US1174431A - Rotary engine. - Google Patents

Description

C. MILLER.

I I ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY14, 19H. RENEWED JULY 21 1915 Patented Mar. 7, 1916 [SHEETS-SHEET WITNESSES.

IIVI/EIVTOH EHARL 5 MILLER THE CULUABIA PLANOQRAPH CO, WASHING r0", D- Cv A TTORNE Y8 C. MILLER.-

v ROTARY ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED 1uLY14. 1911. RENEWED JULY 2 1915.

1,174,431. I Patented Mar. 7,1916.

YSHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: I INVENTOR Gilli/Hi5 llrllLLE/fv BY M ATTORNEYS THE COLUMBIA FLANOGIIAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULYM. 1911. RENEWED JULY 2. 1915. 1

1,174,481. Patented Mar.7,1916.

- 7 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

'IIIIIII W II- WITIVESSES: l/VVE/VTOH CHAR/.55 MILLER ATTORNEYS THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE. APEEICATIQN nL D1uLY14. 1911. RENEWED JULY 2, 1915.

Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

7 SHEETSSHEET 4.

" l i i WITNESSES: j IN VEN TOR ATTORNEYS THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 3 0., WASHINGTON, D. c.

C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FlLEDJULY14,l9H- RENEWED JULY 2, 1915.

Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

3 I IIllll Illll llllllllllllllllllll Inf mmummuuumm mum / E Hum;

' Illlil THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH :0, WASHINGTON, n, c.

' Afromvsrs C. MILLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULYI4, 1911; RENEWED mu 2, m5.

Patented Mar. 7', 1916.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH .20., WASHINGTON. D. C.

Camus M/LLER C. MlLLER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY14, 19H. RENEWED JULY 2, 19l5.

1; 174,43 Patented Mar. 7, 1916.

- ISHEET SiSHEET 1. v

INVENTOR zzramww THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. C.

ZGHAIRLES MIDI-EB, o

QQITAEY ENGINE.

--i e e of e ie et- 'Batented Manama.

Application filed July 14, 1911, Serial No. 635,436. n ea ui a, 1915. SerialNo. 37,7 1.

' To all whom z'tmay concern:

*Beitknown that I, cHARLEs M ILLER, a citizen of the-United States, residing in the city, county, and State ofNew Y'o'rk have invented a new and useful lmprovementin Rotary Engines, of which the following is a Specification. f

=My invention relates-to the type of rotary enginein which one or more pistons, consti tuting a piston system, are driven continuously in one direction or the other about a central axis and in an-approximate endless pistonchamberto which said pistons are fitted the actuatm medium be n an su t- 7 I. I v a I I.

able gas such as steam, air, gasolene, vapor,

' etc., admitted to the chamber under pres sure and :atsuitable times. I

In Patents Nos. 924,173 dated June S, 1909, 931,785 dated August 24, 1909,.and

in my pending application 531,881 .filedDe cember-"Y, 1909, I have shownand described improvejd engines of the general type herein'referred to. I

My present invention relates particularly to an engine of the above referred to'ty'pe in which a central piston system is flanked oneach of two sides by an abutment with which the piston system cooperates, and is directedespecially to the shape of the piston and to certain details of piston and valveconstruction, means for packingthe several shafts agalnst steam leakage, means for packingthe pistons against steamf leakage,I

means for packing the abutments against steam leakage where they ntersect the p ston chamber, and means for opposing a counter pressure preferably that of"live' steam, upon the inside of theabutments to balance the pressure upon said' abutments due to the steam in the-piston chamber,

thereby substantially nullifying the effect of" steam pressure upon thejabutment j oiirna-ls;

My invention'also includes a novel arrangement of' steam admission, ports and means for their control whereby the engine may be more readily and "quickly under load. v

My present invention is furtherpdirectedto an arrangement of the valvesand' steam passages with relation to the general enginej structure such that the incoming steam may" be quickly effective upon the" pistons and wire drawing in the passages be -pr evented.

'The object of my invention is tof produ'ee a rotary" engine 'ofihigh .eiiic'iency in which- Fig. 4 is an elevation, similar to that" of steam leakage is effectively guardedagainst,

mechanical tent,-.and pistonclearan ce is niade small/ A further object of my invention isto provide a construction in which the moving parts-are balanced so speed of operation.

A further object of my invention is to":

provide" a .valve in case of wear.

Other objects will appear ,as the specifi cationproceeds. I i M a eferring to the drawings, .whichlarecapable of easy hereby made apart ofthe specification, Fig-' ure l'is a front elevation of preferred formio f mylmproved engine; Fig. 2 iis a plan 'V1QW of thesame,

friction isavoidedto a greater:

I I I I some of the parts- I being omltted-for the sake of clearness; Fig.

of'the piping connected thereto omitted;

Fig. -5- isa sectional elevation taken. along the line 55 of F i'g.-t;, Eig. 6 is a sectio iial View, enlarged, showing the ineans ;.eni

ployed, at the intersection of thelabutnientsf with the piston chambtngf r 'intro-d1icing nentsfor the purpose I component -ofIthe working steam pressure on the outer; side of-the. transversesection, taken along the line 7- 7 ofFig. 6; {Fig 8 is asection, similarly.en-' larged, showing detailso fthe valve construction and adjustment as also the means used for packing an; abutment againststeain leakage where intersects the lpiston chain:

liveste'am on" the inner side I of' the I of qi nt qt s th berg" Fig. 9 is a section taken along the; line I v a central vertical section, similarly enlarged,

l2 is a similarlyl enlarged elevation of see bl dr st tandF -131m e ml .sec tion .:taken along the line 13 '13 II I 12 Fig. *14 is a similarly enlarged elevation howmei faeseeb 'ra e Fi i ii diametral section 'go'f. the valve taken along drawsm the same scale as Figs.

of Fig.

r "i i id? m ia .of he.r l eb jt Heme- Wis an edge elevation of one of the ab-Iutnients 1 to 4:; and r take'nFaIong the linen-1110i Fig. lying. 1

closely similar front and rear portions 6,

6, and provided with a steam chamber, a piston chamber, valves, suitable steam passages, and incidental structural and operative features, incloses the piston system and the abutments and is supported upon a suitable base 7.

Serial No. 531,881.

For convenience of manufacture and assembly the casing 5 is made in a number of sections comprising front and rear cylinders 8, 8', in which is formed the steam chamber 8 major part of the piston chamber 9; end

section 10 comprising segments of rings embracing a considerable part of each abut- "ment 4, 4, and bolted at 11 to the cylfront and rear abutment heads 12, 12 bolted to the end sections inder heads 10 and to blocks 18 described later; packing boxes 13 closing the abutment heads. and the rear cylinder head centrally anda main packing box 14 closing the central opening ofthe front cylinder head and carrying the outboard bearing 15 for the main shaft 16 upon which is keyed the piston system. The packing boxes 13 for the two front abutment heads also constitute journal boxes .for the shafts 17, to which are keyed the two abutments. I

For reasons to be later set forth those portions of the piston chamber 9 which fall within. the periphery of the two abutment systems 4, 4, are formed in separate blocks 18 '(Figs. '3, 6 and 7) these blocks are substantially circular segments and each is made in two halves which are respectively bolted at 19 to the front and rear cylinder heads.

The abutments (Figs. 4 and 17 are of the general" type shown in my Patent 924,173 previously referred to and,"in an improved form, in my pending application Each is a structure comprising two identical and diametrically opposite thin tubular segments or heads 20 having ends and sides respectively parallel.

and perpendicular to shaft 17, said-segments being centrally united as also affixed to said shaft by a thin core 21. Opposite sides of opposite segments are united by narrow ring sections 22 at top and bottom, these rings usually being continuing, portions of. the segments themselves and hence integrally a part thereof. Each pair of segments is adapted to move in an annular abutment slot 23 which is formed in the casing 1 and intersects the piston chamber 9. This slot is axially longer than the diameter of the piston chamber, thus extending beyond said chamber on each side.

The cylinder heads 8, 8 are hollow or cupshaped, are faced outside the piston chamber 9 so as to be bolted together, and spaced apart inside said piston chamber so to hug the'face of the piston core 3 just outside the shoulder 24 (Fig. 12), the heads being bored out cylindrically for this purpose and to slidably engage the cylindrical valves 25 which are fastened to the two faces of the piston system by bolts 26 (Fig. 14) and revolve with it. Each valve comprises an outer tubular section in which are opposite inlet ports 27, an inner tubular section joined to the hub of the piston system by bolts 28 (Figs. 8, 10 and 11), and a web connecting said two sections through which web pass the aforesaid bolts 26. To allow of adjustment of these valves for wear each is preferably made in three segments which are individually radially adj ustable by means of the bolts 26 and 28, the web being slotted for the purpose where bolts 26' pass through; and to avoid steam leakage at the junctions of the valve segments a spring pressed closure .plate 29 is fitted to each of said junctions (Figs. 14 and 15) so as to maintain the same per manently closed. This closure plate has a curved peripheral portion which is conformed to the inner surface of the outer tubular section of the valve and a flange portion 30 dovetailed into the edge of said outer tubular section whereby the closure plate is maintained in position.

To cooperate with the valve ports 27 two sets of diametrically opposite main inlet ports 31 are formed in each cylinder head just above the intersection of the abutment 4 with the piston chamber 9 on the left of the engine (Fig. 1) andjust below the corresponding intersection on. the right hand side. Steam is admitted by a main inlet pipe 32 directly to the steam chamber 8 of the rear cylinder head. Exhaust ports 33 corresponding to theinlet ports 31 are located diametrically opposite one another (Fig. 4)

at the lower intersection of abutment and piston chamber to the left of the engine and at the upper intersection to the right of the engine; they communicate with the two members 34 of a bifurcated exhaust pipe 35. Holes 35; bored through the piston core 3 connect the two steam chambers 8 of the front and rear cylinder heads.- Shaft 16 carrying the piston system 1 and shafts 17 carrying the abutments 4, 4' are provided, on one side of the engine, with gear wheels 36 of equal diameter meshing with one another and thus compelling the shafts to role ees? tate with the same angular velocity; these pulleys; maybe inclosed in a protecting casing 37.' By providing any one ofthethree shafts (one ofthe shaftsfl'? in the drawing) preferably the main shaft 16, with a smooth pulley power may be taken from the engine. A. governor 38 of conventional type and driven from any one of the shafts acts directly upon the steam supply to control the same in the usual way according to the speed.

. lThe operation: of my improved. engine is as. follows: The" moving parts being as indicated in Fig.4, steam having been admitted to the main inlet pipe 32,.instantly fills the steam chamber 8 of the front cylinder head and, throughthe holes 30, the .corresponding steam chamber of the rear cylinder headand from both of said steam chambers passes through the inlet ports27 of both valves into and throughthe main inlet, ports 31in the walls of the cylinder heads into the piston chamber 9 betweenthe pistons 2 and the abutment heads 20.- As

shown in Fig. 4 the valve ports27 and the' inlet "ports 31 have just begunto register or uncover one, another; of course, if these,

valvesl'are entirely out of register the engine will require to be turned over by hand so'as to bring said valves into registry before the engine can be started. The pistons; will thus be driven in thedirection of the arrow, the valves 25 being carried with 'the pistons so as to" shut off the inlet ports 31-after rotation through an angle the magnitude of which will dependupon the dl mensionsof the ports 27 and'31 So. soon as the. steam is thus-cut off each piston, wliicliavill have rotated through the same angle, will continue to rotate under the ex-.

' pension of the steam" now in the piston chamber until it hasreached and left behind some portion of the exhaust port. 33 when the steam will begin to exhaust through said port and the'exhaust pipes 34 and 35.

By reason of the ,meshed gear wheels 36' the abutments 4,4 rotate with the piston systemjl, so that as each piston 2 passes the'exhaust port 33it enters the openingbetween the abutment heads 20 passing "out. of said opening just beforeit traverses the inlet ports 31.

,Toinsure steam tight connection between each piston. 2 and the steamchamber 9,. -springrings 38 are peripherally attached to said pistons, as is practised in reciprocatlng engines.) Toflpreven't.steain being lost from the piston chamber 9 past'the abubment head 20,1 employ an abutment packing ring 39 (Fig.8) let into" the cylinder 5 head so as to surroundsaid piston'chamber; this ring i'sconformed to the'icurve of the abutment head and kept pressed against said head by coiled springs-40. This "ring is po- =-sitioned, of].course,-:before the blocks .18 are opening between the abutment heads 20 does not extendinto the abutment slots 23 and since these heads are connected within these slots'by bands continuous and integral I attachedto the cylinder heads: Since the i with said headsthe packing rings will ala ways ride smoothly upon said bands.

, Steam being simultaneously admitted to diametrically opposite portions of the piston chamber, the resultant lateral pressure upon the main shaft 16 is always perfectly balanced so that this shaft should run with but slight journal friction. There is, however, no such normal balancing for the pressure effective upon the outside of abutment heads 20 so that normally not only would there be excessive journal friction between the shafts 17 and their bearings, but the abutment heads themselves, being of relatively thin material, would tend to bend as a they pass through the piston chamber 9 be slot and an annular space around this cup shaped end in which is a small packing ring '42having a faceconformed to the curve of the; abutment head and kept outwardly pressed against said head by a coiled spring 43. The opening 44 through the center of plug 41 connects the space atqthe outer end ofthe plug with chamber 45 in block 18 and into this chamber livesteam is brought direct from the main inlet pipe 32 by means of auxiliary pipes 46. Eachpressurecomi 11-0 pensator 41, therefore; exerts an outward pressure upon the abutment head 20 opposing. the inward pressure due to the working 1 steam in the piston'chamber9 and the mag nitudeof this pressure, is, of course, pr0- portionaltothe area of the abutment head surface inclosedby the packingring 42. By causing the sum of the surface areas in closed within the several packing rings to be equal-to half ofthe area: which is exposed to the working steam pressure in thepiston chamber, z'. e.,to half ofthe abutment head area I cut off by the piston chamber the averagefinward pressure due to the working 'steam -in the piston chamber willbe perfectly balanced.

Live steam for the pressure compensaters need not, fcourse, be taken direct from the main steam. pipe, but connection maybe madeto any'co-nvenient point. Or the pressure compensators -may be connectedwith-" 3 I the piston chamber at or near the inlet ports 31, so that the ressure per unit of area due to the compensators will rise and fall exactly as does the working pressure per unit of area upon the outer periphery of the abutment head; in this case the sum of the compensator areas should equal the abutment head area cut off by the piston chamher.

After a piston has passed an exhaust port 33 and as it is passing to a corresponding position on the other side of the horizontal center line of the engine, consideration will show that the volume between the piston and the abutment head just in advance of said piston is constantly decreasing so that any steam or air contained therein will be compressed. This, of course, will operate like any other back pressure and tend to lessen the speed ofthe engine and to lower .In order to lessen the clearance at the.

rear end of each piston between said piston and the abutment heads 20 and thereby 111 crease the efliciency of my englne, I shape said piston end to curve outwardly and laterally so that as the piston passes into the open space between the abutment heads every part of said end will just escape touching the adjacent end of the abutment head. Mathematically the shape of this piston end is such that its intersection with each and every plane passing through it perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the piston sys- 'tem will be an epicycloid regardless of the relative speeds of the piston system and of the abutments.

. To prevent steam leaking from the in- I terior of the engine along the shafts 16 and 17, I employ packing rings 46 (Figs. 3 and 11) set in recesses formed upon the inner faces of the packing boxes 13 and 14 and pressed outwardly against ,the hubs of the abutments and of the piston system by coiled springs 47. The abutting faces of said hubs and of the corresponding faces of v the packing rings and packing boxes12 and 14 must, of course, be accurately machined and surfaced.

5 Oil cups 48 are placed at the top of steam pipes 46 and by their means oil is introduced into the engine between the compensator packing rings 42 and the abutment heads.

In descrlbmg the operation of my improved engine, I have stated that, if the. valve ports 27 and the inlet ports 31 are out of registry the engine will require to be turned over by hand in order to start it. This procedure may be avoided by providing additional inlet ports, similar to the inlet port 31, between the steam chambers 8 and the piston chamber 9 and in advance of port 31, these additional ports being positioned to register successively with the valve port 27 as the valve rotates and provision being made for closing these extra ports as soon as the engine is well started. In the drawings (Figs; 4 and 11) I have shown but one additional port in advance ofeach port 31 others being omitted to avoid confusion; in practice as many extra ports may be used as is thought desirable.

'To open and close the extra ports 49 at will I employ a valve closure comprising two tubular segments 50 (Figs- 18 and 19) each of which is snugly fitted in an annular recessed portion 51 of the rear cylinder head 8 lying just outside of the valve 25, so as to have close contact with the inner periphery of the cylinder head end with the outer periphery of thevalve. These segments are united to arms 52 which oin a central ring 53 rotatably mounted upon the packing box 13. Teeth upon the outer periphery of ring 53 mesh with a pinion 54 fixed to a spindle 55 carried upon the same packing box 13; this spindle has an outer squared end adapted to be engaged by a keyso as to be rotated. In this way the extra ports 49 will be closed off or opened by the segments 50. This provision of the extra ports will be found particularly useful in starting the engine under load since each port enables the piston to be acted upon by the full pressure of the live steam instead of requiring that the piston move from the main inlet to the exhaust port under the expansion of a single initial charge of steam.

' Instead of making myvalve in sections which are radially adjustable to take up wear, I, may if I prefer place a spring pressed packing ring about the steam ports so as to bear against the valve. The construction of this ring and its mode of attachment to the casing may be similar to that used for th abutment packing ring previously described. I V

1. In a rotary engine having a casing provided with an annular piston chamber and a piston adapted to rotate in said chamber, the combination of an abutment head adapted'to periodically intersect said piston chamher, said head comprising opposite segments united by top and bottom ring sections and packing means surrounding the piston chamber and adapted to press against said ring sections to prevent steam leakage.

2. In a rotary engine having a casing provided with an annular piston chamber and a piston adapted to rotate in said chamber,

the combination of an abutment head adapted to periodically intersect said piston cham-' ber, saidhead comprising opposite segments united by top and bottom ring sections, a packing ring surrounding the piston chan1- I ber adjacent to said abutment and pressing against said ring sections, and springs pressing against said rings.

3. In a rotary engine the combination of a casing provided I with an annular piston chamber and opposite steam chambers, a piston-system provided with a core which constitutes a wall between the said steam chambers and having pistons adapted to rotate in said piston chamber, and an abut ment head adapted to cooperate with said pistons, said core having holes therethrough for the passage of steam from one steam chamber to the other. v

4. In a rotary engine the combination of a casing provided with an annular piston chamberand opposite steam chambers having walls concentric with said piston chamher, a plston systemprovlded with a core which constitutes a Wall between said steam chambers and havingpistons adapted to rotate in said piston chamber, an abutment head adapted to'cooperate with said pistons, ports in the walls of said steam chambers communicating with the piston chambers-and a valve fixed to the core of said piston system and adapted to control said ports.

5. In a rotary enginehaving an annular witnesses.

piston chamber, a steam chamber provided with'walls concentric with said'piston chamber and having ports communicating with 1 said piston chamber, and a rotary valve adapted to engage the walls of said steam chamber and control the ports, said valve Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. 0.? p i V V being adjustable as to its pensate for wear.

6. In a rotaryengine a cylindrically bored steamchamber providedwith ports, and a periphery to comrotary valveada'pted to engage. the walls of said chamber;and control the ports, said ing steam between said piston and said abutment; means comprising passages surrounded by packing rings bearing upon theabutments for applying pressure to v the abut ment in opposition tothe pressure of the Working steam;

8. In a rotary. engine having anannular piston chamber,a piston adapted to rotate therein, and a steam chamber provided with walls concentric; with said piston chamber, a plurality said steam chamber so as to open and close all of said rotates and of inlet ports connecting said steam chamber with saidpiston chamber, arotary valve adapted toengage the walls of portssuccessively as the piston means independent ofthe piston and the valve also adapted toopen and close some but not all of said ports.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set a I my hand in the V I Vitnes'ses v J JOHN A; KEHLE EGK,

' M. LocKwooDfi- Commissioner of Patents}.

presence of two subscribing.

CHARLES MILLER.

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