In numerous sources the Peugeot 1912/1914 system is (still) regarded desmodromic. The stirrup type camfollower system might have initiated a forced up- and down movement of the valve. But since there was not a fixed camfollower – valve connection, I always regarded the system as semi (part of the valve train) desmodromic. In Griffith Borgeson’s article “The signature of the artist : Debugging the Desmodromic Dichotomy and other historical fantasies”, published 1986 in “Automobile Quarterly”; Vol. 24 no. 3, we see on p. 320 a picture of the actual 1913 Peugeot valve gear as drawn by James Toensing.
J. T. was a member of the staff of the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum with this very Peugeot in their collection. On Mr. Borgesons demand, the museum staff dismantled the head of the Peugeot engine with the astonishing outcome: The engine actually proved to be non-desmodromic. See pics.
Source colour pic of car : Racing Cars and record breakers : 1898-1921 by T.R. Nicholson.
