US1147811A - Igniting device for internal-combustion engines. - Google Patents

Description

J. G. NEWMAN.

IGNITING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I6. I912.

Patented July 27; 1915.

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JOHN GLEN NEWMAN, or MILSONS POINT, NEAR SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES,

AUSTRALIA.

IGNITING DEVICE FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Application filed December 16, 1912.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J OHN GLEN NEW- MAN, subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 7 North Cliff street, Milsons Point, near Sydney, in the State of New South Wales, Australia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Igniting Devices for lnternalsCombustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention'relates to igniting devices for internal combustion engines, in which devices a spark is struck by the frictional contact of an abrading surface with a body of pyrophoric material. In known forms of these igniting devices the pyrophoric material whether in the form of a disk or a pencil has relatively small bulk and consequently a limited term of life in use and when it is worn away it is necessary'to disassemble the device for the purpose of recharging it with a fresh pencil or disk. Stoppage of the engine is therefore obligatory, and more or less inconvenience is caused by such stopp g 7 My present invention consists in an improved form'of striker of the type men tioned in which the pyrophoric material is used in the form of pencils and a number of such pencils are carried in a rotatable head forming a' magazine. Each of said pencils successively is brought into alinement with a disk of abradant material to which timed intermittent motion is applied from the engine and itis thus rendered unnecessary to open the'device for recharging purposes until the whole magazine has been exhausted. The disk of abradant material is acted upon by a reciprocating device operated by the half time or cam shaft of the engine, so thatthe disk is rapidly turned a portion of a rotation at each firing interval. The direction of rotation is uniform and it has been found in practice that an oscillating contact of the abradant with the pyrophoric material produces less effective sparks than a progressive partial rotation of an abradant'disk at proper intervals. The abradant disk may. consist of hard. steel finely serrated on the face, or of a very hard carborundum or emery or material having like abradant qualities. In the latter case, when the disk is made of sufiiciently hard material, it does not wear inoperation and an abradant dust is therefore not produced Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915. Serial No. 736,913.

from it. The dust given ofl' by the well known cerium-iron and like pyrophoric compounds is extremely small in quantity and is not of a character liable to produce destructive effects in an engine and it is therefore desirable that the pyrophoric material used whether cerium-iron or other material or composition shall be of a kind which does not produce an objectionable dust or grit when frictionally struck or excited.

The form of the magazine is subject to some variation within the principle of the invention, which is characterized by the combination with an abrading disk and means for rotating it at proper firing time intervals, of a magazine holder containing a plurality of pencils of pyrophoric material which may be brought into alinement with said disks successively by rotating the holder in situ whereby when any one of the pencils is exhausted by wear, another one may be immediately substituted for it without disassembling the parts of the igniter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are sectional elevations, Fig. 3 semi diagrammatic view illustrating the mechanism for rotating the abradant disk at each firing position, Fig. 4: detail of the timing cam, Fig. 5 top plan corresponding with Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 detail sectional elevation showing the construction of the carriers in which the pyrophoric pencils are contained within the holder tubes.

1 is the neck of the fitting which is adapted to be screwed into the ordinary sparking plug aperture in the cylinder of an engine.

2 is a shoulder piece which forms a hearing for the spindle .33, on the inner end of which a disk 4: of abradant material is mounted. A rocking arm 11 having a nave piece 5 is fitted rotatablv on the outer end of the shoulder 2 concentric with the spindle 33. The rear end 6 of this rocking piece 11 carries a pawl? on a pin 8, and a light spring 9 the fixed end of which is mounted in a. hole 12 in the part 11 bears on the back of the pawl 7 and keeps same in contact with the detents on the edge of the wheel 10.

half time shaft 18 of the engine, and a helical feather way or key 36 on said shaft coactswith the complementary part on the collar 19, so that when the collar 19 is moved lengthwise of the shaft 18 it is also turned relatively to said shaft. The endwise movement of the collar 19 is effected by means of a fork, not shown, which engages the collar groove 22. A spring 1 1 is provided to hang up the outboard end of the rocking piece 11 to any fixed part 15 of the engine structure. In the upper part of the device is a circular case 35 in which the magazine carrier 24: is mounted, a gland collar 23 serving to lock said magazine 24: in the part 35 but so that it may be rotated therein. The magazine as shown carries six tubular holders 30. There may be two or any greater number of holders such as 30 but six will be found a convenient number in practical use. The part 35 is arranged eccentrically to the top edge of the disk 1, so that the pyrophoric pencils 26 will come into alinement with the top of said disk 4, each successively, as the magazine is revolved. Any suitable device may be provided for locking the magazine in any set position, and a pointer such as 3 1, Fig. 5, may be provided to indicate when one of the pyrophoric pencils is located immediately above the abrading disk 1. The floor of the chamber 35 is slotted through immediately above the disk 1 and its floor is tapered off to come flush with the top of said disk, as best shown in Fig. 1, so as to facilitate the movement of the pencils 26 around the chamber when the magazine 24 is rotated.

3 is an inspection plug through which the disk 4 may be replaced if necessary.

The holders 30 are screwed down onto the nipples 31. They carry helical springs 29 in compression which act on the heads 28 of the push pins 27 The lower ends of these push pins are made globular and the collars 37 are crimped about the globular ends as shown at 32. The pyrophoric pencils 26 should be sheathed in a very thin casing of brass or copper which may be conveniently applied by electro plating. It is most desirable to protect their lateral surfaces from exposure to the hot gases by this cover or by a cover of some metallic paint which will not be affected by the hot gases.

It will be obvious that the construction of the reciprocating mechanism shown in Fig. 3 is not material to the essential part of the invention. Any equivalent means may be used so long as the same operate to move the disk i rapidly, always in one direction, through a certain angle of movement at the proper time. period in the movement of the engine piston. V

Heretofore in devices of the kind described the abradant surface used to act on the pyrophoric material Was a surface of l on the face.

steel or hard metal serrated or roughened Ihave found that much better sparking effect is obtained when a surface of an artificial stone such as emery or carborundum is used, provided that said stone is so hard that it will notchip or fret away in work and thus produce a dust which would have an objectionable effect in the engine. Hard carborundum or emery working in contact with pyrophoric metal of the cerium-iron type does not wear or fret or produce an abradant dust, and the very small quantity of dust produced from the pyrophoric material has been found to have no injurious effect on the engine parts. Consequently with a striker constructed with a striking disk of hard carborundum or emery acting against a pencilof pyrophoric metal of the iron-cerium type, a maximum sparking effect is obtained without the incidental production of a grit or dust having an injurious effect onthe working surfaces of the engine. V

The method of operation is as follows The half time shaft 18 being rotated by the movement of the engine in the well known manner acts against the tappets 17 once in every revolution thereby moving the rod 13 downward and rotating the rocking piece 11. Said rocking piece is immediately restoredto its normal position by the action of thespring 14 after the cam 20 has passed the tappet 17. The exact time at which the movement of the rocker piece 11 occurs is determined by theset of the collar 19 on the half time shaft 18, an earlier or later ignition being obtained by sliding it the one way or the other along said shaft. When it is moved so far that the cam 20 is out of alinement with the tappet 17 no movement occurs and the charge is not fired. At each movement, the cam 7 picks up one of the teeth of. the wheel 10 and drives said wheel forward a portion of a rotation. Said wheel being fixed on the spindle 33 which carries the disk it, said disk 4: is moved around with the wheellO, and at the moment of its movement a spark is struck by its frictional contact with the end of the pyrophoric pencil which is in alinement with it. This spark ignites the explosive mixture in the cylinder. When the pyrophoric pencil 26 has beenworn away another pencil is brought into working position by rotating the magazine 24 through an angle of 60 degrees or through any other angle determined by thenumber of holders contained in the magazine. .One filling of the magazine thus suffices for a period of working equal to the combined wear of six of the pyrophoric pencils 26. A

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In an igniting device for internal combustion engines and the like, ahousing, a

plurality of pencils of pyrophoric material contained therein, carrier rods slidable in said housing and supporting loosely the pyrophoric material, yielding means adapted to yieldingly press said rods and said pyro-phoric material longitudinally within said housing and an abradant device operative against the end of one of said pyrophoric pencils, said pencil being pressed against this device by the yielding means, all the pencils except the one in contact with the pyrophoric material being contained within the magazine to form a reserved sup- 2. An ignition device for internal combustion engines and the like, comprising an abradant member located in the combustion chamber, engine driven means for operating it, a magazine in said combustion chamber, a series of pyrophoric members contained within said magazine, and yielding means for pressing one of said members into engagement with said abradant member.

3. An ignition device for internal combustion engines and the like, comprising an abradant member located in the combustion chamber, engine driven means for operating it, a magazine in said combustion chamber, a series of pyrophoric members contained within said magazine, and yielding means for pressing one of said members into engagement with said abradant member, said magazine mounted for movement within said combustion chamber to successively H bring responsive to the will of the operator each of said pyrophoric members into operative relation with the abradant member.

4-. An ignition device for internal combustion engines comprising a chamber and an abradant device located therein, engine operated means for operating said abradant device, and communication from said chamber to the combustion chamber of the engine, and a movable magazine, one wall of said magazine forming one wall of said chamber, a housing for said magazine and a series of pyrophoric pencils contained within said housing and mounted for separate engagement with said abradant member.

5. An ignition device for internal combustion engines and the like, comprising an abradant surface located within the combustion chamber, means responsive to the engine for operating it, a movable mounted magazine adjacent said abradant surface, a series of pyrophoric members contained there in, a housing for the magazine, the wall of said housing being apertured to permit the communication between said abradant surface and one of said pyrophoric members at a time, said pyrophoric members being arranged in magazine for successive register with said abradant surface;

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN GLEN NEWMAN.

Witnesses W. I. DAVIS, S. BECK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G.

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