cylinder head

In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head (often abbreviated to simply "head") sits above the cylinders and forms the roof of the combustion chamber. In sidevalve engines, the head is a simple sheet of metal; whereas in more modern overhead valve and overhead camshaft engines, the cylinder head is a more complicated block often containing inlet and exhaust passages, coolant passages, valves, camshafts, spark plugs and fuel injectors. Most straight engines have a single cylinder head shared by all of the cylinders and most V engines have two cylinder heads (one per bank of cylinders). Design A summary of engine designs is shown below, in chronological order for automobile usage. Sidevalve engines In a flathead (sidevalve) engine, all of the valvetrain components are contained within the block, therefore the head is usually a simple sheet of metal bolted to the top of the engine block. Sidevalve engines were once universal in automobiles but are now largely obsolete in automobiles, aside from small engines such as lawnmowers, weed trimmers and chainsaws.