignition you could ignite a mixture as lean as 24-1. The artic=
le
went on to talk of engines that used two different chambers in the head, =
one
to hold a rich "pocket" of fuel that was spark ignited, and the other cha=
mber
was used to isolate the induced (much larger amount) lean mixture. There =
was
a small passage between the chambers, for a =93jet=94 of flame to come ou=
t of.
The rich mixture would flame-ignite the lean mixture. I think it was call=
ed
"stratospheric" ignition. Anyway, my question is this.... Why didn=92t th=
is
engine melt down? I think Honda used to use this technique on their Civic=
=2E
Any ideas?

---- Lou