US1265117A - Air-moistener for internal-combustion engines. - Google Patents

Description

S. W. ROTHENBERGER. AIR MOISTENER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES. APPLlcATloN FILED MAR.26,1917.

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AIR MOISTENER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES..

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26| 19|]- R v 8. R. W m ML m n M m m m www z ya n m m m m 3 0 1 I 14 ,a J. I o O Zmgm i H2 2 1J 4 I L W H ,m o J N Y a .w S V 4 H I 1 O v /5 MJ F "\`."\`\`\\\\`\\YW\7/ll4 :Pd- J n wf. 1, w 5 5 D T 1 m UNITED STATESl PATENT OFFICE.

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PIKE, ALL or numerous-mason.

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Specification. of Letters Patent.'

Patented May '7, 1218.

application mea :man 26,1917. semi ms. 1mm. l

To all whom it may concern: n

Be it known thatI, SIMON lVV.R0'1HE1-I BERGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improve- .ments in Air-Moisteners' for InternalCombustion Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and-use the same.

My invention relates to air moisteners. for internal combustion engmes; and, to

this end, it consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a view in elevation illustrating the air moistener applied in working position to the carbureter, intake manlfol and exhaust manifold of an internal combustion engine;

. Fig. 2 is a view of the air moistener inl front elevation with some parts removed;

Fig. 3 is a view, principally in central-v vertical section taken on the line -3--3 of Fig. 8 is a view, principally in section` illustrating a modified form of the vapor spraying nozzle.

The numeral 9 indicates as an entirety a carbureter, of the standard or any desired construction, and the numeral 10 in dicates a throttle control rod pivotally atv tached to the free end of an arm 11` on one of-the trunnions 12 of the,.throttle .valveof said carbureter. The fuel intake. vvnllanifeld,

' and -the exhaust manifold of combustion engine are indicated, res `ec'-`;l

tively, by the numerals 13 and 14, anv to stricted olted 'together and having formed therein an air conduit 16. This air conduit 16, in the upper section of th casing 15, is expanded at its lowerextr mity to 'afford a valve seat 17. The lower extremity of the a1r conduit 16, in the lower section of the caslng 15, is contracted to afford a reassageway 18, the purpose of whlch wil presently a pear. Also formed in the lower section o the casing 15, is a water chamber 19 havin an open front wall normally closed by a ace plate 2O held.

in positionV by screws 21. A pliable packin 22 is interposed between the casing 15 an face late 20 to afford a water-tight joint there etween. i

Air is4 drawn into the conduit'12 through a heater 23, under the suction stroke of the engine, and which heater is attached to the the nipple 24, auditie also provided with' -baille p ates 26 which retard the movement of the air therethrough from the port25 to the nipple 24, and thereby .increase the 85 efficiency of the heater. The bottom of `the heater 23 is made concaven cross section' to t, the exhaust manifold 14, 'is bolted thereto and receives its heat therefrolm.

Water is supplied tothe -air moistener from a, storage tank 27 through a i e 28.

This storage water tank 27 is provi e witha cap-e uipped filling opening 29 and a drain va ve 30, and is supported by 4brackets`31 above the heater 23 and from the exhaust manifold 14. The delivery end of the pipe 28 is connected to the bottom of the casing 15 by a couplin 32, having a port'33 which connects sai .pipe with the water chamber 19. In the u r end of the port 33, is a valve seat 34. ater from the chamber 191is sprayed transversal into they lpassagers'ay 18' throng .'a short ',.Sgewy L18 y through 'oppositelyextended 36 t0 the arms of the fuel intake mani- *body of the needle valve 50.

fold 13, and their intermediate portions are coiled at 37 around the exhaust pipe 14. The deliveryends of the pipes 36 are extended through the arms of the fuel intake manifold 13, close to the engine, and have secured thereto spraying nozzles 38. These spraying azzles' 38 are 1n the Yform of rlngs axially located, with respect to the adjacentv portions of the arms of the fuel intake manifold 13, and they are circumferentially split to discharge both radially, inwardly and outwardly therefrom, a curtain of vapor transversely of said arms.

The air port 16 is normally closed by a valve 39 mounted on the seat 17 and arranged to be opened under the suction stroke of the engine. This valve 39 is provided with a stem 40, which works through a tapered .cylindrical extension 41 integrally formed with the top section of the casing 15. The upper projecting end of the valve stem 40 is screw-threaded to receive a nut 42, which affords an adjustableabutment. Encircling the casing extension 41 and projecting end of the valve stem 40, 1s a hellcal spring 43 compressed between the top of the casing 15 and abutment 42 and yieldingly holds the valve 39 closed. By adjusting the abutment 42letlrentension of the spring 43 may be varied, t will.

To prevent the valve 39 from opening under the suction stroke of the engine, when.V the air moistener 1s not 1n operation, and

thereby disturb the setting of the carbureter 9, there is mounted inthe air conduit 16 a normally closed choke or butterfly valve 44. This choke valve 44 is located between the valve 39 and restricted passageway 18 and is secured to an oscillatory shaft 45 mounted in the walls of the casing 1.5. Adjustably secured to the. outer end of the shaft 45, is an arm 46 pivotally connected by a link 47 to a rigid radially projecting arm 48 on the throttle control rod 10.v As the karm 48 is frictionally clamped by a draw bolt 49 on the rod 10, the same can be readily longitu- -dinally adjusted on said rod.

The water supply port 33 is normally closed by a needle valve 50 mounted in the seat 34 with its body guided by a seat formed in a web 51 integrally formed with the casing 15 and extending into the water cham ber 19. The needle valve 50 is yieldingly held closed by a coil spring 52, encircling 'the body of said valve, and compressed between thev web '51 and an adjustable abutment 53, in the form of a pair of lock nuts, having screw-threaded engagement with the An arm 54, operated by" a variable throw crank 55, on the shaft 45 is provided for simultaneously lifting the needle valve 50 from its seat-34 with the opening of the choke valve 44. This variable throw crank 55 comprises a disk-like head 56 secured to the inner end commingling of the threaded engagement with a plate 58. This `plate 58 has sliding dove-tailed engagement with a radially extended channel 59 .formed in the face of the head 55. By reference to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the inner end of the crank pin 57 impinges against the head 55 and frictionally holds the plate 58 where set. Obviously, by adjusting the plate 58 in the channel 59, the throw of the lcrank may be varied, at will.

In some instances, it might be desirable to take the water supply for the air moistener from the circulatlng system of the engine, in place of the storage tank 27. In such a case, itV would be necessary to interpose a suitable strainer in the pipe connecting the air moistener with the clrculating system.

Referring to the modification shown in Fig. 8, the numeral 60 indicates an engine casing to which is directly bolted a carbureter 61. In this construction, the usual fuel intake manifold is entirely dispensed with, thereby making nozzle, shown in Fi s. 6 and 7, impracticable. In this modi cation, as a substitute for the spraying nozzle 38, there is interposed, between the engine casing and carbureter, a spraying nozzle 62, having in its inner wall an annular slit, through which the vaporis discharged radially into the fuel intake, in the form of a curtain.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the arm 54 is pivoted, at its upper end, to the crank pin 55 and its lower end is bent laterally under the abutment 53 and provided with an aperture, through which the body of a needle valve 50 is free to move endwise. It will thus be seen that the abutment 53 may be so set, with respect -to the arm 54, as to permit the choke valve 44 to start to open before the needle valve 50 starts to open. j

From the above description, it is evident that air drawn into the heater 23, through its intake port 25, under the suction stroke of the engine, is heated by the exhaust pipe 14. This hot air from the heater 23 enters the restricted passageway 18, has its movement accelerated thereby and, during the accelerated movement of the hot air, water is sprayed in a fine mist therein by the nozzle 35 and at substantially right angles thereto. The vapor, thus formed by the hot air and water in the restricted passageway 18, is again heated, while passin around the exhaust manifold 14 in the coi s 37 of the pipes 36. The fuel charge from the carbureter 9, in passing through and around the nozzles 38, is met by blasts of hot vapor at right angles to the form of sprayingthe direction of the flow .of said fuel charge. The meeting of the fuel charge and hot blasts of vaporl produce a vortex at each nozzle 38 and thereby thoroughly commingles the vapor with the fuel charge. This commingling of the fuel charge and vapor also thoroughly vaporizes any particles of liquid gasolene in the fuel charge and any raw gasolene on the inner surface of the intake manifold, due to condensation.`

It will thus be seen that the light hyrocarbon fuel charge and the vapor are thoroughly mixed before entering the explosion chamber of the engine, which results in perfect combustion, thus leaving no residue of carbon, and increasing the mileage by eliminating all waste of gasolene, prevalentl in presentday carbureters. In case thereJ is considerable carbon deposit in an engine, at the time the air moistener is incorporated therein, the needle valve may be adjusted to feed more water than would ordinarily be necessary to keep the engine free from carbon. After the carbon is removed from the engine, the needle valve 50 may be readjusted to feed just suiicient water to Keep the engine free from carbon.

From the above description, it is also evident that the air and Water valves of the air moistener are automatically actuated by the throttle control for the carbureter. While the engine is running at low speed, thc air and water valve of the air moistener are closed, so as to not interfere with the smooth running of the engine. As the throttle control rod 10 is operated to open the throttle valve of the carburetor, with the increasing speed of the engine, the choke valve 44 and needle valve 50 are simultaneously opened, proportionately to the position of the throttle valve, to thereby admit the necessary amount of water and air for producing the required amount of vapor for the fuel charge. By adjusting the variable throw crank 55, any desired amount of water may be admitted to the spraying nozzlesI 35. In adjusting the abutment 53, with respect to the arm 54, the needle valve 50 may be caused to open simultaneously with the choke valve 44, or after the choke valve 44 has started to open.

The above described invention, while comparatively simple and of relatively small cost to manufacture and install, 1s entirely automatic in its action and has, in actual usage, proven highly eicient for the purpose had in view. It may be here stated, that, if the water supply for the air moistener gives out, air only need be used.

What I claim is 1. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a carbureter, of an air moistener arranged to deliver the vapor into the fuel intake of said engine and having air and water control valves, a connection for operating one of said valves from the throttle control of the carbureter, and an operating connection between said two valves.

2. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a carburetor, of an air moistener arranged to deliver the vapor into the fuel intake of said engine and having air and Water control valves, a connection for operating the air valve from the throttleI control of the carbureter, and a variable throw crank connection between said two valves.

3. The combination with an internal combustion engine having a carbureter, of an air moistener arranged to deliver the vapor into the fue] intake of said en 'ne and having an air valve arranged to opened by the suction stroke of the engine, said air moistener also having a choke valve and a water-controlled valve, said choke valve being interposed between said air valve and fuel intake, a connection for operating the choke valve from the throttle control of the carbureter, and a variable throw crank connection between the choke valve and the water-controlled valve.

In testimon whereof I aiiix my signature in presence o two witnesses.

SIMON W. ROTHENBERGER.

Witnesses:

BEENICE G. WHEELER, HARRY D. KmeoRE.

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