The Knight Engine was an internal combustion engine, designed by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Charles Yale Knight (1868-1940), that used sleeve valve

Sleeve valve

The sleeve valve is a type of valve mechanism for piston engines, distinct from the usual poppet valve. Sleeve-valve engines saw use in a number of pre-World War II luxury cars and in USA in the Willys-Knight car and light truck...

s instead of the more common poppet valve

Poppet valve

A poppet valve is a valve consisting of a hole, usually round or oval, and a tapered plug, usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem. The shaft guides the plug portion by sliding through a valve guide...

 construction.
Born in Indiana in 1868, Knight was originally a printer and newspaper publisher, publishing a midwest farm journal called Dairy produce. To cover dairy activities during 1901-02, he bought an early Knox

Knox Automobile

The Knox Automobile Company was a manufacturer of automobiles in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States between 1900 and 1914. Knox also built trucks and farm tractors until 1924.-History:...

 automobile, a three-wheeler with an air-cooled, single-cylinder engine whose noisy valves annoyed him.