MXPA99008006A - Earth block machine - Google Patents

Abstract

An earth block machine (10) including opposed compaction chambers (14) each receiving a reciprocal compacting member (16) to form solid building blocks by compacting soil (36). The compacting members (16) are reciprocated by a hydraulically actuated mechanical leverage system (20) connected to the compacting members (16) to produce a very high compaction force while employing a relatively low hydraulic pressure. Each compaction chamber (14) includes a vertically spaced and aligned inlet (32) and outlet (34) provided with a hydraulically powered openable and closable plate (38, 40) to enable inlet of a quantity of soil (36) into the compaction chamber (14) from a supply bin (12) and discharge of the formed earth block from the compaction chamber (14).

Description

EARTH BLOCK MACHINE DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a land block machine, which includes opposed compaction chambers each receiving a reciprocating compaction member to form solid building blocks by compacted earth. The compacted members are moved alternately by a hydraulically actuated coupling mechanism connected to the compaction members to produce a very high compaction force while employing a relatively low hydraulic pressure. Each compaction chamber includes a vertically spaced aligned and aligned inlet and outlet provided with a hydraulically driven opening and closing plate capable of admitting a quantity of soil in each compaction chamber from a supply tank and discharging the blocks of Earth formed from the compaction chambers. The block of earth or adobe building blocks are being used in the construction of several buildings for many years and continue to be an important building material. The . Original adobe block construction involves positioning a grout material in a mold and letting it dry and cure for a prolonged period of time. Over the years, several machines have been provided to compact earth into blocks of earth that can be stacked as walls and floors by any kind of structure without the use of mortar or other type of binder material to close the blocks together. Also, several types of presses have been developed to compress or compact various materials. The following North American patents describe various developments "in earth block machines and presses for various purposes: 1,864,769 2,524,683 3,225,409 2,265,771 2,537,920 4,153,404 2,388,679 3,142,105 4,579,706 A number of block machines have been patented and built since the 1930s. Few are still in The market One of the first ones has mobility but they were repeating the technologies of the time: the mixture of the material with water and the distillation of the same in shapes that have the size of block, in the majority, the blocks were dried by the sun ( see patents Nos. 1,864,769, 2,524,683 and 3,142,105.) One of the first machines to use a 1000 psi hydraulic press described in Patent No. 2,265,771.The mold is made of disassembled plates that make loading and unloading of the machine easier. The same inventor patented and developed machines to produce several molded blocks (Patent No. 2,388,679). These machines start using ordinary earth. The block machine described in the patent No. 3,225,409, uses a solid piston to compress the earth, tries to produce more blocks per cycle. A continuous supply of soil is described in Patent No. 4,153,404. The flow of earth is governed by the remaining plates that open at the same time. The block machine described in patent No. 4,579,706, also uses the direct force of a solid piston to compress earth supplied through a reservoir. To increase production, two molds are used, one on each side of one cylinder end. The rod, protruding from the ends of the cylinder, controls the compression blocks of each mold. The compression of the earth is done in sequence. All the solid piston machines described above use the solid piston directly on the ground to be compressed. For this reason, the hydraulic pressure in the solid pistons is very high. This results in replication problems. The above patents describe various types of presses including machines for making earthen blocks or blocks of adobe that include solid pistons that are driven directly by a piston rod aligned with a pressure cylinder operated with the piston solid being reciprocally received in a compaction chamber or mold. Such direct application of force by the operated pressure cylinder requires extremely high fluid pressure to obtain adequate compaction or compression force in the solid piston. The prior art does not disclose an accommodation in which opposed solid pistons are actuated by pressure-driven fluid coupling mechanisms having a single force increasing the relationship with the solid pistons and an assembly applying hydraulically driven force to the coupling mechanism. This invention is a mobile energy saving machine that allows the production of high volume of compressed earth in blocks of earth that can allow the construction of the truly economic housing. This invention, uses site soil to produce the blocks, not only saves energy in the production process but also in all the related uses of the blocks. This invention eliminates the need for the construction of a factory, the truck load of the blocks, the transportation of the construction site and the unloading of all the blocks from which it contributes heavily to the reduction of energy. This invention will produce blocks that do not require mortar or any other type of binder to close the blocks together. This invention addresses the need for low housing costs worldwide, emergency military barracks and other low-cost structures. This invention requires less energy to produce your product than any other form of block technology and provides the fastest and least expensive type of construction. Building materials such as wood, which in developed countries require forest destruction, adversely impact the environment and require immense amounts of energy for reforestation. This invention will produce blocks with a potential life span that equals or exceeds all existing construction materials, is 100% recyclable, and has less impact on the environment than any other type of construction material extracted from the earth. One advantage of this earth block machine over other earth compaction machines in the market is its ability to achieve high compaction with low hydraulic psi. Current machines require hydraulic pressure of 4000 to 5000 psi to direct their tamping systems that causes constant failure within the hydraulic mechanism. In contrast, this hydraulic system of the invention will operate at 750 psi. This low hydraulic pressure will in turn direct an action tamping system that will compress the blocks at approximately 3000 psi. The action tamping system contrasts with the direct hydraulic power used by current machines to direct the tamping system. This invention, for the use of an action system, is not impacted by the enduring stress experienced by the other block machines that use direct hydraulic tamping. The current block machines in the market produce between 300 to 400, 12"X 10" X 4", blocks per hour.This invention will produce 1200 or more 12" X 10"X 4", blocks per hour achieving a resistance compressive as high or higher than those other machines. The positive energy impact of this invention is twofold. First, the production of blocks to be manufactured by this invention will use less energy than current block machines. Second, this invention has a dual tamping system that uses the same amount of energy as the simple tamping system of other machines, while the triple production of the other machines therefore reduces the energy to produce a block by 66%. In addition to this double energy economy in the manufacturing process, there are substantial savings from the removal of block transportation from the manufacturing source to the construction site. Many suitable areas for long scale, low cost, housing projects and areas where emergency military barracks are necessary, there are long distances from a source of manufacturing. These sometimes require transportation of high volumes of hundreds of thousands of construction materials. This invention eliminates this need to transport blocks, resulting in greater energy savings. An additional source of energy savings should be the exceptional insulation qualities provided by the earth blocks. The adobe building blocks have been used in construction for thousands of years. Throughout North America, Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world, adobe blocks continue to be an important building material. The invention takes the ancient adobe method of making blocks for a state of art technology. The invention eliminates the weeks and months of the treated time required by conventional adobe blocks. As quickly as the invention produces blocks, the blocks can be stacked as walls and floors by any kind of structure. The block manufacturing plants are usually located in places where the raw material is abundant and easily obtainable. The blocks are then transported to the place of use, in many hundreds of thousands of cases. This invention eliminates the cost of transportation, so that huge amounts of fuel savings for the manufacture of blocks in the place of use. Thus, each construction site becomes an instant block factory. There are several block machines on the market that produce blocks at the place of use. However, these machines have severe problems caused by the constant high pressure of the fluid used in their hydraulic system. In addition, the failures caused by the release of high pressure during your work cycle is very deadly. These unfavorable effects reduce the effective working time of the machines above 60%. The average pressure used by these machines is 5000 psi. The machine of this invention uses a pressure of only 750 psi and compresses the earth at a higher pressure. This is made possible through the use of a mechanical force system driven by a low pressure hydraulic system. This machine compresses earth above 3000 psi and in this way obtains a solid block that is better than the blocks obtained with the traditional method. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a ground block machine using opposed compaction chambers or opposed compaction molds and members or solid reciprocating pistons relative to the compacting chambers with a hydraulically actuated power mechanism connected to the compaction members by means of a mechanical action system that allows an extremely high compaction or compression pressure to be exerted on the earth in the compaction chambers while using a reduced hydraulic pressure. Another object of the invention is to provide a ground block machine according to the preceding object wherein the hydraulic mechanism includes a pair of opposed hydraulic cylinder and piston assemblies generally aligned with the piston of each of the assemblies being connected to a pair of couplings that move the opposed compaction members in a reciprocal manner relative to the compaction chambers. A further object of the invention is to provide a ground block machine according to the preceding objects in which each of the compacting chambers includes a vertically spaced inlet opening and exit opening in which the internal openings are interconnected with a supply tank for earth to be compressed in a solid building block. Still another object of the invention is to provide a ground block machine according to the preceding objects wherein the internal and external openings and locks by sliding plates driven by hydraulically driven cylinder and piston assemblies operated independently of the piston assemblies and of cylinder alternate compaction members. Another significant object of this invention is to provide a ground block machine that is hydraulically operated to compress earth at a very high pressure until the earth becomes a solid building block with the earth to be compressed being supplied from a reservoir supply in a pair of opposed, aligned and spaced compaction chambers each of which receives a reciprocating compaction member with the compaction members being in opposite aligned relation and connected to a pair of couplings at their proximal ends with the converging couplings and connected pivotally to the piston of one of a pair of hydraulically operated opposed cylinder and piston assemblies, whereby the couplings will move from a position in angular relation to one another to a position substantially in alignment with one another to move the compaction members in a reciprocal manner with the pivotal movement of the couplings that provide a force increased to the compaction members when they move from an acute angular convergent relationship to a substantially aligned relation.

This, together with other objects and advantages that will become apparent subsequently, resides in the details of construction and operation as more fully in the following will be described and claimed, the reference to the drawings that accompany it form a part of it, in where similar to the reference numbers as to all parties. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the ground block machine of the present invention illustrating the relationship of the components of the machine. Figure 2 is a top plan view of the machine with the supply tank removed illustrating the structural details of the components. Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view similar to Figure 1 with the supply reservoir and piston and cylinder assemblies that actuate the couplings being removed and the solid pistons in the extended position. Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view on an elongated scale of a side wall of the compaction chamber and the plates closed by the inlet and the outlet. Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view in an elongated scale, the elongated section line 5-5 illustrates additional structural details of the hydraulically operated mechanism for moving the compaction members and actuating the closed plates by the inlet and outlet of the chambers of compaction. In description to the preferred embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in the drawings, the specific terminology will be appealed for the purpose of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiment illustrated and the terms thus selected; It is understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents that operate in a similar way to achieve a similar purpose. With specific reference to the drawings, the ground block machine of the present invention is generally designated by reference numerals 10 and includes a vertically disposed supply reservoir 12 that receives an amount of earth to be compressed into solid earth blocks. to be used as building blocks in construction of any suitable type of building, accommodation or the like. The earth block machine includes a pair of opposed, horizdntally disposed, compaction chambers generally designated by the reference numeral 14 each of which reciprocally receives a compacting member or solid piston generally designated by the reference numeral 16 which is moved alternatively by a hydraulically driven assembly generally designated by the reference numeral 18 with a mechanical action system generally designated by the number 20 interconnecting the hydraulically driven assembly 18 and the compaction members 16. The supply reservoir 12 includes a peripheral wall 22 oriented vertically and includes an inverted V-shaped central damper 24 which combines with the generally rectangular peripheral wall 22 to define a pair of vertically disposed, horizontally spaced land discharge areas 26. Each of the compacting chambers 14 includes a pair of parallel side walls 28 vertically oriented and extending horizontally in parallel relation spaced apart from one another as illustrated in Figure 2. The side walls 28 are interconnected by an outer wall 30. perpendicular to the side walls 28 and fixed rigidly thereto as illustrated in Figures 1-3. The upper part of the compacting chamber 14 includes an inlet opening 32 and the bottom of the compacting chamber 14 includes an outlet opening 3. The openings 32 and 34 are aligned vertically with the inlet opening 32 being in communication with the discharge area 26 to supply earth 36 to be compressed in the compacting chamber 14 in this way that the compaction member 16 can compact the earth into a solid block that can be discharged from the outlet 34 afterwards this has to be compressed. The vertical orientation of the inlet and outlet allows the gravity flow of soil in the compaction chamber 14 and the gravity discharge of the blocks from the outlet 34 of the compaction chamber in a conveyor or other structure to collect the blocks for the use. The upper part of the compaction chamber is closed by a sliding plate 38 and the outer 34 is closed by a sliding plate 40 which are received horizontally in and guided by notches 42 in the side plates 28 with the distal end of the plates being received in the notches 50 in the outer wall 30 as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3. Each of the compacting members or solid pistons 16 includes a piston or solid piston 52 slidable in the compaction chamber between the side plates 28 and between the closed plates 38 and 40 as illustrated in Figures 1-4. The piston 52 is connected to an elongate rod or bar 54 extending longitudinally from the structure defining the compacting chambers 14 and centrally between the longitudinal frame members 44 which interconnect the compacting chambers 14 and support the reservoir 12. The rods 54 are connected to the respective pistons 52 by a transverse pin or bolt 56. The end of the rod 54 remote from the piston 52 is provided with a pair of opposite lugs or clamps 58 rigid with the same, with the clamps extended vertically from the top and bottom of the rod 54 as illustrated in Figure 1. The clamps 58 are associated with the action system 20 in a reciprocal shape to the piston 52 in activation of the hydraulic assembly 18. Action system 20 is oriented symmetrically before and below the longitudinal center of the machine for ground block in generally vertical alignment. Each action system includes a pair of couplings 60 and 62. Each of the couplings 60 and 62 has a bifurcated end 63 pivotally connected to the clamps or lugs 58 by a pivot pin 64. The ends of the remote couplings 60 and 62 from the lugs 58 are placed in overlapping relation to each other and are connected to a piston rod 66 extending from a hydraulic cylinder 68 via a pivot pin 70. The hydraulic assembly illustrated includes a pair of hydraulically driven pistons. and cylinders oriented in perpendicular relation generally transverse to the longitudinal axis of the compaction chambers 14 and the compaction members 16. As the piston rods 66 are extended and retracted, the couplings 60 and 62 of each force system * 20 will be moved from an externally convergent arcuate angular relationship as illustrated in Figure 1 in a gene aligned relationship As illustrated in Figure 3, it causes the solid piston or piston 52 to move outwardly toward the outer wall 30 of the compaction chamber 14 compresses the earth 36 as illustrated in Figure 1 on a block of earth solid 72 as illustrated in Figure 3. Each of the rods or compression rods 54 connected to the solid pistons or pistons 52 has its inner end guided by a pair of opposed guided surfaces 74 supported from the frame 44 coupled by rollers 76 articulated at the end of a rigid shaft or arrow 56 with the rod or rod 54. The rollers 76 coupled to the guide surfaces 74 guide and stabilize the end of the remote rod 54 from the piston 52 during its reciprocating movement between the positions illustrated in FIG. Figure 1 and 3, in this way stabilize the longitudinal movement of the bar 54 and maintain the piston 52 in proper alignment with the side walls 28 and plates 38 and 40 by the relative sliding movement of the pistons 52 in the compaction chamber 14.

The hydraulic cylinders 68 are supported by the pivotal movement by journals 78 that extend outwardly and are articulated at sockets 80 in a side frame structure 46 extending from the frame 44 that allows the piston and cylinder assemblies to slide or slide. pivot slidably when the amount of soil 36 in one of the compacting chambers or molds 14 is greater than in the others, in this way it allows the earth in the opposite compaction chambers to be equally compressed and allows the piston and cylinder compensate for the different volumes of earth in the compaction chambers. When it is desired to adjust the spacing of the piston 52 relative to the outer wall 30, an adjustable retainer 82 is provided to adjust the effective length of the extension of the piston rod 66 when the pressure is supplied to the piston and the cylinder assembly. The upper plate 38 in each of the compacting chambers 14, has its inner end connected to a piston rod 84. The piston rods 84 extend in a hydraulic cylinder 86 with a piston at the inner end of each of the piston rods. piston rods in a conventional manner such that when pressure is applied or reduced from the cylinder 86, the plates 38 will be moved simultaneously to the outside of the closed position or to the inside of an open position being moved inwardly towards each other. Also, the bottom plates 40 closing the outlet 34 are connected to the piston rods 88 which are received in a cylinder 90 with the pistons in the cylinder 90 being extended or retracted when the hydraulic pressure is supplied to or reduced from the cylinder 90. in a well-known way. This structure allows the closed plates 38 and 40 to be operated in an open manner to the upper plates 38 after the compacted blocks have been discharged and the bottom plates 40 closed. This will admit the soil 36 in the compaction chambers after the upper plates 38 are closed and the solid pistons or pistons 52 are moved outwardly to compress and compact the block 72. After the compaction, the bottom plates 40 are retracted to along with the solid piston or piston 52 such that the compacted blocks 72 will be unloaded by gravity on a conveyor to move the finished block to a position for use or storage. The bottom plates 40 are then closed and the top plates 38 open while the piston 52 remains retracted so that the earth can fill the compaction chamber by gravity after? that the upper plates 38 are closed and the pistons 52 extended and moved towards the outer plates 30 by the compaction of the blocks. In this machine that is operated hydraulically, the earth will be compressed at a very high pressure until it becomes a solid block. The machine is symmetrical excluding the reservoir 12, with respect to the common axes of the vertically oriented cylinders 68 and approximately the longitudinal axes of the compaction chambers 14 and the path of movement of the compaction members 16. In Figure 1, the The ground block forming the machine is at the beginning of the cycle with the cylinder 86 that retracts the plates 38, in such a way that it allows the earth in the tank to fall on the bottom plates 40 that are in the closed position. When the compaction chamber or mold is filled with earth, the upper plates 38 are returned to their closed position and the piston rods 66 are moved towards each other with the pins 70 also moving towards each other. The ends of the couplings 60 and 62 connected to the lugs 58 are moved away from each other in a horizontal direction with the pistons 52, thus being moved externally by the piston rods or bars 54. The illustration in Figure 3 shows the final position of the components when the earth "has been compacted into earth blocks 72. After the earth blocks have been compressed, the plates 40 and the solid pistons or pistons 52 are retracted after a short delay time and since the plates 40 are completely retracted, the blocks fall on a conveyor and are removed. It is considered as difficult to have the exact same amount of soil in each of the compaction chambers or molds and to exert the same exact hydraulic pressure in each of the vertical cylinders, the vertical cylinders 68 are stumps mounted on the pin 78. This allows that the cylinders 68 oscillate and the pins 70 move horizontally arched to compensate for the different volumes of the earth in the compaction chambers depending on the amount of the earth. It also depends on the amount of the earth, the distance of the piston 52 and its adjacency to the end plate 30 of the compaction chamber that can be changed by the use of adjustable detents 82, which regulate the reaction of the piston rod of the hydraulic cylinders verticals 68. When the piston rods 66 of the hydraulic cylinders 68 achieve their maximum extension, the position of the couplings 60, 62 is almost horizontal, approximately 5o from the horizontal alignment as illustrated in Figure 3. The force P of the Hydraulic cylinders have two equal components: T is transmitted to the piston rods or rods 54 by means of the pins 64. The horizontal component of the force component T and H. H compresses the earth into the mold. Note that the force compressing the earth in the compaction chamber 14 is 2H. The vertical component of the force component T is V acting on the pin 64 of the upper couplings is abbreviated by the vertical component V of the force component T acting on the lower couplings. The movement of the piston rod or rod 54 is restricted along a horizontal axis by the guide rollers 76. V = T • sena where a is an angle formed by the coupling with the horizontal. Also P / 2 = H • tana When forming a block 12"X10" X4"or brick, the required force 2H produces a pressure of 3000 psi, it is 144,000 Ibs, therefore, H is 72,000 lbs P = 2 • 72,000 • tana = 144,000 tan 5o = 12,598 lb. A 6"diameter hydraulic cylinder has a cross sectional area of: 28.26 inches. The pressure to generate the previous lis: P = 12.598 / 18.26 = 446 psi A hydraulic cylinder with a diameter of 5"has a cross sectional area of 19.625 inches2, and P = 12.598 / 19.625 = 692 psi A hydraulic cylinder with a diameter of 4" it has a cross-sectional area of 12.56 inches2, and P = 12.598 / 12.56 = 1002.3 psi. Theoretically there is no vertical force in the piston rod or rod 54, which makes its movement easy. The size of the selected hydraulic cylinder is of a diameter of 5"Since a hydraulic fluid pressure of 750 psi is used, the required lis easily obtained.The machine is perfectly symmetrical with respect to hydraulic cylinder shafts and includes a Left side mold and a right side mold The earth enters the mold or earth chambers by gravity through the discharge areas 26 in the tank 12. The compression is made by the solid pistons or pistons 52, which are connected to the compression rods 54. When the hydraulic cylinders 68 extended, the piston rods 66 and the coupling ends 63 move outwardly in opposite directions, the two earths compress solid pistons or pistons 52 moving in the same direction. compressed up to 3000 psi and becomes solid as solid pistons or pistons 52 that reach the end of their travel. 72, the bottom plates 40 are slid on the inside, allowing the block to fall on a conveyor belt (not shown). The pistons 52 move inside at the same time. When the lower plates 40 close the outlet and the hydraulic cylinders 86 and the piston rods 84 are retracted and the upper plates 38 are retracted inside, leaving an opening for the earth to fall on the lower plates 40, the position of the upper plate controls the amount of earth needed to form the right size block. The compression rod 54 is guided in its movement by two opposite guide surfaces 74 and two rollers 76. The high compression load on the ground is reached when the couplers 60 and 62 reach a nearly horizontal position as shown in Figure 3. The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. In addition, since numerous modifications and charges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, this does not wish to limit the invention for the exact construction and operation shown in the description and, consequently, all suitable and equivalent modifications may be resorted to fall within the scope of the invention. scope of the invention.

Claims (9)

1. CLAIMS 1. A ground block machine comprises a pair of opposite aligned molds oriented in spaced relation, each of the molds having an internal open end and an external closed end, the compaction members reciprocally mounted in molds, each of the Molds includes an inlet for ground and an outlet for a block of compressed earth, the inlet and outlet being in spaced relation vertically aligned by ground gravity flow in the mold and gravity discharge of compressed earth blocks, an open closure through the inlet, an open closure through the outlet, a mechanical structure generally oriented between the molds, the mechanical structure being connected to each of the compaction members through the internal open end by a force that increases the action system providing strength of campaigning to compaction members.
2. 2. The ground block machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the action system connected to each of the compaction members includes a pair of divergent couplings having proximal ends connected to the mechanical structure, the couplings have their distal ends spaced apart and pivotally connected to the compaction members, the mechanical structure moves the proximal ends of the couplings to a position aligned with the distal ends when the mechanical structure exerts force on the couplings to move the compaction members toward the closed ends of the molds to compact the earth in the compressed blocks.
3. 3. The ground block machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the mechanical structure includes a pair of fluid pressure operated pistons and cylinder assemblies oriented in generally opposite aligned relation, each of the pistons and cylinder assemblies. they have a piston rod pivotally connected to the proximal end of a pair of diverging couplings with an extension and retraction of the piston rods causing alternating movement of the compaction members. .
4. The ground block machine according to claim 3, characterized in that each of the operated pressure pistons and cylinder assemblies are operated by hydraulic pressure.
5. 5. The machine for ground block according to claim 1, characterized in that the locks capable of being opened by the entrance and exit of each of the molds is a reciprocally sliding plate, the plates being moved between the open and closed position by linear movement generally parallel to the movement of the compaction members.
6. The machine for ground block according to claim 5, characterized in that the plates are connected to a piston and to a cylinder by the movement between the open and closed positions.
7. The machine for ground block according to claim 3, characterized in that the piston and cylinder assemblies are aligned and mounted by pivotal movement about a transverse axis of the piston and cylindrical assemblies to allow an arched movement of the connection between the rod. and the piston coupling.
8. 8. The machine for ground block according to claim 3, characterized in that the locks capable of being opened by the entrance and exit of each of the molds is a reciprocally sliding plate, the plates being movable between the open and closed position by the linear movement generally parallel to the movement of the compaction members.
9. 9. A machine for compressing a compressible material comprising a supply of compressible material, a compacting chamber receiving compressible material from the supply, the compacting chamber includes an inlet and outlet capable of opening or closing to introduce compressible material into the chamber of compaction and discharge of the compressed material from the compacting chamber, a reciprocating solid piston mounted in the compacting chamber by the compression compressible material in the compacting chamber, a reciprocal driven member connected to the solid piston, a force mechanism connected to the force member, a pressure fluid driven piston and an assembled cylinder connected to the force mechanism, the piston and cylinder assembly including a reciprocating piston, the mechanism of action includes a coupling pivotally connected to the actuator member and the piston, the coupling being moved between a position in arcuate angular relation to the trajectory of movement of the driven member and a position substantially in alignment with the driven member when the piston is reciprocal to exert a force that increases compression in the solid piston as the coupling near alignment with the driven member.