US1337077A - Internal-combustion engine - Google Patents

Description

E. T. KERSHAW.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION HLED MAY 21. 1919.

1,337,077. Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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INIERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILE Q MAY 21, 1.919.-

Patented Apr. 13, 1920. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- MUM grwc/wtoo VVV Em zKew/w UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

l EDWIN T. KERSHAW; OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TO THE HUNTER GAS ENGINE AND DEVELOPMENT: COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF COLORADO.

INTEitlEAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

Application filed May 21, 1919. Se'rial No. 298,793.

useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion 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.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines particularly of the twostroke cycle type.

It is one of'theobjects of the present invention to improve internal combustion engines of the type having a hollow or tubular piston in which there is arranged a complementary head or closure member between which and the top of the piston there is designed to be indrawn, compressed and then expressed into the combustion chamber of the engine a suitable fuel or combustible mixture and to provide for the support of such complementary head through the open end of the piston. It is one of the important objects of the present invention to provide an adjustable reciprocating "compression or abutment member within the piston, whereby the combustible fuel may be brought to any desired degree of preliminary compression, which degree obviously may vary according to the uses and operating conditions of the engine.

It is also one of the principal objects of this invention to provide a construction whereby a maximum amount of fuel, con- 'sidering the size of the engine, may be drawn into the preliminary compression chamber and there compressed for discharge into the combustion chamber.

Therefore with these and other objects in view as will become manifest to those versed in the art, the invention consists in the construction, combination, and details and elements of the parts as more particularly described in the following specification relative to the illustrated embodiment of the engine in the drawings in which Figure 1 is a central, longitudinal section through one type and conventional form of gas engine. r

Fig. 2 is a similar section taken on a plane at right angles to the plane of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a cross section on line 3--3 of Fig. 1 through the lower end of the piston on the line of the wrist pin.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view partly in elevation and partly in section of Fig. 1 and of. slightly modified form to illustrate the means of adjusting the internal head and eccentric on the crank shaft.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary end elevation of a portion of Fig. 4.

In the illustrated adaptation of the engine there is shown a convenient form of a headed cylinder 2 resting on a crank case 3 in which is j ournaled a crank 6 connected by a connecting rod 7 to a wrist pin 8 mounted in diametrically opposed bosses 9 formed in or attached to the lower end of a tubular or cylindrical piston 10. The upper end of this piston is preferably closed by a removable cap or end member 11 permitting the insertion and removal of an interior, preferably cup-shaped abutment or compression member or head 12, between which and the cap 11 of the piston there is formed a chamber in which fuel may be compressed previously to its admission into the combustion chamber 13. The cylinder 2, the piston 10 and head 12 (when the sides therefore are high enough to require itas shown in Fig. 1) are provided with registrable inlet ports 14, 15 and 16 respectively, for the induction of a suitable fuel from any source and these elements (including member 12 when its sides are sufliciently high to require it) are provided also with registrable ports generally indicated at 16 and of the compressed fuel from between the piston and the compression member when gree of compression of the gaseous fuel and furthermore a feature of the invention resides in the provision of means for varym the reciprocation of this compression hea As here shown the compression member 12 which permit the escape is secured to the upper ends of operating rods 18 whose lower portions are passe through apertures or guide ways 19, formed therefor in the bosses 9 of the piston 10. The lower ends of the rods 18 are pivotally connected in the presentcase at 20 to eccentric straps 21 operating on suitable eccentrics 22, secured or formed on the ends of the corresponding shaft adjacent to the crank arms 6. Preferably the eccentrics are secured on the crank shaft 4 in such manner as to provide for their adjustment and thus to vary the degree of suction and compression ofthe gaseous fuel between the "compression head 12 and the cap 11 of the piston when these two are in their most distant and closest relative positions respectively during the operation of the motor after the parts have been adjusted as may be desired as determined bythe nature of the use of the engine and also by its normal opcrating conditions.

It will be evident from the drawings and the foregoing description that the present invention makes possible a shortening of the piston and cylinder of the engine without decreasing the maximum or increasing the minimum ,sizes of the preliminary compres- S1011 space.

It will also be evident that while the foregoing description refers to the admission of combustible fuel into the preliminary compression space, this construction may be as readily used with heavy fuels where the fuel is injected into compressed air in the combustion chamber, the air alone (instead of the combustible mixture) being subjected to preliminary compression.

While I have shown the invention in the present case as embodiedin an engine of only one cylinder and its piston, it is obvious that multiple units may be employed and further that various other modifications, alterations and changes within the spirit of the invention may be resortedto within the scope of the appended claims.

Should the reciprocation of the head 12 be found undesirable or unnecessary in engines constructed for any particular use, it will be evident that the reciprocation may be eliminated by omitting the eccentrics and mounting the supporting rods 18 on any suitable bearing on the shaft 4 or upon any other suitable support within the crank case, thus retaining the advantages of supporting the head 12 through the open end of the piston without causing reciprocation thereof.

The means for adjusting the internal head and eccentric on shaft are illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 and consist of a hearing or collar 26 slidably mounted upon rod 18 and relatively affixed to rod 18 by a set screw 27 at predetermined positions, and a cap screw 24 in eccentric 22 adapted to engage suitable holes 25 in the crank shaft and to interlock said eccentric 22 to said crank shaft in predetermined position.

l/Vhat I claim is 1. An internal combustion engine of the two-stroke cycle type, having a cylinder, a hollow piston reciprocable therein, an abutment head fitted in the piston, each of said parts having coordinate inlet ports to register at one position thereof, and means for adjusting the relative position of the head in the piston to change the degree of compression of the fuel previously to its being admitted to the combustion chamber of the engine 2. An internal combustion engine of the two-stroke cycle type, having a cylinder, a hollow piston reciprocable therein, an abutment head fitted in the piston, each of said parts having coordinate inlet ports to register at one position thereof, and means for adjusting the relative position of the head in the piston to change the degree of compression of the fuel previously to its being admitted to the combustion chamber of the engine and for reciprocating the head.

3. An internal combustion engine of the two-stroke cycle type, having a cylinder, a hollow'piston reciprocable therein, an abutment head fitted in the piston, said parts having registerable inlet ports and registerable outlet ports for the included chamber, and means adjustably connected to the engine shaft for reciprocating the abutment head in the piston to compress the fuel previously to its admission to' the combustion chamber.

l. Aninternal combustion engine of the two-stroke cycle type, having a cylinder, a hollow piston reciprocable therein, an abutment head fitted in the piston, said parts having registerable inlet ports and registerable outlet por'ts for the included chamber, andmeans connected to the engine shaft for reciprocating the abutment head in the piston to .compress the fuel previously to its admission to the combustion chamber, the lower end of the piston having guides, said means including rods running in the guides, and eccentrics on the shaft and connected to the rods.

'5. An internal combustion engine of the two-stroke cycle type, having a cylinder, a hollow piston reciprocable therein, said parts having coordinate inlet ports to register at one position thereof, an abutment head fitted in the piston, and means for adjusting the relative position of the head in the piston to change the degree of compression of the fuel previous to its admission to the combustion chamber of the engine.

6. An internal combustion engine of the two-stroke cycle type, having a cylinder, a hollow piston reciprocable therein, said parts having coordinateinlet ports to register at one position thereof, an abutment head fit- 130 ted in the piston, means connected to the engine shaft for reciprocating the abutment head Within the piston, and means for adjusting the position and reciprocation of the head in the piston.

In an internal combustion engine of two-stroke cycle type having a cylinder With 1 a combustion chamber and a hollow piston operative therein and a complementary member Within the piston to form a preliminary compression chamber within' the piston, adjustable means for supporting said member through the open end of the piston.

' In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EDWIN T. KERSHAVV.

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