What happened to the Alley 04.09.15

 

In the photo below, you will see the trash containers placed on the street in front of the homes on our block. In years past, at least where I lived in Missouri, there were alley ways behind the houses. On trash day the trash cans were placed at the alley and the trash truck would come down the alley to pick up the trash. I think that was a good arrangement.

As one can see the trash containers are now placed in front of the homes, and that big old garbage truck is allowed to drive on our street.

When one considers the old alley way system there were some good and not so good points. A good point was that garages could be located on the alley which left more room for the yard.

A bad point of the alley was people could and did use the alley as walk ways, even though there were sidewalks in front of the homes. Walking in the alley meant one was not seen by the home owners. If one was going to steal or break into your home, they would likely come from the alley.

Also, in the olden days the trash cans were made of metal and were usually ugly.

As I sat outside this morning without the face mask on, pollen flying all around me, I was considering the difference between a gas fueled internal combustion engines and a diesel engine.

As we all know, gas fueled engines have spark plugs but most diesel engines do not.

The spark plug in the gas engine fires (sparks) which ignites the gas (fuel) causing a combustion which pushes the piston down. As I understand it, the spark in the gas engine occurs a degree or two before T D C, top dead center (that is before the piston reaches the top of the stroke). 

The diesel engine fires due to the compression of the fuel in the cylinder, without a spark.

My quandary is, are diesel engines noisy due to the early ignition of the compressed fuel and if so, how early does the combustion occur.

 

Another question would be, why are there 2 cycle and four cycle diesel engines?

Two cycle gas engines are usually small and the oil is mixed in and burnt with the gas but two cycle diesel engines do not have oil mixed with the fuel.

If you know the answers to my quandaries, please inform me.

 

 

Thanks

 

Don Ford