Rocker Arm

Generally referred to within the context of the internal combustion engine of automotive, marine, motorcycle and reciprocating aviation engines, the rocker arm is an oscillating lever that conveys radial movement from the cam lobe into linear movement at the poppet valve to open it. One end is raised and lowered by a rotating lobe of the camshaft (either directly or via a tappet (lifter) and pushrod) while the other end acts on the valve stem. When the camshaft lobe raises the outside of the arm, the inside presses down on the valve stem, opening the valve. When the outside of the arm is permitted to return due to the camshafts rotation, the inside rises, allowing the valve spring to close the valve.

The drive cam is driven by the camshaft. This pushes the rocker arm up and down about the trunnion pin or rocker shaft. Friction may be reduced at the point of contact with the valve stem by a roller cam follower. A similar arrangement transfers the motion via another roller cam follower to a second rocker arm. This rotates about the rocker shaft, and transfers the motion via a tappet to the poppet valve. In this case this opens the intake valve to the cylinder head.

The effective leverage of the arm (and thus the force it can exert on the valve stem) is determined by the rocker arm ratio, the ratio of the distance from the rocker arm's center of rotation to the tip divided by the distance from the center of rotation to the point acted on by the camshaft or pushrod. Current automotive design favors rocker arm ratios of about 1.5:1 to 1.8:1. However, in the past smaller positive ratios (the valve lift is greater than the cam lift) and even negative ratios (valve lift smaller than the cam lift) have been used. Many pre-WW2 engines use 1:1 (neutral) ratios.

For car engines the rocker arms are generally steel stampings, providing a reasonable balance of strength, weight and economical cost. Because the rocker arms are, in part, reciprocating weight, excessive mass especially at the lever ends limits the engine's ability to reach high operating speeds.