Ky-ko hot air engines

"Dave Croft" wrote (snip):-

It could indeed be that simple!

Hi Nick, I have a lot of pictures of my two Ky-Ko Engines on my webshots page. See

have also posted Patents for the engines on the site. There is a picture of their advert in an army book posted also. About 20 years ago I wrote to the last MD of the firm & he told me that war work caused the demise of the fan & when he designed a new model in 1946 he found that our oriental cousins had grabbed the market. I have some further info if anyone has any questions. PS he said the name Ky-Ko "Sounded Right"!

But where did the odd name come from? If anything it sounds sort of Japanese, but I can't get anything which seems in the least bit relevant from any on-line dictionaries ...

Not being into Stirling engines, and as I understand these engines operate using the temperature differential between two separate points, the greater the difference the more energy produced, and thermodynamic equations are based on absolute temperature in degrees Kelvin, perhaps somewhere in the energy or efficiency calculation there may be a point denoted as "y" at temp K, hence Ky (heat in) minus the colder point "o"at ambient temp K , giving Ko......thus the name from part of a formula? Ky-Ko

Just a thought!

Regards, DJC

"Dave Carter" wrote

Interesting idea, though I'm not sure that the manufacturer thought that hard about the design! Just to further confuse the issue, I once saw a Ky-Ko fan identified as a product of "The Ice Stove Co. Hayes Middx." Another rather odd name.