US1907512A - Ignition apparatus - Google Patents

Description

y 1933. c. H. DAVIS, JR

IGNITION APPARATUS Filed Sept. 16, 1931 31mm 444% ak. M*% a Patented May 9, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES HALL DAvIs, JR, or N ERSON, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO DELCO-BEMY CORPORATION, or ANDERSON, INDIANA, A conroRA'rIoN or DELAWARE IGNITION APPARATUS Applicationfiled September 16, 1931. Serial No. 563,073.

5 and requiring the firing of a plurality of spark gaps at each explosion period. @ne example of such engine might be a heavy duty internal combustion engine such as used to furnish the power for gasoline-elem -tric trains of the type wherein an internal combustion engine operates a generator which in turn operates electric motor niechanically connected with the wheels of the car.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide ignition apparatus for supplying concurrently a plurality of spar ing impulses to the groups of sparlr gaps to be fired at each explosion per1od. In the disclosed embodiment of the present invention this object is carried out by providing an induction apparatus having as many secondary terminals as there are spark plugs in each engine cylinder, or spark plugs to be fired at each explosion period by providing an ignition interrupter which will cause sparking impulses to be generated simultaneously in'the secondary coils'of the induction apparatus to which the secondary terminals are connected, and by providing an ignition distributor having a headc'arrying a circular row of posts to which the secondary terminals are respectively connected, said headalso carrying concentrically withrespect tothe secondary terminal posts, a row or rows of distributor posts to which thespark plugs are respectively connected, and by providing a distributor rot-or having a plurality of distributing arms each so constructed and-arranged so as to pass between the secondary terminal posts and the spark plug posts of the head while remaining out of contact therewith in order that it may cooperate with any of the sec- 5 ondary coil terminal posts of the distributor head to conduct sparking impulses fi'omthe secondary coilsto certain ones of the spark plug terminal posts of the distributor, head.

Further objects and advantages of the PreSen i Ventmn Will be apparent from the following description, reference being had tov the accompanying drawing wherein a preferredembodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Figs. 1 and 2 taken together constitute a wiring diagram illustrating the present invention. p

Referring to the drawing an induction coil C is provided with a primary coil P and with four secondary coils S1, S2, S3 and St which are connected respectively with secondary terminal posts D-Sl, D-S2, Ill-S3, l)--Sd carried by a distributor head D. The secondary coils S1, S2, S3 and S4 and the primary P are connected by switch 20 with a battery 21 grounded at 22. Primary P is connected with terminal 23 of an ignition timer 24 comprising a cam 25 driven by shaft 26 and cooperating with the rubbing block 27 attached to a circuit breaker lever 28 carrying acontact 29 cooperating with a stationary contact 30 and grounded at 31. The rubbing block 27 is urged toward the cam 25 and the contact 29 toward contact 30 by a leaf spring conductor 32.

having one end attached to the terminal 23 and the other to the lever 28. It is, there fore, apparent that each time the pair oi contacts 29, 30 are separated by the action of the cam 25 upon the rubbing block 27 four sparking impulses will be generated simultaneously in the secondary coils S1, S2, S3 and S4. The four sparking impulses generated in the ignition coil C each time the terminal contacts are separated are conducted to the various spark plugs of the engine cylinders in a manner to be described.

The cylinders of the engine are designated in Fig. 1 by the circles numbered 1 to 8 inclusive respectively. The four spark plugs of each cylinder are lettered A, B, C and D respectively.

Each of the engine r. ark plugs is connected by a wire, not 3 own, to one of a required number of distributor posts 40 carried by the head D. Obviously, there are as many distributor posts 40 as there are spark plugs. For example, in the disclosed 40 nearest the to of the drawing numbered r impulse is $523 that each the distributor splark embodiment of the prewnt invention the engine has 8 cylinders each rovided with 4 spark fillugs making a of 32 spark plugs. e distributor head D has 32 distributor posts 40 to which the engine s ark plugs are respectively connected. All 0 the distributor spark plug posts 40 may be arranged in a single row concentric with the row of secondary terminal posts D-S1, D'S2, D-S3 and DS4, or these. distributor spark plu posts 40 may be arranged in staggere re ation in two or more concentric circular rows in order to provide for properly insulating the posts 40 from each other.

The distributor head D cooperates with four distributing arms R1, R2, R3, and R4 which are mounted upon a suitable rotor lgiaock not shown, and driven by the shaft it will be observed that each distributor rotor arm has a portion extending radially with respect to the axis of the shaft 26 and an arcuate rtion which extends coaxial with the s aft 26 through an angle which is greater than one-ha f the angle between any two adjacent seconda termimfl The rotors R2 and 4 of shorter length distribute only to the inner row of 40, and the rotor arms R1 and R3 of greater len distribute only tothe outer row of distri utor '40. The rotors B1 .and B3 during t eir rotation about-the shaft 26 will not interfere with.

1-33. The indicia. 50 means that distributor 'post 40 is connected with spark lug C of cylinder number the in 'cia 1 means that secondary coil S1 serves to provide the sparking impulses for the spark plug 50; and the indicia R3 means that rotor R3 is located so as to bridge the gap between secondaryvterminal post D-Sl and said distributor post (marked -81-33) at the time the nerated. It will be p 40issimilarl d atedb tree in dfiua. In each insta iice the first indicia indicates the cylinder and plug'to which that posts is connected, the mi dle indicia indicates the secondary coil and the secondy terminal p st whi h i acti e to B awl} a sparkin impulse, and the third indicia indicates w ich rotor serves to conduct the sparking impulse from the secondary terminal post to the distributor spark plug st.

In the present invention the cam s aft 26 rotates at cycle speed that is, one-half engine speed for a four cycle internalcombustion engine or the engine speed .for a two cycle internal combustion engine. The shaft 26 operates a circuit interrupter coopcrating with induction coil C in such a manner that during each revolution of shaft 26 there will be generated as many sets of sparking impulses as there are engine cylinders. There will. be as many sparking impulses in'each set of im ulses as there are spark plugs to be fired. n order to rovide for the distribution of these spar 'ng impulses the present invention contemplates the use of as many distributor rotor arms as there are spark plugs in each cylinder, each rotor arm cooperating with each of a number of secondary terminal arran ed in a circular row on the distributor he thenumber of being also ual to the number of spar plugs, in each c inder. The present invention contemp ates that each of the distributor rotor arms is capable of occupying as many sparking-impulse-conducting positions as there are engine cylinders; and that in any sparking. impulse-conducting position of a rotor, said rotor is located in cooperative relation with res to one of the secondary terminal posts of the distributor head; and that each one of said secondary terminal posts of the distributor head serves all of the distributor rotor arms during each rotation thereof of the distributor. rotor arms. For example, in the disclosed embodiment of the invention there are eight cylinders each having four spark plugs, therefore, the cam 25 must be provided with eight lobes each rotation thereof, the cam will operate upon the rubbing block 27 ei t times so that eight instances of sparking impulse generation will occur during one revolution of shaft 26. In each instance of sparking impulse generation four sparki impulses will be generated simultaneously be four secondary coils S1, S2, S3 and- Since 'there are four sparking impulses generated simultaneously in each instance of sparking impulse generation four separate rotors are uired to distribute the four sparking impu see to the four spark plugs of any one cylinder. Since'each-rotor has eight sparking impulse conducting positions corre sponding in number to the number of cam lobes of cam 25, and since there are but four secondary. terminal to be placed in conductive relation wit to the rotor in eight difierent positions t ereof, it is apparent that each secondary terminal post must be c n c ve relation with to each so that, during rotor in two consecutive positions of that rotor during a complete rotation of the shaft 26. Therefore, since each rotor moves 45 between sparking-impulse-conducting positions, each rotor must be provided with an arcuate portion extending through an angular distance of at least 45 so that in two consecutive positions of any rotor one of the secondary terminal posts will be in conductive relation thereto. Obviously, in the disclosed embodiment of the present invention the length of the arcuate portion of each rotor is an arc subtended by an angle of greater than 45.

The present invention may be applied to engines having other numbers of cylinders and .numbersof spark plugs per cylinder.

, For example, an ignition apparatus for a six cylinder engine having three spark plugs per cylinder would require a six lobe cam and three secondary windings and terminals corresponding to the number of spark plugs. The three secondary terminal posts of the distributor head would be equidistant angularly namely at 120 in a circular row on the distributor head. The number of ,rotor arms would be three and each rotor arm would have an arcuate portion subtended by an' angle at least equal to one-half the angle between the secondary terminal posts, namely an angle of at least From the examples given, it' is obvious that the invention may be applied to other.

combinations of numbers of cylinders and numbers of spark plu s in each cylinder.

While the form 0? embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted,

all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

a What is claimed is as follows: 1. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines havin a plurality of spark gasps to be supplie with sparking imulses at each explosion period comprising, in combination, means for generating sparking impulses and having a plurality of terminals, engine operated circuit breaker means for controlling the sparking impulse generators, a distributor head carrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with spark gaps, a plurality of posts of substantially the same width as the spark gap postsof the head, and arranged concentrically therewith, and connected respectively with terminals of the spark generating means, a plurality of distributing arms arranged to pass between the first and second mentioned posts but out of contact therewith in order to distribute sparking impulses from the second mentioned posts to certain of the spark gap posts, and means for operating the circuit breaker means and for rotating the distributing arms,

means for controlling the sparking impulse generators, a distributor headcarrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with spark gaps, a plurality of posts of substantially the same width as the spark gap posts of the head and arranged concentrically therewith, and connected respectively with terminals of the spark-generating means, a plurality of distributing arms arranged to pass between the first and second mentioned posts but out of contact therewith in order to distribute sparking impulses from the second mentioned posts to certain of the spark gap posts, each arm. having an arcuate end portion which moves past the'second mentioned posts and which receives a plurality of sparking impulses from one of the second mentioned posts before passing into cooperative relation with another of the second mentioned posts, and

means for operating the circuit breaker means and for rotating the distributing arms.

3. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines having a plurality of spark gaps to be supplied with sparking impulses at each explosion period comprising, in combination, means for generating s arking impulses and having a plurality 0 terminals,

engine operated circuit breaker means for controlling the sparking impulse generators, a distributor head carrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with s ark gaps, a plurality of posts of substantlally the same width as the spark gap posts of the head and arranged concentrically therewith and connected respectively with terminals of the s ark generating means, a plurality of distri uting arms arranged to pass between the first and second mentioned posts but out of contact therewith in order to distribute sparking impulses from the second mentioned posts to certain of the spark gap posts, each arm being so constructed that coincidentally with the discharge of a series of sparking impulses, it will present pulses to a plurality of spark gaps to be fired in groups simultaneously at each explomentioned sion period, said distributor comprising concentric rows of distributor posts, one row of posts being connected respectively with the spark gaps of the engine, said distributor comprising a rotor carrying distributing conductors which move between the rows of posts in order to provide a conducting path between certain pairs of posts, the number of conductors bein equal to the number of spark gaps to be red simultaneously; and sparking impulse generating means controlled by the engine and connected with the other row of distributor posts.

5. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising, in combination, means for generating spar ing impulses and a distributor carrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with spark gaps of the engine; terminal posts carried by the head and connected with the sparkin' impulse generating means, and a distri utor conductor which moves between said terminal posts and said posts in said circular row in order to provide a conducting path, said distributor conductor having an arcuate end portion which moves adjacent to said terminal posts.

6. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising, in combination,

means for generating sparking impulses and a distributor carrying a circular row of posts connected respectively with spark gaps of the engine; terminal osts carried by the head and connected with the sparking impulse generating means, and a distributor conductor which moves between said terminal posts and said posts in said circular row in order to provide a conducting path, said conductor being so constructed that coincidentally with a discharge of a series of sparking impulses, it will present difierent portions thereof consecutively adjacent to said terminal posts.

7. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising, in combination, a. distributor for distributing sparking impulses to a plurality of spark gaps to be fired in groups simultaneously at each explosion period, said distributor comprising con centric rows of distributor posts, one row of posts being connected respectively with spark gaps of the engine, sparking impulse generating means having terminals 'connected with another row of distributor posts, and said distributor including distributing conductor arms, each arm cooperating with alternate posts of. the row of posts con.- nected with spark gaps and each arm coopcrating with all of the posts connected with sparking impulse generator terminals.

8. Ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines, comprisin in combination,

\ a distributor for distributing sparking impulses to a plurality of spark gaps to be fired in groups simultaneously at each explosion riod, said distributor comprising concentric rows of distributor posts, one row of posts bein connected respectively with spark gaps o the engine, sparking impulse generating means having terminals connected with another row of distributor posts, said distributor including distributing conductor arms, each arm coo rating with alternate posts of the row 0 posts connected with s ark ps and each arm coo erating with a l of t 0 posts connected wit sparking impulse generator terminals, and each arm being so constructed as to cooperate with a s arking impulse generator terminal post a p urality of times during each cycle of operation of the distributor.

In testimony whereof, I hereto aflix my signature.

CHARLES HALL DAVIS, J12.

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