US2418385A - Cooling system for internalcombustion engines - Google Patents

Description

. April 1, 1947- s, w cox 2,418,385

COOLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed May 16, 1945 Patented Apr. 1, 1947 COOLING SYSTEM FOR INTERNAL- COMBUSTION ENGINES .Erederic E. Wilcox, Springfield, Mass.

Application May 16, 1945, Serial N0. 593;988

2 Claims. .1 This invention relates to an improved cooling rsystemand structure forgas engines. The features will be made clear from the structure and .;its mode of operation to be explained with the help :of the specific example to be described.

some troubles in prior art uses are: When the :cylinder head needs to be taken off; the cooling system needs to be drained and this is not convenient; desirable cooling fluids are not ordinarily sealed in the cooling systems so there is frequent doubt as to their continuing character, due to the liability of loss by evaporation .or leakage or adulteration or all of these; the radiator, its usual water pump, and their connectionsdto the engin jacket, and the connecition for fluid between the cylinder block jacket and its head jacket circulation spaces are liable to cause some troubles of one kind or another; 'lSLlCh parts interfere with a desirable simplifica- :tionof structure and design particularly in automobiles.

The improvements in this art can be best disclosed by .the specific example to be explained with the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side View of the new structure applied .to an engine, parts being broken away;

Fig. :2 i a similar plan view of the same;

Fig. 2A is a detail view showing a manner "of removably'attaching an air hood cover;

Fig. .3 is aisection 'on line A--A of Fig. 2; and

Fi 4 is a detail view-of a radiator member.

The invention will be described in connection with an automobile engine but is, of course, not necessarily limited to this main .use.

Enough of the engine iii is shown in Fig. 3 to indicatexth'e cylinder block 12 and cylinder head I3, meeting on line I i. This cylinder block has a cooling Jacket M and theihead has a cooling jacket l4. These jackets are preferably separated, -as indicated, in the sense that they do not communicate one with the other for any liquid exchange. Theadvantage of this is that the head may be removed by the repair man without necessarily draining the liquid :from eitherjacket.

The jacket M is formed in "part by'an outer plate ii] preferably of good heat conductingmetal and with many corrugations M for a large cooling area. Copper or copper alloys are suitable metals to shape to make the plate and corrugations in one piece, the metal being drawn deeply for the suitable protuberances or corrugations 24 indicated. The outer wall of jacket M, on one side of the engine block in the example shown, is furnished by this corrugated plate 49. In a rugations,

72 like manner the "outer wall of the head jacket 14' is furnished with a similar plate 41.

These plates may be fastened and sealedxat :the margins to the .cast engine metal as by welding or in anyother feasible way. In this manner a considerable increase in space in "them! indicated at 15 and consequently greatly increased area 'for jacket 14 and correspondingly at 15'' for jacket It, is provided for each jacket. A fusible plugifl screwedin for jacket M and another .plug 38 for jacket l5, provides convenient means to seal each "jacket after it has been filled with liquid as through a plug opening. :If desired the fusible plugs may be located at the top instead of the bottom, to be used asffillin'g, instead of drain openings.

The structurerand its arrangement is adapted to work with any of the variouskinds of liquid commonly used in radiators. In addition it is adapted to work with some such substance as paraflin or lard which has a boiling point well above the normal operating temperature of an engine and which solidifies to a wax-like :consistency at normal atmospheric temperatures. When the jacket or jackets are filled with such a substance in the liquid state, it need :not be drained out and it "will of course take the fluid form by the heat of the engine to function as the cooling fluid. There are advantages in extending the scope of choice of substances to use in the cooling system. My structure gives this advantage.

The corrugationsiz l of the jacket are means for expanding 'to provide for difierences in volume of theliquid-as 'it heats or as it solidifies. Any suitable substance in liquid form, is sup- "plied 'toeach jacket, preferably enough 'to completely 'fill the jacket. manently sealed by closing the filling opening. I: need never be drained out. Once it is in the jacket'it *can'stay there. No vapor can get out. Only 'in the case of an accident or if "the engine is overheated to a dangerous point need the jacket be unsealed. In such event the dangerous heat'will fuse plug 30, one for each jacket i5 and 5" as seen in Fig. *3, for a blow out of pressure. This "is :a safeguard. Instead of the fusible plug means, a pressure relief valve which is normally closed may be used.

The whole outer wall of jacket l 6' is furnished by plate ll but not so for jacket 14. The jackets and the corrugations on the outer walls of jackets M and M are adapted to be so located with respect to any particular engine, that they Then the liquid 'isper- "path across the radiator corrugations. 'fed' from a fan 20; driven by pulley 2|, through pipe 22 to give a forced air blast action. The air enters by pipe 22 and travels between the corrugations 24 and out at the bottom for liquid described.- sume the four cylinder engine I of the example,

will not interfere with operating parts of the engine, such as valves and spark plugs. They should be of such extent, particularly the corrugation height, as to provide a sufficient surface to efiiciently cool the liquid in the jackets. The idea is to provide for a reasonably close balance, so that both block and head will be kept at an efiicient engine operating temperature. jacket enough thermal circulation of liquid will occur to keep near enough to a constant temperature for the liquid even though the whole jacket is not provided with outside corrugations. For example in Fig. 3, the right hand part of the jacket has no corrugations because they would interfere with the valve rod mechanismin that case. The liquid in that part will have a thermal circulation, however, with the left hand parts where enough corrugation surface is provided for the cooling effect.

An air jacket or hood 3| preferably made up :of sheet metal fastened in the position shown,

see Figs. 1, 2A and 3, is provided for a cooling air Air is jacket l4, while. it passes corrugations 24 and out at the open far side, see Fig. 3, for liquid .lacket I4. engine block at the front in the particular ex- .ample. :ion 28 to adjust valve 25 in'pipe 22. ,justment is made to shut off the cooling air until the engine is warmed up and to then help main A thermostat 26 is attached to the It works a rack bar 2'! operating a pin This ad- .tain a fairly constant ngine temperature.

It Will be'seen, Fig. 1, that pipe 22 has a slip ;joint"32. The hood 3| may be fastened on as .indicated'in Fig. 2A. Here stud bolt-s such as ordinarily used to fasten the cylinder head are elongated. Then a sleeve or spacer 34 serves to hold hood 31 with a nut on top. Thus the bolts serve to fasten both the head and the hood with a head nut and hood nut on the same bolt. In the example there are six such bolts, see Fi 2.

.The hood is cut away to expose the spark plugs. ,One opening for a plug is shown in Fig. 3 and fthe other three are. seen exposed in Fig. 2. It

.willbe seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that the cooling systemin no way interferes with convenient access to spark plugs and valve mechanism.

The operation will be understood from what has been said in connection with the structure It will be briefly summarized. .As-

provided with the cooling structure of the example, the same liquid may be sealed in for very long use without loss by evaporation or the leaks .such as occur at joints and in pump systems.

leakage or evaporation. When access is needed .to the pistons, valves, or cylinders for service as carbon removal or valve grinding, the simple removal of'the hood 3| and cylinder head will give access and without disturbing the liquid of the In each cooling system. The structure used on an automobile has a space saving advantage compared to the customary radiator. It also does not require a water pump or hose connection. It has advantages heretofore given only by air cooled engines but in the improvement many disadvantages of air cooled engine systems are avoided. In the drawings it will be seen that where the radiator metal is applied to the engine, wall portions of the customary water cooled engine casting is omitted and less metal is needed. That is to say, in many cases the engine and radiator metal considered together may be of substantially less weight than the customary arrangement of engine and radiator. Also less liquid is required than in the normal cooling system. These are samples of the useful results in the use of the structure.

Having disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. The combination of an engine with cylinder block and removable head each provided with liquid cooling jackets, one for the block and one for the head, the outer wall of thejacket for the block having a substantial portion of its whole area formed with heat rediating protuberances to greatly increase its area, such block jacket being adapted to receive liquid and seal the liquid therein independently of the jacket for the head, the jacket for the head having a similar construction as its outer wall and adapt ed to seal liquid in it independently of the liquid in the other jacket, and fusible plugs, one; in each jacket construction to relieve pressure upon overheating.

2. The combination of an engine with cylinder block and removable head each provided with liquid cooling jackets, one for the blockand one for the head, the outer wall of the jacket for the block having a substantial portion of its whole area formed with heat radiating protuberances to greatly increase its area, such block jacket be ing adapted to receive liquid and seal the liquid therein independently of the jacket for the head, the jacket for the head having a similar construction as its outer wall and adapted to seal liquid in it independently of the liquid in the outer jacket, emergency blow off devices, one

in each jacket construction to relieve pressure,

upon over-heating, and a hood construction over thatpart of said jackets made with the heat radiating protuberances to provide paths for cooling air.

FREDERIC S. WILCOX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent: V

UNITED STATES PATENTS Birkigt Feb. 13, 1940 V

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