RICARDO PRINCIPLE

An arrangement in which a portion of the combustion chamber came in very close contact with the piston head . The other portion, off to one side, contained more space. As the piston neared TDC on the compression stroke , the fuel mixture was squeezed tightly between the piston and head thus causing the mixture to squirt outward into the larger area in a very turbulent manner. This produced a superior mixture and allowed compression ratios to be raised without detonation .