US1183140A - Fluid-valve-actuating mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

A. F. THENER.

FLUID VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC- 1. 1915.

Patented May 16, 1916.

ArZhurFT/zener- A TTORNE Y.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 10., WASHlNGTON, D. c.

ARTHUR F. THENER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

FLUID-VALVE-ACTEATING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

Patented May 16, 1916.

Application filed December 1, 1915. SerialJlTo. 64,496.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR F. THENER, a citizen of the United States residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful I' mprovements in-Fluid- Valve-Actuating Mechanisms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip; tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in fluid valve-actuating mechanisms; and it consists in the novel features of construction more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

The present improvement is directed to mechanism for actuating motor or engine valves through the instrumentality of fluids or liquids under pressure, such pressure being developed in a column or body of liquid interposed between the valve and some movable member of the motor or engine. The use of a liquid body dispenses with mechanical connections which are often undesirable and complicated, aliquid column tending not only to materially simplify the construction of the motor as a whole but to reduce the weight and cost of the motor. A liquid connection has the further advantage in that it may be installed without regard to any definite or fixed position on the engine or motor, thereby permitting its employment in places where there would be in sufficient room to accommodateset or rigid mechanical connections iwhose positions on the engine could not be altered.-

The advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description thereof in connectionziwith the accompanying drawings in which.- l

Figure 1 represents an elevation of a portion of a conventional slow combustion engine showing my invention applied to the valve controlling the exhaust port, parts being broken away; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged-vertical middle section of the exhaust pipe or duct showing the valve and support therefor, and an elevation of the liquid chamber. housing the operates; Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section on the line 66 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is an enlarged vertical middle section of the liquid chamber shown in Fig. 3,,and of the valveactuating plunger and easing therefor housed in the chamber; Fig. 8 is'an enlarged longitudinal middle sectionof thevalve-controlled terminal of the plunger-casing shown in F ig. 7 the end of the plunger against which the fluid or liquid operates being shown in elevation; and Fig. 9 is an end view of Fig. 8, broken away in parts.

Referring to the drawings M, represents a conventional slow-combustion engine; 0, the'crank-case, S, the crank-shaft, and E the exhaust duct or pipe, as fully understood in the art,

In the present embodiment of my invention I provide the crankshaft with. a sprocket wheel 1 from which leads a sprocket chain 2 over a larger sprocket wheel 3 (of twice the diameter of the wheel 1), said wheel?) being mounted on a countershaft l which is supported at the outer ends of the brackets 5 5, bolted or otherwise secured to the engine frame. The several features last described are shown :more or less conventionally in, the drawings because well understood in the art.

walls of the liquid chamber 10, the latter being provided with flanged legs a b cland of a design not unlike the valve-chambers or bases of standard governors. In the present example the chamber 10 is bolted to the engine frame through the flange of the leg a. To theleg c is bolted a gland or fol: lower it of a stufling box well understood in the art, said stuffing box and leg c being traversed by a plunger 11 which is actuated .by the adjacent arm? of thetripping lever 8, said arm being preferably provided with an adjusting: screw or head m to insure permanent contact with the outer. end of *the plunger as the screw 'or head wears away. Secured to the flanged leg I) of the chamber 10 is the adjacent flanged terminal ,of a conduit or pipe 12 whose opposite (the upper in the present example) end is secured'to the log a of a two-legged liquid chamber 13, the leg 6 whereof is bolted to an angle-bracket 14 whose lower, rounded terminal is interposed between the flange of the neck 6 and a perforated disk or plate 15 as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 7. The bracket 141 is in turn secured to a bracket or arm 16 bolted to the exhaust duct or pipe E. These several connections of course may be changed to suit the convenience of the skilled mechanic, no claim being made thereto.

Rigidly secured between the disk 15 and neck 6 of the chamber 13, and projecting a suitable distance into the chamber 13, is a plunger casing 17 provided with a series of radially disposed relief ports 25, across whose inner terminals is free to play or reciprocate in the line of the axis of the casing 17, a plunger 18 whose outer terminal carries a head (or screw) 19 which is adapted to engage a corresponding head 20 at the adjacent terminal of a reciprocating valve-stem 21 operating freely through a bearing w formed with the walls of the exhaust duct E, and through a spider 22 spanning the intake end of said exhaust duct as fully shown in Fig. 3. The inner end of the stem 21 carries the exhaust valve V which is normally held in its seated or closed position by the expansion of the spring 23 coiled about the stem and confined between the bearing w or wall of the eduction tube E and an adjustable cup or disk 24 secured to the stem, the bearing w serving as a stationary abutment for the spring, the member 2 1 operating as the movable abutment. The inner terminal wall of the casing 17 is provided with a series of circularly disposed circulating ports or openings 0, communicating with the chamber C of the casing, the center of said wall having secured thereto a screwstem or bolt 25 whose inner end terminates in a head d against which bears a washer e. Sliding freely on the stem 25 and normally held in its seated position by an expansion spring 26, is a flanged disk or valve 27, the several parts just referred to being confined in the inner terminal chamber C of the casing 17. The diameter of the disk 27 is such that when seated or resting against the perforated terminal wall of the casing 17, the flange thereof bears against said wall at points exterior to the ports 0, so that with the seated position of said disk these ports remain covered, that is to say communication through them between the chambers C and 13 is shut off, the uncovering of said ports being effected under conditions to be referred to in the description of the operation of the mechanism, which operation is substantially as follows: Let us assume that the engine is running and that rotation is being imparted to the crank-shaft S. From the connections previously described, two revolutions of the shaft S (corresponding to four strokes of the piston) Will impart one revolution to the cam-shaft 4:, so that there is an exhaust of the engine every fourth stroke of the piston. lVith each revolution of the cam-shaft a, the nose at of the cam 6 will ride over the roller 7 on the lever 8, causing the lever to be tripped as indicated by the dotted position in Fig. 5, that is to say the plunger 11 will be forced inwardly or into the chamber 10, thereby imposing pressure on the body of liquid (preferably oil) confined in and filling the members 10, 12 and 13, said pressure being communicated through the ports 0 of the casing 17 to the disk-valve 27 and thereby unseating the valve and compressing the spring 26. Of course the chamber C of the casing 17 is filled with liquid, the latter finding its way thereinto through the radial relief ports t (Fig. 8), but this does not prevent the unseating of the disk 27 under the conditions described, because the large port area represented by the sum total of the areas of the ports 0 will allow the pressure imposed on the liquid body by the plunger 11 to be immediately communicated to the disk-valve 27, causing the valve to unseat. The pressure of the liquid is thereupon exerted with full force against the inner end of the plunger 18 causing the plunger to be driven outward in which movement it overcomes the tension of the spring 23, pushes the stem 21 inwardly and unseats the exhaust valve V, thus uncovering the exhaust port normally closed by said valve, and permitting the exhaust gases to escape through the duct E.

As soon as the nose n of the cam passes off the roller 7, the tripping lever 8 is allowed to resume its original position which it does by reason of the return of the plunger 1-1 to its original position. The plunger 11 on the other hand is forced to its original position by the action of the spring 23 acting through the valve stem 21, the plunger 18, and liquid column confined in the chambers 13 and 10, and connecting tube 12. Of course as soon as the lever 8 is released from the nose 7?. so as to render the plunger 11 inefiective, the weaker spring 26 causes the disk-valve 27 to return to its seated position, the stronger spring 23 asserting itself and exerting on the liquid column a pressure in the opposite direction, and hence forcing the plunger 11 outwardly. Under the expanding action of the spring 23 the plunger 18 is returned to its original position, the liquid in front of the piston circulating through the relief ports t, t, to the main body in the chamber 13, the ports 0 having been covered in the meantime by the seating of the disk 27. The necessary quantity of oil or other liquid is poured into the chamber-13 by removing the screw plug 72, enough being poured through the opening normally kept closed by the plug to fill the chambers 10 and 13 and connecting tube 12. The ejecting or outward movement of the plunger 18 carries it past the first row of ports t, so that as the plunger returns to its original position, it forces the liquid through these ports and ports t into the chamber 13, the openings 0 having in the mean time been covered by the seating of the disk-valve 27. I may of course depart materially from the details here shown without going outside the spirit and scope of the invention; and while I have here shown the application thereof to an exhaust valve, I may use it in connection with the live fluid intake valve or any valve whatsoever.

The purpose of the relief ports 6, t, is to allow the plunger 18 to return to its inner position gradually and without jar to the mechanism, their action being akin to that of a dash-pot.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a mechanism of the character described, a reciprocating plunger, a casing for housing said plunger, said casing being provided with a terminal chamber in which said plunger terminates, circulating ports or Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the openings in the casing wall, a disk or valve covering said ports, a spring interposed between the disk and a suitable abutment for normally holding said disk seated over the ports, a liquid chamber inclosing said casing and spaced therefrom, and means for periodically subjecting the liquid in said chamber to pressure operating to unseat the valve.

2. In a mechanism of the character de scribed, a liquid holding and circulating chamber, a plunger casing confined in said chamber, a plunger operating in said casing, the latter being provided with a chamber in which the plunger terminates, the plunger-casing chamber being provided with circulating ports for the ingress of the liquid into the casing-chamber and with peripheral relief ports, and a spring controlled disk or valve for normally covering the circulating ports.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR F. THENER. Witnesses:

EMIEL STAREK, ELSE M. SIEGEL.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C.

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