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Ford and the Birth of the Model T

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45 points chmaynard | 1 comments | 28 Aug 25 23:52 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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userbinator ◴[01 Sep 25 03:09 UTC] No.45089086[source]▶
Ford could afford to purchase dedicated steel-stamping presses to churn out pressed-steel crankcases, which were cheaper and used less material than the cast iron employed by other manufacturers

Eventually it was even cheaper to not have a separate crankcase and just cast it with the rest of the engine block, as is now common practice (and has been for around a century).

replies(1): >>45089466 #
1. alricb ◴[01 Sep 25 04:28 UTC] No.45089466[source]▶
What was then called the "lower crankcase member", which was also the lower part of the transmission housing, we would refer to as an oilpan. The cranksshaft ran in bearings located between the cylinder blocks and the bearing caps, like on a modern engine. There was no separate crank case and cylinder block like you might find on, say a WWII aero V12.