This is my idea on how to make a flame licker more efficient and easier to get going...
burner by
aardvark_akubra, on Flickr
This is my idea for a burner, fuel is drawn up out of the stand pipe and blown across the pilot flame into the engine port, then the port closes and the air stops leaving just the pilot burning, hopefully!
The air will come from cylinder and piston operated by the engine and will be timed to blow on the intake stroke.
This is better because the fuel air mixture is blown right into the cylinder where it burns and when the cylinder is filled with burning fuel that is when the valve will close.
What happens in a 'regular' flame licker is the flame is drawn into the cylinder and the mere act of sucking it causes it to expand and so cool, also the flame, plasma, gas, starts to cool as soon as it enters the cylinder as combustion by that time is almost complete when we really dont want it to begin cooling until after the valve is closed. I think this is what makes some flame lickers so hard to get running in that by the time the valve closes most of the cooling has already occured and there is hardly any cooling (and contraction) left to provide the pressure difference that drives the engine, I suspect this being so critical is what makes some flame lickers refuse to run until the cyclinder has been warmed when logically we want the cylider a cool as possible to cool the hot gases. In my 'improved flame licker' much of the combustion will take place right inside the cylinder.
Of course the challenge will be getting enough improvement to provide power to drive the air pump cylinder!
![:scratch:](https://madmodder.net/Smileys/default/icon_scratch.gif)