US1329364A - Gas-engine - Google Patents

Description

C. BRITT.

GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7. 1917.

1,329,364. Patented Feb. 3,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

C. BRITT.

L GAS ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 7. I917- Patented Feb. 3,1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

was 376%.

C. BRITT.

GAS ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 1 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

gwvewroz I I l J luon 10.133,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES BRIT'I, 0F ALGONA, IOWA.

GAS-ENGINE.

App1ication filed November 7, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES BRITT, a citiconsists in providing an engine structure in.

which the cylinders are closed at both ends, the space between one end of each cylinder and its piston providing a pie-compression chamber for a fuel charge which is subsequently transferred into the space between the other end of the cylinder and piston, which constitutes the firing chamber, and there exploded, the single piston serving both as a means for pro-compressing the charge and as a means for imparting power from the exploding charge to the crank shaftof the engine.

A still further object of my invention resides in constructing an engin of this character having an improved system of valves all of the puppet type and all normally held in closed position by springs and all moved at suitable times to open position by means of lift rods controlled by cams upon the crank shaft.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and then specifically pointed out in the claims which form a part of this application.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved engine;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view of the engine;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated. in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

Although any number of cylinders may Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 3, 1920.

Serial No. 200,798.

be employed in my improved gas engine construction I have for the sake of simplicity illustrated merely a two-cylinder engine in which the cylinders 10 and 11 at their lower ends have circumferential attaching flanges so that they may be connected by cap screws 13 to the top of the upper portion lat of the crank case 15. The upper ends or cylinder heads pro-per of these cylinders are thickened, as shown at 16, and are preferably formed integrally with the cylinders. These thickened portions at one side are cored to provide fuel inlet passages 17 opening radially through the heads and to provide the diametrically opposed exhaust passages 18, also opening radially through the heads. Each cylinder wall adjacent its lower end and preferably directly below the fuel inlet passage 17 is formed with a mixture outlet passage and at the same level directly below the exhaust passage 18 with a mixture inlet passage 20.

The upper section 14: of the crank case15 has a closed top which forms in effect the lower cylinder heads of the cylinders and the two casing sections have meeting'flanges 21 to receive bolts 22 by' means of which they are secured together. In the line of the abutting faces the casing sections are formed with bearings 22 to journal the crank shaft 23. Operating in each of the cylinders is a piston 24, the piston rod 25.

of which extends through a stufling box, indicated as a whole by the numeral 26, locatedin the top wall ofthe crank casing. This stufling box includes a sleeve 27 which is threaded through the wall of the crank casing and which at its upper end has an inwardly directed flange 28 closely engaging about the piston rod 25. Fitting closely within this sleeve and about therod are alternate spring rings and washers 29, and 30.which are clamped together by a'packing nut 31. The lower end of each piston rod is laterally enlarged, as shown at 32,130 engage against one face of flanges 33 which extend toward each other from vertically.

shown in Fig. 3, in such a manner that the thickened portion of thepiston rod together with the plate 35. provides a cross-head, in-

dicated as a whole by the numeral 38, which operates upon the flanges of the guides.

The sections making up this cross-head are recessed so that when assembled they provide bearings for trunnions 39 at the upper end of a connecting rod 40 which joins the cross head with the cooperating crank arm 41 of the crank shaft. Of course, the crank arms of the shaft are disposed in opposition so that when one piston is in fully raised positionthe other will be in fully lowered position.

An intake manifold 42 has its trunk portion connected to any suitable form of carbureter l3 and its branches connected to the cylinder walls about the mixture inlet ports or passages formed therein. The manifolds adjacent the ends of their branches are formed with spiders 4:4: to support and guide the stems 4:5 of puppet valves 46. These stems project through the wall of the inanifold and have abutment heads 47. Helical springs 48 engage these heads and the manifold to normally hold the valves in closed position. Pivoted at one end to a lug as projecting from the crank casing between the lower ends of the cylinders is a lever arm 50 of suitable length so that when swung in one direction it will engage the head of one valve stem to move the valve toopen position, while when swung in the opposite direction it will correspondingly open the other valve. An arm 51 extends laterally and rigidly form the intermediate portion of this lever and a link 52 has pin and slot connection for the free end of the arm operatively connecting with the eccentric strap 53 of an eccentric 5&1 carried by the crank shaft By this means the valves 46 will be alternately opened, each valve being opened once during each complete revolution of the crank shaft.

it transfer conduit 55 leads from the mixture outlet port of each cylinder to the inlet port 17 of the same cylinder, as best shown in rigs-1 and 2. Each conduit adjacent that end leading from the port 19 is formed with a spider 56 supporting the valve stem 57 of a puppet valve 58. A bell-crank lever 59 pivoted upon a lug 60 extending from the casing has one arm connected by pin and slot connection with the free end of the valve stem 57 a helical spring 61 serving to normally hold the valve 58 closed. Valve stems 62 reciprocally mounted in the cylinder heads carry valves 63 for closing the mixture inlet passages 17 and at their outer ends are operatively connected to one arm of the levers (i pivoted upon brackets 65 carried by the cylinder heads, springs 66 serving to normally hold the valves 63 closed. A lift rod 67 is reciprocally mounted in the top of thefc'ylinder casing in 'alinement with the levers 5 9 and 64 and has operative connection with sachet the levers, two lift rods being provided, onefor each cylinder. The lower ends of the lift rods are forked to journal rollers 68 which engage against cams 69 carried by the crank shaft.

Valve stems 70 corresponding to the valve stems 62 carry valves 71 which normally close the exhaust ports or passages 18 in the cylinder heads and are operatively connected to levers 72' pivoted upon brackets 7 3, these valves being held in closed position by springs 7 4-. Lift rods 75 are operatively connected to the levers 72, reciprocally supported in the top of the crank casing and at their lower endsare forked to journal rollers 7 6 engaging against cams 77 mounted upon the crank shaft. An exhaust manifold 78 has branches 7 9 which communicate with the exhaust passages 18, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The cylinder heads are, of course, cored, as shown at 80, to receive spark plugs 81 by means of which the compressed charges may be fired.

In describing the operation of my improved internal combustion engine I will assume that there is a compressed charge of explosive mixture in the lower end of the cylinder 10 which is being introduced into the upper end of the cylinder past the valve 58, through the conduit 55 and past thevalve 63, an exploded charge having been previously exhausted past the valve 71. In this connection it should be noted that the cams 69 and 77 are so timed that at the proper point in the downward movement of the piston the valve 71 is opened while at the bottom of the stroke of the piston the valve 71 is closed and the valves 58 and 63 are opened. 1 will also assume that there is a compressed charge of explosive gas above the piston in the cylinder 11 and that a charge of explosive is being drawn into the lower end of the cylinder 11 past the valve 46, the remaining valves of the cylinder 11 being closed. Under these conditions firing of the charge above the piston in the cylinder 11 will cause downward movement of such piston and upward movement of the other piston. As this movement starts, the valve &6 of the cylinder '11 will be closed so that the gas drawn into the lower end of such cylinder will be compressed while the valve 46 of the cylinder 10 will be opened so that an explosive mixture may be drawn into the cylinder 10. Furthermore the valves 58 and 63 of the cylinder 10 will be closed. Immediately before the pis tons reach the position reverseto that shown in Fig. 2 the valves 46 and 63 of the cylinder 11 will be open so that when the pistons have reached dead center the valves will all'be in a position reverse to that shown in Fig. 2. This constitutes a complete cycle of operation of my improved engine, a charge being fired in each cylinder for each complete rotation of the crank shaft. Obviously, upon further turning of the crank shaft the piston and valves of the cylinder 10 will operate in the manner above described for cylinder 11,

while the piston and valves of the cylinder 11 will operate in the manner above described for cylinder 10. For this reason no further explanation is necessary.

Attention is directed to the extreme simplicity of the valve controlling mechanism in that a single link or lift rod controls the mixture inlet valves for both cylinders, while for each cylinder a single lift rod controls both the valve permitting passageof mixture from beneath the piston and the valve controlling the admission of mixture to the cylinder above the piston.

It will, of course, be appreciated that various structural changes may be made and I, therefore, reserve the right to make any changes within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a gas engine, a pair of cylinders closed at both ends, pistons operating in the cylinders and providing at one side pre-compression chambers and at the opposite side firing chambers, means for venting burnt gases from the firing chambers, means for transferring an explosive mixture from the pre-compression chambers to the firing chambers, means for admitting an explosive mixture to the pro-compression chambers, said latter means including a valve for each cylinder, a lever pivoted for swinging movement to engage at its free end with either valve to force it to open position, a crank shaft, an eccentric mounted upon the crank shaft, and operative connection be tween the eccentric and lever whereby turning of the crank shaft will shift the lever to first engage at its free end with one and then the other valve for selectively opening said valves.

2. In a gas engine, a cylinder closed at both ends, a piston mounted to reciprocate within the cylinder, a crank-shaft having pipe establishing communication between opposite ends of the cylinder at opposite sides of the piston, an intake valve at one end of the cylinder, an exhaust valve at the opposite end of the cylinder, reciprocable transfer 'valves at opposite ends of said pipe, one of said valves being disposed in a plane at right angles to the other, a lift rod operable from the crank shaft, and an operative connection between the lift rod and the transfer valves for simultaneously actuating said transfer valves.

3. In a gas engine, a cylinder closed at both ends, a piston mounted to reciprocate within the cylinder, a crank shaft having the piston connected therewith, a transfer pipe establishing communication between opposite ends of the cylinder at opposite sides of the piston, an intake valve at one end ofthe cylinder, an exhaust valve at the opposite end of the cylinder, reciprocable transfer valves at opposite ends of said pipe, a lift rod operable from the crank shaft, a rocker arm engaged with the lift rod for actuating one of said transfer valves, and a bell crank lever engaged with the lift rod for simultaneously actuating the other of the transfer valves.

4-. In a gas engine, a pair of cylinders, pistons mounted to reciprocate therein, means establishing communication between opposite ends of each cylinder at opposite sides of its piston, means controlling such communication, exhaust valves at corresponding ends of'the cylinders, oppositely disposed intake valves at the other corresponding ends of the cylinders, a crank case, a lever pivoted thereon in a plane between the outer ends of the intake valves, and means for swinging said lever to alternately engage and openthe intake valves.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CHARLES BRITT. [1 s.]

Images