Cyclone Power Technologies, Inc. (fka CYPW)

[Tom Swift]

Barrel or wobbler engines like this have been around a long time; GE built a prototype steam car back around 1900 with a similar engine. SAAB spent years back in the 60s and 70s developing a high tech steam car engine around such a design. The Air Force tested a number of such engines in the 20s and 30s due to the potential for reduced frontal area and drag. Any way you look at it, the concept is to basically apply pressure against an moving element that is resting on some kind of incline (or equivalent) and have it slide sideways like a watermelon seed between your thumb and forefinger. The mechanical advantage is all wrong for transferring power from the piston....which is why the design makes such a good compressor, the power transfer is in the opposite direction.