Happy eccentricity ---

[bra]

Archie Butterworth, a name worthy of an old BBC comedy show, but in fact a brilliant engineer in the 40s and 50s.

Some guys just have to do it the hard way. Ian Richardson assembled and rode one of Archie's oddball experiments: a unique flat-four engine created by Butterworth's merging FOUR Manx Norton 500cc motors which were converted to overhead-cam design. The bike was heavy and plagued by fuel starvation, so sadly never reached its (straight-line) potential.
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Archie is the one with the smile, the beard, and a wee dram:

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But what a piece of work. Archi's career is in Wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Butterworth

[bra]

Post by bra
Archie Butterworth, a name worthy of an old BBC comedy show, but in fact a brilliant engineer in the 40s and 50s.
Some guys just have to do it the hard way.

Archie and one of his "flat-plane" cranks:
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[bra]

Post by bra
Archie Butterworth, a name worthy of an old BBC comedy show, but in fact a brilliant engineer in the 40s and 50s.

From MOTOR SPORT:
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/november-1984/44/archie-butterworth

[M2T]

Post by bra
Archie Butterworth, a name worthy of an old BBC comedy show, but in fact a brilliant engineer in the 40s and 50s.
Some guys just have to do it the hard way. Ian Richardson assembled and rode one of Archie's oddball experiments: a unique flat-four engine created by Butterworth's merging FOUR Manx Norton 500cc motors which were converted to overhead-cam design. The bike was heavy and plagued by fuel starvation, so sadly never reached its (straight-line) potential.
http://www.oldstox.com/images/moonrakerbike.jpg
https://www.elva.com/images/archiebutterworth.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_Butterworth

The Manx Norton was DOHC from 1937

[bra]

On Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 5:01:16 PM UTC-7, M2T wrote:
unique flat-four engine created by Butterworth's merging FOUR Manx Norton 500cc motors which were converted to overhead-cam design.

The Manx Norton was DOHC from 1937.

Thank you; I should have known that, and must have mis-read the account of the cylinder heads being redesigned on this 'special'.