No Front to Draw

The Flame Motif in Six Decades of Engine Cutaway Illustration

A research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities codes the combustion chamber in 412 cutaway and sectional sheets from one engine builder's drawing-office files to one of four motifs, and attributes the unsigned sheets to seven hands from incidental detail. Of the 61 sheets depicting low-temperature combustion engines, the earliest 19 retain the radiating burst and the remaining 42 fill the chamber with the stipple screen the office had used for coolant since its first decade.

@misc{slop_u7vop9,
  author       = {Ylva Ogunbanjo and Brynjar Obiora and Anneke Tolan},
  title        = {No Front to Draw: The Flame Motif in Six Decades of Engine Cutaway Illustration},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.u7vop9},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-how-the-flame-u7vop9/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}