Early reed valve breather

Roger sent me this photo of his 57HP 500 racer with a 1970s style check valve breather which he's been using since 1990. He developed this setup independently on his own and says it reduced oil blowing into his catch tank to a minimum.

See it connected to the hose coming off the timing chest below.



This is similar to the reed valve breather I ran back in 1985 that had steel reeds arranged in a flower petal formation making it a one way EGR valve. But mine was connected to the bottom of a Mk2 case sump (not the timing chest). And it effectively pumped oil and mist directly into the oil tank.

I just found out that these EGR and air cleaner valves used to have steel reeds but they switched to rubber over the years.