US1305905A - Mechanism for facilitating the starting op internal-combustion engines - Google Patents

Description

C. Y. KNIGHT.

MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 11. I918.

1 ,305,905. Patented June 3, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

C. Y KNIGHT. MECHANISM FOR FACILITATING THE STARTING 0F iNTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. IT, l9l8.

Patented June 3, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES Y. KNIGHT, 0F PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE KNIGHT AMERICAN PATENTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, AOOBPOBATION OF ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 3, 1919.

Application filed Octoberii', 1818. Serial No. 258,587.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Y. KNIGHT, a citizen of the United States,.re'siding at Pasadena, in the county of'Los An eles and State of California, have inven certain new and useful Im rovements in Mechanism for Facilitating t e Starting of Internal- Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object the provision of mechanism of the class named which shall be of improved construction and Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2--2 of Fi 1 and I ig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

In many cases the conditions under which internal combustion engines are 0 erated, makes it imperative that the weigh of the engine and associated arts shall be reduced to a minimum and on or such conditions it is very desirable to dispense with the usual starting mechanism. This is especially true in aerial navigation and this renders the starting of the engine ver diflicult'unless special provision is made or this purpose. In my copending application, Serial No. 242,278, filed June 27, 1918, I have shown one form of internal combustion engine in which the engine cylinders and base rotate independently of the crank shaft and at different rates of speed and in the drawings in the present application I have illustrated my invention as applied to an engine of this type. In the drawings, the numeral 10 designates the base or crank casing of an inter-. nal combustion engine provided with radially arranged cylinders 11. The casing 10 is provided with a hollow journal 12 supported in a bearing 13 which is carried by a frame member 14 of the machine operated by the engine. At the side of the casing 10 and 1s journaled to rotate therein.

opposite the bearing 13 a second bearing 15 1s supported by the frame 16 and has journaled therein a projection 17 which extends from the casing 10. In this way the casing 10 and the-englne cylinders 11 are mounted to rotate freely in the frame members 14 and 15 of the machine operated by the engine. The crank shaft 18 extends through the hol low pro ections 12 and 17 of the casing 10 One end of the shaft 18 is connected with. the load to be driven which in the drawing is illustrated as a propeller blade 19 of an aeroplane. The opposite end of the crank shaft 18 is provided with a gear 20 loose upon the shaft 18 but arranged to be caused to rotate therewith by a friction clutch 21. The clutch 21 is operated by a lever 22 connected with the clutch by suitable links and held in its various positions of ad'ustment by a ratchet 23. A spring 24 may e provided to normally force the clutch into position to lock the gear 20 with the shaft 18. The gear 20 meshes with a larger gear 21 which is formed integral with a pinion 25 meshing with an idler pinion 26 which in turn drives a second arge gear 27. The gear 27 is rigid Withka shaft 28 journaled in a sleeve 29 u on the frame 16 of the machine and the s aft 28 carries a sprocket 29 which drives a sprocket chain 30. The sprocket chain 30 passes around a sprocket wheel 31 formed integral with the engine casing 10.

When the engine is operated the shaft 18 and casing 10 will, of course, be rotated relative to one another and the chain of gearing driven by the 'inion 20 on the shaft 18 determines the re ative speed of rotation of the two engine parts upon the frame 16. It will be seen that the casing 10 will be rotated through the reduction gearing at,a comparatively low speed while the shaft 18 and the propeller blade 19 will be driven at a rapaid rate of speed in an opposite direction. y this arrangement the advantages of a rotating engine base and cylinders are secured without the 'disadvanta resulting from the rapid speed of rotation incident to the type of engine in which the c linder base rotates at the rate of speed 0 parts.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the end of the shaft 18 has rigidly secured thereto a ratchet the driven.

wheel 32 and a pawl 33 is pivoted on the out of engagement with" the ratchet wheel.

In starting an en ine of this type, the clutch 21 is disconnecte and the pawl 33 is moved out of engagement with the ratchet 32. This leaves the engine casing 10 and the shaft 18 free to be rotated in unison with one another and consequently the entire mass may be rotated as a free wheel without shifting the pistons in their cylinders and consequently without the resistance due to compression in the cylinders. This makes it comparatively easy to bring the speedpf rotation of the engine base up to a point where the movin parts will possess considerable energy @ecause of their momentum. The parts will be rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed. in Figs. 2 and 3. When the momentum of the moving parts has become sufficiently great, the operator will move the pawl 33 into engagement with the ratchet 32 and thus stop the rotation of the shaft 18 leaving the casing 10 free to continue its rotation in a counterclockwise direction. This of course will cause relative rotation between the crank shaft and engine base and a consequent movement of the pistons in their cylinders exactly the same as if the engine base were held stationary and the engine cranked inthe usual manner in starting. It will be noted that when the shaft 18 is brought to a stop the two relative] movable parts of the engine will be rotating in the same direction relative to one another that they assume during the operation of the engine and consequently as. soon as the ex losions in the cylinders begin, the parts W1 Icontinue to rotate in the same direction relative to one another but the relative rotation will be kept u 1 b the energy of the explosions in the cylin ers. The clutch 21may now be thrown in so that the engine frame and shaft may be brought to their proper speed of rotation relative to the machine frame, and when this has been accomplished the engine will be operating in a normal way. When the explosions be in in theengine cylinder the tendenc wi 1 be to rotate the shaft 18 is a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 3, and the heavy parts, including the engine frame. and cylinder casings, in a counter-clockwise direction. As these heavy parts are already moving in this direction, therewill be no sudden strain brought upon the engine but the heavy parts will continue to move in the same direction in which they are already going. There will be no out resistance to-the movement of the sha in the direction in which it is rotated because it rotates freely under the pawl 33 in this direction.

It will be apparent that instead of bringing the shaft 18 to a sudden stopby throwing the pawl 33 into engagement with theratchet 32, the engine may be started by first bringing the heavy parts 10 and 11 up to the necessary speed to give them the required momentum and then throwing the clutch 21 into engagement with the gear 20 which will produce relative rotation of the shaft 18 and engine cylinders 11 in a for ward direction and cause explosions to occur in the cylinders in the same way as if the engine were cranked in the usual manner.

I claim;

1. In combination, a motor mounted to rotate and having a shaft arranged to be driven thereb means for preventing rotation ofsaid s aft while other parts of said motor continue to rotate to cause relative movement of said shaft and rotating parts for the purpose of starting the operation of said motor.

2. In combination, a motor having the frame member thereof mounted for rotation and having a crank shaft arran ed to rotate relative to said frame during t e operation of said motor, means for supporting said frame andshaft to rotate in unison with one another, and means for stoppin the rotation of said shaft to cause relative rotation of said frame and shaft for the purpose of starting the operation of said motor.

3. In. an internal combustion engine, an engine base having engine cylinders mounted thereon, means for supporting said base and cylinders so that they are free to rotate, a shaft connected with said cylinders to be drven thereby, means for supporting said shaft so that it is free to rotate with said engine base and cylinders, and means for checking the rotation of said shaft to cause relative movement between said base and shaft for the purpose of starting the operation of said motor.

4. An internal combustion engine having a rotary crank shaft, cylinders arranged to rotate about said crank shaft, means for sup- "porting said shaft and cylinders so that thev are free.to rotate in unison with one another, and means for holding said shaft to cause it to rotate relative to sa d cylinders for the purpose of starting theoperation of said engine.

5. The combination with an internal combustion engine having cylinders and a crank shaft both arranged to rotate, of means for supporting said cylinders and crank shaf so that the. are free to rotate in' unison w ith one anot er, and means for causing said cylinders and shaft to rotate relatively to one another.

6. An internal combustion en ine comprising a base having cylinders an auxiliary mechanism connected therewith, a rotary crank shaft driven by said cylinders, s eed reduction gearing driven by said crank s ft for rotating said base, cylinders and auxiliary mechanism carried therebcy, and means for disconnecting said speed re uction gearing to permit said base and crank shaft to rotate in unison with one another.

7. In an internal combustion engine, driving mechanism and a driven member, means for supporting said driving mechanism and driven member to move in unison with one another to develop kinetic energy in said moving parts, and means for causing said parts to move relative to one another under the influence of the energy thus developed for the purpose of starting the operation of said engine.

8. In an internal combustion engine, a base member having cylinders connected therewith, a crank shaft journaled to rotate in said base member and driven by said engine, bearings for supporting said base memher and shaft so that they are free to rotate in unison with one another to develop energy of rotation, and means for checking the rotation of said shaft While said engine base continues to move thus producing relative rotation between said shaft and engine base for the purpose of starting the operation of said engine.

9. In an internal combustion engine, a base having cylinders carried thereby, a crank shaft journaled in said base and driven by said cylinders, means for supporting said base and shaft so that they are free to rotate in unison with one another, means for connecting said shaft and base to cause thenr to rotate relative to one another, and means for throwing said connecting means into and out of operative relation with said engine base and shaft.

10. In combination, an engine comprising a driving portion and a driven portion adapted for relative rotation during the normal operation of the engine, a starting mechanism therefor including means for rotating both of said portions in unison and subsequently changing the speed of one of said portions with respect to the other to cause the engine to assume its normal cyclic function.

11. In combination, an engine comprising a driving portion and a driven portion adapted for relative rotation during the normal operation of the engine, a starting mechanism therefor including means for rotating both of said portions in unison and subsequently preventing rotation of said driven portion to cause the engine to assume its normal cyclic function.

12. In combination, an engine comprising a driving portion and a driven portion mounted for rotation in unison, means for effecting a change in speed of said driven portion, and means actuated by said driven portion for continuing the rotation of said driving portion in the direction in which it is first moved.

13. In combination, an internal combustion engine having both cylinders and crank shaft adapted for relative rotation durin the normal operation of the engine, an starting mechanism therefor comprising means for rotating both the cylinders and crank shaft in unison, and subsequently changing the speed of the crank shaft relative to-the cylinders in order to cause the engine to assume its cyclic function.

14. In combination, an internal combustion engine comprising cylinders and a crank shaft adapted for relative rotation with respect to each other during the normal operation of the engine, and starting mechanism therefor including means for rotating both the cylinders and crank shaft in unison, and means for subsequently retarding the rotation of the crank shaft to effect the starting of the en ine.

15. In com ination, a driving mechanism comprising an internal combustion engine mounted for rotation and havin a crank shaft mounted to rotate both in unlson therewith and in a reverse direction with respect thereto, means for preventing rotation of said shaft to effect a starting of the engine, and means actuated by said shaft for continuing the rotation of the engine in the direction in which it is first moved.

16. The method of starting an internal combustion engine in which a driving and a driven portion are adapted to rotate relative to each other during the normal operation of the engine, which consists in rotating both the driving and driven portions in umson to store energy in the rotating mass, and subsequently retarding the rotation of one of the said portions to permit the stored energy to be utilized in causing the engine to assume its cyclic function.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification on this 14th day of October, A. I 1918.

CHARLES Y. KNIGHT.

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