US2080882A - Reversing gear for internal combustion engines - Google Patents

Description

May 7' .H. WALT! I 2,080,882

REVERSING GEAR FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed July 18, 1934 To ENGINE 40 FULL s ar-:0 ASTERN I STOP 5 BKFULL s zeo AHEAD 4 I/STARTING AHEAD TARTING ASTERN ASTERN STARTING ASTERN INVENTOR:

H15 T QR EY$ Patented May 18, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REVERSING GEAR FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Application July 18, 1934, Serial No. 735,816

In Switzerland July 22,1933

4 Claims.

-This invention relates to oil-burning engines,

and especially those for marine duty. It is,

more particularly, concerned with the control andreversing gear therefor, and its general ob- 5 ject is to provide an improved control for starting, running, and reversing such engines.

-'A particular object is to provide a control gear in which premature or'undesired re-commencing of combustions, invariably the cause of the 'lag or delay in changing direction from ahead to astern, will be precluded, and by simple means.

In accordance with the present invention the fuel injection pump, after being rendered inoperative preparatory to reversing the direction of rotation of the engine is maintained inoperative until the direction of rotation of the engine actually has taken place. Itis then restored to its operative condition by cooperating toothedmembers, which act as gears, being brought-into operative engagement to shift one of-said members to a position in which it actuates suitable means to restore the fuel-injection pump to operative condition.

The objects and advantages of the invention will become more manifest from the following description of an illustrative example, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, but the invention is limited in its embodiments only by the scope of the sub-joined-claims.

In the drawing, Fi'g. 1 is a typical schematic lay-out, quite diagrammatic, showing the parts of the controlmechanism in the full-speed ahead position;

Fig. '2 is a similar view showing significant parts at the beginning of the starting astern position, and v I Fig; 3 is a similar view of a more advanced stage-ofthat position.

The mechanism shown in Fig. cylinder I of 2. Diesel engine includes, among other things, a starting valve 2, a compressed air-pipe 3, and manifold 3', connected thereto, a cam shaft 4 (which changes its direction of rotation when the direction of the engine changes), a reversing lever 5, and a fuel pump 6. The'starting valve 2 is reciprocated by the engine I in the usual way by conventional means, not shown. "The fuelpump 6 includes a piston I, a fuel-intake valve 8, a fuel-discharge valve 9, and-a plunger I for reciprocating under and against the intake valve I 8.

Anarm II is provided and mounted for displacement back and forth in the horizontal direction. The member II bears a lug I2 and a 1 applied to a longitudinal slot I3. The cam shaft 4 bears a collar I4 fixed thereon adjacent the arm II, and the collar has two oppositely located lugs I5 thereon, they and the collar being so arranged that they move in the same vertical plane as 5 the lug I2. A small cylinder I1 is provided and suitably mounted below the lever II. The cylinder contains a piston I6 under the influence of the starting-air, as the cylinder I1 is connected to the pipe 3 by a smaller pipe I8. The 10 piston I6 bears on its upper end a roller I9 which therefore maintains II constantly in contact with I4 in all positions,

The lever II, is connected by slot I3 and pin 24, to a link 20, mounted at its lower end on the fixed pivot 2i. The link carries a roller '22 at its upper end, and is movable laterally between two fixed'stops 23. A lever is mounted adjacent the roller 22, and bears a cam-face 26. The distal end is pivoted to the starting lever, 5. 20 A plunger 21 is vertically mounted in a fixed member or guide 28 adjacent lever 25, and is supported on it by a roller '29. The plunger terminates at its upper end in a horizontal arm as. The part 30' engages the plunger III of the 25 fuel pump.

A check valve 32 is provided behind the starting valve 2 and is loaded by a spring 33. A piston 34 is mounted on a cylinder 35 and rigidly 7 connected to valve 32. A valve 36 is mounted 30 in a casing 36 and connected on its upper, or inlet, side by a pipe 31 to the starting-air pipe 3. On its discharge side it is connected to. the top of cylinder 35 by a pipe 38, An opening 39 exhausts the casing 38' to atmosphere. The valve 3-5 38 is actuated by a rod 40, which rod is actuated by the extension 4| of member '30. The rod 4|] isadapted to be moved up into a constriction 22 when it has pushed the valve 36 upwardly,

and then the rod 40 closes off the discharge to 40 atmosphere.

When the lever .5 is brought from the full speed aheadf position shown in Fig. 1, into the starting astern position shown in Fig. 2, in order to reverse the drive, and the direction of the ship, thestarting valve 2 is by this movement, in the conventional manner, (not illustrated) opened and set in operation.' The valve 8 at the same time is lifted by means of the cam 26 moving over the roller 22. This results in completely shutting off all fuel from the engine and admitting starting-air into the cylinder. By these means, the engine is first braked to a momeritary standstill, and thereafter it is forced to rotate in the reverse direction.

' mosphere, the valve 32 acts as a check-valve, and

Until reverse rotation starts, bolt II will be held fast, in its extreme left-hand position by the frictional thrust of the ring M which is still turning in the direction of the arrow up to the moment of change of direction of rotation. At this moment of change, the ball will be moved by friction toward the right, and finally, when one of the detents l5 bears on the detent l2, it will be forcibly displaced to the right bringing the lever 20 and the roller 22 into the right-hand position shown in Fig. 3. In this way the member l4 effects the movement of the lever 25, and plunger 21, and pin I!) by causing them to fall downwardly under their own weight, whereby the suction valve 8 is released and the fuel-pump again starts to work. Lever 20 and cam 26 constitute a latching mechanism for holding lever 25, plunger 21 and valve-actuating pin H] in their upper positions as shown in Fig. 2.

When the engine is reversed by means of lever 5, the valve 8 and the valve 36 are pushed up simultaneously. Thereupon, piston 34 opens valve 32. Hence, the engine-piston, not shown, (the engine still running by inertia in the former direction of rotation), on up-stroke forces back the starting-air through the valve 32 and valve 2, and can, without producing excessive compression in the starting-air-pipe 3, act as a compressor. The braking action thus produced stops the engine promptly.

Since the engine cylinder can, by the present invention, begin to receive fuel again only from the very moment the direction of rotation of the crankshaft actually begins to change, any premature setting in again of combustion, or firing, is rendered quite impossible, and this is accomplished by the relatively simple means above described. Also, since at the very moment the direction of rotation changes, the valve 36 is closed, and cylinder 35 is thereby connected again to atany back-fire of the combustion intothe starting-air pipe will be made impossible.

Various refinements and modifications in the above construction are considered as being within the scope of this invention; for example, the lever H, instead of being constantly pressed against the collar l4, may be pressed temporarily or intermittently, and each time only at the very beginning of the reversing operation.

I claim:

1. A reversing gear for internal combustion engines comprising a device for controlling the fuel supply to said engine, a member for actuating said device manually movable to cut off said fuel supply, a latch for holding said member in such position, and means for tripping said latch comprising a circular member adapted to be rotated by the engine, a laterally movable member connected to said latch and held in frictional engagement with said circular member during the operation of reversing the engine, and lugs on said circular member and said laterally movable member adapted to be brought into coaction by the frictional engagement of said circular member and said laterally movable member upon the reversal of rotation of said engine to move said member laterally and trip said latch.

2. A reversing gear for internal combustion engines comprising a device for controlling the fuel supply to said engine, a member for actuating said device manually movable to cut off said fuel supply, a latch for holding said member in such position, and means for tripping said latch comprising a circular member adapted to be rotated by the engine, a laterally-movable member connected to said latch, lugs on said circular member and said laterally-movable member adapted to be brought into coaction by the frictional engagement of said circular member and said laterally-movable member upon the reversal of rotation of said engine to move said member laterally and trip said latch, and means for bringing said laterally-movable member into frictional engagement with said circular member prior to the operation of reversing the engine.

3. A reversing gear for internal combustion engines comprising a device for controlling the fuel supply to the engine, a member for actuating said device manually movable to cut off said fuel supply, a cam on said member, a latch for holding said member in such position, means for tripping said latch comprising a circular member adapted to be rotated by the engine, a laterallymovable member connected to said latch, lugs on said circular member and said laterally-movable member adapted to be brought into coaction by frictional engagement of said circular member and said laterally-movable member upon the re-' versal of rotation of said engine to move said member laterally and trip said latch, and means for causing said laterally-movable member to bear frictionally against said circular member prior to the operation of reversing the engine, said manually-movable member being interposed between said latch and a part of the device for controlling the fuel supply to the engine, the cam of said manually-movable member, upon operation of said member, to reverse the engine, cooperating with a part of said latch to cause the manually-movable member to operate said control device to cut off the supply of fuel to the engine.

4. A reversing gear for internal combustion engines comprising a device for controlling the fuel supply to the engine, a member for actuating said device manually movable to cut off said fuel supply, a cam on said member, a latch for holding said member in such position, said latch including a lever having a roller carried thereby which normally engages said manually-movable member to assist in guiding the same in its movements, means for tripping said latch comprising a circular member adapted to be rotated by the engine, a laterally-movable member connected to said latch, lugs on said circular member and said laterally-movable member adapted to be brought into coaction by the frictional engagement of said circular member and said laterally-movable member upon the reversal of rotation of the engine to move said member laterally and trip said latch, and means for causing said laterallymovable member to bear frictionallyagainst said circular member prior to the operation of reversing the engine, said manually-movable member being interposed between said roller and a part of the device for controlling the fuelsupply to the engine, said roller by engagement with said cam during movement of the manually-movable member to reverse the engine raising said memher and causing it to actuate the fuel-controlling device to out 01f the supply of fuel to the engine, said latch, when tripped, permitting the manually-movable member to fall and the fuel-controlling device to be actuated in the reverse direction to restore fuel delivery to the engine.

' HEINRICH WALTI.

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