GB191322622A - Improvements in Internal Combustion Engines. - Google Patents

Abstract

22,622. Hill, F. B., and Best, W. G. Oct. 7. Jet-wheels; regulating; reversing; working- fluid supply. - Relates to internal - combustion engines of the type comprising one or more units each consisting of a pair of cylinders, partly filled with water, which are provided at their upper ends with admission and exhaust valves and ignition devices, and communicate with one another at their lower ends through a casing provided with a turbine from the shaft of which power is taken off. The principal feature of the invention is that the circuits of the ignition devices are made and broken by the rise and fall of the water in the cylinders, the water coming into direct contact with an insulated contact forming part of each ignition circuit. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1, the turbine casing 10 and cylinders 1, 1<1> are filled with water from a pipe 32 up to the level of the cocks 35, and at starting, combustible mixture is drawn into both cylinders by means of a suction pump connected to the pipe 24. Upon ignition of the mixture in, say, the cylinder 1<1> by the closing of a switch, the water is driven past the turbine 3 into the cylinder 1, compressing the charge therein. As soon as the water comes into contact with the igniting- device 21, a spark is produced at the plug 20 and ignition occurs in the cylinder 1, driving the water back through the turbine 3 to the cylinder 1'. The rush of water past the plate 15 opens the exhaust valve 13, but as soon as the water passes below the level of the plate, the exhaust valve closes under the action of the spring 16 and fresh combustible charge is sucked in through an admission valve (not shown). A fresh explosion then occurs in the cylinder 1<1>, and the action of the apparatus becomes continuous and automatic. A by-pass connecting the lower ends of the two cylinders may be opened to facilitate starting. In a modification. the turbine 3 may be mounted in a casing through which the water flows in one direction only, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, valves 45, 46 being fitted in the chambers 42, 41 beneath the cylinders 1, 1<1> to direct the flow in the proper direction. In this case, the by-pass valve 49 may be fitted between the chambers 41, 42 and may serve for regulating the volume of liquid flowing through the turbine as well as for starting. Reversal may be effected by a separate turbine wheel mounted in the shaft 4 and a valve for diverting the stream of liquid through it. The water may be cooled by means of a condenser through which a portion of the water may be diverted at every stroke. The exhaust valves may be operated electrically by means of electro-magnets inserted in circuits which are made and broken at the required times by the rise and fall of the water in the cylinders of the engine.