Arden Super Atom
| Name | Super Atom | Designer | Ray Arden |
| Type | Gas Ignition | Capacity | 0.098 cuin |
| Production run | large | Country of Origin | USA |
| Photo by | Ron C | Year of manufacture | 1939..41 (++) |
Notes:
This little engine is considered by some to be one of the ten finest ignition engines ever made. Its design was commissioned in 1939 by the Polk Brothers (then and for years to come, one of the bigest names in model aviation supplies and promotion) and executed by Ray Arden (who would later father the glow plug). Manufactured by "Microdyne Engines" NY, the engine was unusual for it's small size at the time of its inception. A patent application for the design (#115,974) was lodged on May 13, 1939. The original "Mighty Atom" contained several innovative features such as: front rotary intake from a fixed fuel jet combined with a variable air supply; bypass via a piston valve; ball and socket little end, and the nicest snap-action timer you've ever seen. All this at a weight equal to the coil it would need to run it!
Details of the engine, it's history and variants have appeared in Engine Collectors Journal Issue 84, Volume 15, Number 6 (with additional info in issue #83). But there is more to tell and a definitive article for ECJ is being prepared by Roger Schroeder for publication in 2003. Roger has uncovered an Atom based scam in the US, and how some of the fruits of that operation made their way to the UK in the form of original, magnesium castings.
Aeromodeller of June 1994 carried an article by Ron Prentice describing his adventures building a Super Atom from castings and plans he obtained from Kieth Harris of SAM35 in the UK. This was only the second engine he had made and he reported that his reproduction ran well. This effort is all the more creditible when we consider the difficulty he, as a relative beginner and self-taught machinist, must have encountered with the work-holding problems posed by the castings. Ken Croft also acquired three sets of castings and has been making slow progress over the years, saying:
I started on three Atoms. I machined all the mag parts, and that was a pain. There is no excess metal and no way to hold the parts easily. You end up making pot chucks to hold the head and the rear cover. I then made press tooling to press out the tank tops, and the tank top covers. I made the fuel/air barrels and arms and the fuel jets with theoir .006" dameter hole. Then I got fed up and put the project away. I will finish it one day, but I absolutely detest any repetition. See pictures. And that really is the tooling, with a spare throttle barrel, tank top and tank top cover also included in the picture if you can spot them.
