US2943450A - Chemo-kinetic engines - Google Patents

Description

July 5, 1960 c. D. WILLSON CHEMO-KINETIC ENGINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed. July 20, 1959 WZVIII/IIIIIIIIIIIIIII/Il INVENTUR July 5, 1960 c. D, V VILLSON CHEMO-KINETIC ENGINES 4' Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 20, 1959 I INIVENTIIIR' July 5, 1960 v c. D. WILLSON CHEMO-KINETIC mamas 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 20, 1959 I r: E l- T m .8 WIIL 7 a [1| FIL ri L.i E

INVENTEIR R I I I 'CHE'MO-KINETIC ENGINES Corwin D. Willson, 525 Goldengate St., Lake Orion, Mich.

ruled July 20, 1959, Ser. No. 828,144

26 Claims. c1. 60--39.34)

This invention relates to chemo-kinetic prime movers that utilize heat, pressure, time, chemicals and a vigorous mixing action to prepare a fuel charge and, more particularly, to an engine that, in a compartmented cylinder prepares a fuel charge in stages and in a compartmented combustion chamber explodes the prepared charge in stages to power a shaft both by reaction and impulsion. Since this engine emphasizes features shown but not fully described nor claimed in my coapending application Ser. No. 734,917, filed May 13, 1958, now abandoned, this application constitutes a continuation in part of the copending application.

At the present time, huge expenditures are being made to find fuels better suited to the jet propulsion of missiles and aircraft. Instead of being content with petroleum derivatives, research has turned to chemicals used in making high explosives and the consequence is that the mechanism of a missile may consist of means of blending the right amounts of a number of potent chemicals at the right times and under otherwise very carefully controlled conditions. To differentiate between such refined natural fuels as gasoline, kerosine and diesel oil, now used in automobile engines, or the alcohols, castor oil and secret dopes used by racing boats, and the fuels being developed for missiles, the latter will be called chemical fuels, and the primary object of this invention is -a chemokinetic engine that may be designed to operate on conventional natural fuels but that potentially may find use for the more complex and powerful chemical fuels now appearing over the horizon.

One virtue of the Otto type engine is that it takes in, compresses, explodes and scavenges the products of combustion of a fuel charge all at one end of a cylinder. But the Otto engine is poorly suited to make use of fuels. requiring more complex treatment before combustion. And it is time that we began to look ahead to a day when we must rely less exclusively on gasoline for engine fuel. Here the seas are full of salt; the atmosphere is more than three-quarters nitrogen; yet men are preparing to incinerate one another over the scarcity of oil. The chemist heats and electrolyzes common salt and sodium chlorate crystallizes out; he nitrates cellulose, starch or gelatin and achieves high explosives. It is more and more to chemical mixtures that fuel research is turning and if jet propellants make effective use of strange forms of nitrogen, chlorine, boron and other chemicals, so may automotive engines.

Another object of the invention is an engine operative under higher pressures and achieving higher torque at slower speeds than an Otto type engine.

Another object of the invention is an engine having a two-stage combustion chamber formed by the temporary conjunction of two enclosures, one having opposite ends adjacent to the rim of a rotor in which it rotates and one of the ends comprising a nozzle discharging through a fuel pocket into the other enclosure.

Another object of the invention is an engine having a means of inclusion in a highly combustible fuel charge of ice a combustion retarder or coolant, such as moisture in an amount sufficient to keep the charge, while it is being highly compressed against the hot walls of the compression chamber, below a critical temperature causing premature combustion.

Another object of the inveniton is an engine having means of inclusion in an otherwise poorly combustible charge, such as a low-volatile petroleum oil, of a solu tion of a powerful oxidizing agent, selected from the group of oxidizers consisting of sodium and ammonium and potassium nitrates, sodium and potassium chlorates and perchlorates, potassium permanganate, manganese dioxide, potassium and hydrogen peroxides.

Another object of the invention is a compact external combustion engine that is easily interiorly accessible.

Other objects of the invention are: an engine that is both interiorly and exteriorly air-cooled, that is heatregenerative, and that may be made up largely of quickly assembled and disassembled die-cast non-ferrous alloy parts.

Power is not achieved in my engine by compressing and igniting a fuel charge at one end of a cylinder, nor does my engine employ vanes. In my engine combustion is kept out of the compartmented compression cylinder and the fully prepared charge is received by a compartmented combustion chamber made up of two enclosures, one rotative and housing the first-stage of the combustion and producing power by reaction, the other enclosure being reciprocative and having an interior moving part as the first enclosure does not and producing power by impulsion. As the Parsons turbine made use both of reaction and impulsion, so my engine generates and uses the forces of reaction and impulsion in the combustion of each separate fuel charge. More specifically, reactive recoil of a rotor in my engine from the first-stage combustion discharge turns a cam that has followers operatively att-ached to pistons in cylinders spaced about a power shaft, and second-stage combustion of combustibles remaining in said discharge and blown into and temporarily trapped in hollow extensions of the pistons called receptors, before being scavenged into an exhaust manifold, assists push against the pistons and of the pistons against the followers. Here my engine practically negates the friction of Wat-ts swashplate, which Mitchells tilting pads did not effectively overcome. The center lengthwise axis of my cam is a continuous ogee curve with gentle slopes and bends in consequence of the stroke of the primary pistons being kept relatively short: i.e., less than the diameter of the cylinders. In my engine, both the reciprocation of my followers and the rotation of my cam are directly powered, the cam, by rotor reaction and the followers by piston impulsion. These are the novel results of the twostage combustion of each charge, the basis of higher torque.

These and other novel features and objects of the invention are hereinafter more fully described and claimed and the points of essential difference in structure and operation between my engine and those in present automotive use will be fully elaborated herein. The preferred form of my new engine is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of my engine.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an inside view of one section of the stator taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, with one of the receptors and its skirted shoe shown in section.

P Fig. 4 is a section of. the stator taken on line 44 of Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of the engine taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1 with substan al sections cut away for greater clarity.

Fig. 6 is a charging valve detail.

Fig. 7 is a rotor-sealing detail.

Fig. 8 is a section of the rotor taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 9 is a combustion chamber detail showing opposite ends of the chamber near the rotor rim and the flared fuel pocket outside the discharge nozzle.

Fig. 10 is a plot plan of the cylindrical rim surface of the rotor laid out in the flat to show the two rows of combustion chamber openings on opposite sides of the cam and, dotted in, the paths followed by the reciprocal travel of the receptor shoes on the turning rotor rim surface.

Fig. 11 is a plot plan of the hollow cylindrical stator liner laid out in the flat to show reception ports and ventilation slots.

Fig. 12 is a main intake valve detail.

Fig. 13 is a secondary intake and compression relief valve detail.

Fig. 14 shows plot plans of two alternate cams on the rotor.

In the drawings, power take-off shaft 1 is supported on thrust roller bearings 2 centrally of stator 3, to opposite sides of which compression cylinders 4 are paired with opposed compression cylinders 5, each of the opposed pairs of cylinders 4 and 5 being identified by a letter, as A, B, C, D, E and F. In this type of engine, the number of opposed cylinders may be varied within wide limits. In this instance the number is six pairs. At their outer ends, compression cylinders 4 support intake manifold 6 and the six compression cylinders 5 support intake manifold 7 at their outer ends. Intake manifolds 6 and 7 may be connected with an air-filter, not shown because old in the art, and each intake manifold 6 and 7 may be connected with a carburetor 8 for use in cold starting on gasoline and before switching over to a low volatile oil which is intended to constitute much of the fuel charge, as will be more fully hereinafter explained.

Stator 3 is made up of side-to-side sections 9 having substantially cylindrical exteriors. These sections include opposite end sections 10 and 11 and a central access and ventilating section 12: the three sections 10, 11, 12, being accurately fitted together and secured by bolts 13 extending through the three sections parallel with shaft 1. Section 10 comprises a central hub-like housing 14 for one of bearings 2 and is supported by spokes 15 defining accessventil-ation gaps 16. Outer wall 17 of section 10 extends around exhaust manifold 18 having outer vent 19. Large central cylindrical void 20 is surrounded by housing 21 for hollow cylindrical liner 22, housing 21 surrounding six small cylindrical voids 23 and charging slots 24 connected with the interiors of cylinders 4 by valves 25 in cylinder bases 26. Section 11 of stator 3 is largely identical with section 10 but is positioned to face section 10 and is turned sixty degrees to make the charging slots 24 of section 11 alternate around shaft 1 with charging slots 24 of section 10. In section 11, exhaust manifold 27 has outer vent 28. Central void 20 extends across all three assembled sections 10, 11 and 12 and, fixed to shaft 1, rotor 29 has a cylindrical rim face 30 fitted to rotate snugly in liners 22 of sections 10 and 11 and across void 20 of section 12.

Each of the six compression cylinders 4 houses a compression piston 31 and each of the six opposed compression cylinders 5 houses a compression piston 32. Piston 31 is rigidly connected with piston 32 in each pair of opposed cylinders A, B, C, D, E, and F by connecting means 33 made up of several assembled components including two tube like enclosures 34 and 35 herein called receptors. Each of the six receptors 34 has an outer end fitted in, fixed to and closed by piston 31 and the closed opposite (inner) end 36 is thickened to receive fastener '37 fixing one end of rigid yoke 38 to end 36, the opposite end of yoke 38 being secured by another fastener 37 to closed thickened inner end 39 of receptor 35 which has its opposite (outer) end fitted in, fixed to and closed by piston 32. Each receptor 34 houses a free bounce piston 40 and each receptor 35 houses a free bounce piston 41. It is significant that the distance of travel in one direction of bounce piston 40 is double that of piston 31 and the distance of travel in one direction of bounce piston 41 is double that of piston 32. Midpart of each yoke 38 carries a swivel 42 secured to carrier 43 supporting spaced rollers 44parts 42, 43, 44 being collectively called herein: follower. The thickened receptor ends 36 and 39 have oblique surfaces 36a, 39a which change the direction of discharges from rotor 29 impinging on them, and ends 36, 39 are parts of sliding shoes 45 which have arc-shaped surfaces 46 in snug reciprocative contact with outer side 47 of hollow cylindrical liner 22; rim face 30 of rotor 29 being in snug rotative contact with inside face 48 of liner 22.

Extending on opposite sides of center line 0-0 of rotor 29 around and fixed to rim surface 30, is cam 49 having parallel opposite sides 50 and 51 in contact with rolling surfaces of rollers 44. The configuration of cam 49 may be varied according to the number of times each pair of yoked pistons 31 and 32 are to reciprocate for each turn of shaft 1: the greater this number, the greater the torque at slower r.p.m. In the present instance, cam 49 is laid out in the flat in Fig. 10 as a perfect ogee curve having three bends 52 spaced one hundred and twenty degrees apart on centers on one side of center line CC and three alternate bends 53 spaced one hundred and twenty degrees apart on center on the opposite side of center line CC: the center of each bend 52 thus being spaced sixty degrees from the center of each bend 53. As shaft 1, a fixed part of rotor 29, turns clockwise, rollers 44 in contact with opposite sides 50 and 51 of cam 49 force the six yoked pairs of pistons 31 and 32 to reciprocate so that travel of shoes 45 is along paths 54, 55 on opposite sides of center line O-C. In path 54 are three discharge openings 56, spaced equi-distant around rim 30, from combustion chambers 57 in rotor 29 and in path 55 are three discharge openings 58 from combustion chambers 59 in rotor 29. Explosive discharges from openings 56 and 58 into pockets of near zero pressure reactively turn rotor 29 which builds up momentum like the flywheel of a conventional Otto type engine, cam- 49 and cam followers, 42, 43, 44, causing paired pistons 31-32 to reciprocate. At the same time, push of free pistons 40, 41 against primary pistons 31, 32 induces thrust on followers 42, 43, 44 that causes cam 49 also to be forcibly rotated by impulsion.

The inner side of cylindrical liner 22 is laid out in the flat in Fig. 11 to show the twelve reception ports 60, six on each side of center line CC. If Fig. 10 is superimposed on Fig. 11, it will be noted that the three discharge openings coincide with the three reception ports 60 on one side of center line C--C and that three discharge openings 58 coincide with the three reception ports 60 on the opposite side of center line C-C. As yoked receptors 34-35 slide one way, one of the reception ports 60 is closed and one opened by the arc-shaped skirts 61 that are parts of shoes 45, and when the same pair of yoked receptors 34 35 slide in the opposite direction, the reception port 60 that had been open is closed and the one that had been closed is opened. In Fig. 11, all paired receptors 34, 35 with their skirts 61 are dotted in since they reciprocate on the opposite side of liner 22. While the A, C and E pairs of yoked receptors 34, 35 are sliding in one direction, the B, D, and F pairs of yoked receptors 34, 35 are sliding in the opposite direction. The time during which ports 60 are closed is the time of the charging stroke of yoked pistons 31, 32; and the time during which ports 60 are open is the time of discharge from combustion chamber openings 56, 58. The diagram indicates that the sub stantially equal charging and discharging periods may be described as extended in contrast to the extremely limited intervals for theseexchanges provided by prior art. Heretofore rotary engines have, (1) been given too little time for the exchange .of any substantial quantity of gas between the swiftly moving parts, or (2) have been designed to operate at minimal pressures, or (3) have lacked the means of providing the large amounts of air required by engines of this type. It will be stressed here that my engine overcomes all three of these drawbacks.

The upper portion of Fig. 5 shows pair A of linke pistons 31, 32 and attention now centers on this part of the drawing where one discharge opening 58 coincides with open reception port 60 while receptor intake port 62 in-shoe 45 of receptor 35 coincides with the same reception port 60 on the opposite (outer) side of lining 22. This coincidence or conjunction comes during the discharge of products of combustion from the contiguous chamber 59. At this time, pressure in the inner end of scavanged receptor 35 receiving the discharge is minimal or near zero and the pressure required to move free piston 41 outwardly a distance equal to its length is also minimal since cam 49 is causing receptor 35 to move in the same direction. Piston 41, being free, can be pushed outwardly swiftly against a pocket of air at outer end of the receptor. This compresses the air in the pocket sufiiciently to apply a push outwardly against the yoked pistons 31,32. Outward movement of free piston 41 uncovers receptor ex haust port 63 and outward movement of receptor 35 uncovers stator exhaust outlet 64, whereupon products of combustion pressing against the inner end of free piston 41, pass through the opening made by the conjunction of open ports 63 and 64 and thence into the exhaust manifold 27; this releases pressure on free piston 41 at its inner end, whereupon pressure of the compressed pocket of at the outer end of receptor 35 bounces free piston 41 inwardly, scavenging products of combustion from receptor 35.

Since it is cam 49, the reactive rotation of which causes thepaired pistons 31, 32 to slide toward the outer end of cylinder 5, the pressure in receptor 35 against free piston 41 (as in receptor 34 against free piston 40) needs to be no more than sufficient to capture some of the energy left in the discharges from openings 56 and 58 into receptors 34, and the amount of energy thus recovered will depend on a number of considerations including the size and number of ports 63, 64. These ports may be kept small enough so that the products of combustion from discharge openings 56 and 58 enter receptor intake ports 62 in somewhat greater volume than they escape into the exhaust manifold so that the exhaust, after initiating reactive thrust on rotor 29 that through cam 49 forces reciprocating motions of yoked pistons 31, 32, does exert impulsion on the yoked primary pistons themselvas. As has been stated, the travel of each free piston 41 is twice that of yoked pistons 31, 32 or of yoked receptors 34, 35. During the first half of the outward travel of free piston 41 receptor pressure remains near zero. It is in the last half of its outward push and after the reactive thrust of the initial discharge that suflicient pressure builds up in receptor 35 (as in 34) to drive free piston 41 outwardly to assist in push against piston 32. Just as a supercharger utilizes a residue of energy in the exhaust to increase an Otto type engines efiiciency, so energy remaining in the discharge from combustion chambers 57 and 59 is utilized in my engine to increase its efficiency and to remove some of the onus (too much friction) which has prevented the swashplate and earn from wider use in turning reciprocating into rotary motion (or vice versa) in internal combustion engines.

While a description proceeds by means of a slow succession of verbal statements, many actions in the engine here being described occur simultaneously. Outward thrust of piston 32 in compression cylinder 5A, as indicated in the upper portion of Fig. 5, is against a charge of air, or fuel and air and other ingredients, which, in a manner to be described hereinafter, has been drawn into the outer end of cylinder 5A, and outward thrust of piston 32 forces this charge to be compressed and to pass through by-pass ports 65 and bypass passages 66 to inner end of cylinder 5A. Meantime piston 31 in compression cylinder 4A is at the limit of its outward movement at the time when piston 32 in compression cylinder 5A is at the limit of its inward movement. The pocket of air compressed at outer end 67 of receptor 34 is, in Fig. 5, just about to trigger the inward bounce of free piston 40 in consequence of the inward uncovering of receptor exhaust port 68 and outward uncovering of stator exhaust outlet 69 and escape of products of combustion into exhaust manifold 13 as the inward bounce of free piston 40 scavenges them from receptor 34. Cam 49 is at the same time forcing primary piston 31 inwardly against the charge of air, fuel and other ingredients which has been drawn in through intake port 70 at outer end of cylinder 4A and which has been compressed and by-passed through ports 65 and passages 66 to inner end of cylinder 4A, and the charge thus compressed .in two stages is forced through one-way valve 25 in the base of cylinder 4A just as rotor charging slot 71 comes along to convey the compressed charge into the oncoming combustion chamber 57 through intake valve 72.

In brief, a one-sixth turn of rotor 29 causes an outward strokeof piston 32 in cylinder 5A and a linked inward stroke of piston 31 in cylinder 4A, and a further one-sixth turn of rotor 29 causes an inward stroke of piston 32 in cylinder 5A and a linked outward stroke of piston 31 in cylinder 4A. .The same fractional turn of rotor 29 is causing reciprocation of linked pistons 31, 32 in all the other opposed pairs of cylinders 4 and 5. Thus a complete cycle for piston 31 or 32 takes a one-third turn of shaft 1 and, at each one-third turn of rotor 29, all three combustion chambers 57 and all threee combustion chambers 59 fire simultaneously from positions spaced sixty degrees apart around shaft 1 so that stresses on bearings 2 are equalized in contrast to the one-sided stress on a diesel crank-shaft bearing, one factor preventing utilization of far higher working pressures in todays internal combustion engines. These eighteen counter-clockwise explosive discharges from rotor rim 30 into enclosures (the receptors) of near zero initial pressure during one revolution of shaft 1 are accompanied, according to Newtons third law of motion, by a succession of powerful reactive clockwise recoils turning shaft 1 like a pinwheel, and forcing cam 49 to reciprocate followers and yoked pistons 3132. This is but the first stage of the combustion cycle. The second stage occurs in the receptors in consequence of the push on the primary pistons by the free pistons and this work done directly reciprocates the followers to rotate the cam. The single stage of combustion in the Otto type engine directly produces piston-push onlyreciprocating motion which a crank with its bearing under lopsided load has to convert into rotation of shaft and flywheel. The two-stage combustion of my engine directly activates both the rotation of the shaft and the reciprocation of the pistons, the one by reaction, the others by impulsion, and this from a single charge.

The design is fluid. For fewer discharges per revolution of shaft 1, the number of bends in cam 49 may be reduced as suggested in Fig. 14. The number of paired cylinders may be only four, but could be forty, and the bends in cam 49 may be one, two or twenty. Let certain dimensional assumptions, purely tentative, be made: that the oneway rectilinear movement of each yoked pair of pistons 31, 32 is two to two and one-half inches, that the interior volume of each cylinder 4, 5, so far as concerns the amount of fuel and air that may be taken in at opposite ends of each cylinder, is 60-70 cubic inches, that the interior volume of each combustion chamber 57, 59 receiving all of each compressed charge, is plus or minus 5 cubic inches, and that the compression ratio is something between seven and seventeen to one. With eighteen individual (first stage) firings for each revolution of the shaft, this involves the compression of 1080-1260 cubic inches of fuel and air for each turn of the. shaft. It has been stated that a cubic displacement of four hundred and fifty cubic inches represents about the top limit of practicality in the design of the V-8 engine. If this is true, my engine, as described herein, has some three .times the displacement and fires four and a half times as often for each turn of the Shaft as an engine hypothetically representing the ultimate in maximum displacement of an engine for powering the family car. These factors suggest that my reaction-impulsion engine, compared with which the Ottocycle engine has benefited .by nearly a century of ,improvements, offers a means of more constant torque than todays automobile engines Without many of the drawbacks standing between the small gas turbine and its adaptation .to automotive use and economy.

My engine may be water-cooled but, as shown in the drawings, is air cooled. Fan blades 73, radiating in two rows from hub 74 of rotor 29, draw cooling air through finely screened apertures 75 in hand-access opening closures 76 in central section 12 of stator 3. This air is drawn inwardly through open carrier travel space 77 and through ventilation slot 78 between margins of liners 22 and openings 79 in rotor rim 30, which openings 79 extend inwardly next to combustion chambers 57, 59, to space 80 between the two rows of fan blades 73 which blow the heated air out through gaps 16 and from stator 3.

In Fig. 5, although dimensions are tentative and, in places, distorted for clarifying understanding, it is roughly true that for each three inches of rotation of rim surface 30, there is one inch of rectilinear travel of each pair of yoked pistons 31, 32. This permits charging slots 24 and the coactive charging slots 71 in ends of rotor 29 to be sufficiently long so that during the secondstage compression strokes of pistons 31, 32, individual fuel-air charges are injected through bases 26 of cylinders 4, into combustion chambers 57, 59. The period of discharge of products of combustion (first-stage) from combustion chambers 57, 59 is prolonged by the elongation of reception ports 60 along the curved axis 81 centered lengthwise on one of the two paths 54, 55. As shown in Fig. 10, the paths 82, 83 taken by discharge openings 56 and 58 are in parallel planes and the period during which openings 56 and 58 discharge through reception ports 60 into receptors 34, 35 is indicated where paths 82, 83 cross paths 54, 55. If a simpler structure is desired, liner 22 may be dispensed with and shoes 45 may reciprocate in direct contact with rim surface 30 of rotor 29.

All accessories, such as pumps, .generator, electric starter, oiling system, distributor, filters and the like are not shown since they differ little from those old in the art. An underlip of rotor 29 may be toothed to engage the gear of an electric starter. Oiling may be by the dry-sump method and/or by other means not primarily pertinent herein. On starting the engine cold, compression at the inner, secondstage, high-compression ends 26 of cylinders 4, 5 may be lessened by a relief valve; ball 84 in valve-seat 85 resisting compression pressures at inner ends 26 except as wedgelike member 86 is thrust by a linkage (not shown) against side of ball 84, unseating it and allowing a partial escape of pressure at inner ends 26 of cylinders 4, 5. This reduction of pressure in all or only a few of the cylinders permits easier spinning of rotor 29 and reciprocation of yoked pistons 31, 32. On the outward stroke of pistons 31, 32, where wedgelike member 86 does not unseat ball 84, suction at inner ends 26 of cylinders 4, 5 will overcome the yielding resistance of spring 87 and air only, or a mixture of fuel and air from extensions 88 of intake manifold 6 and 7 will be drawn in. On starting, the fuel might be gasoline, a switch to a lower-volatile fuel being made once the engine has warmed up. Such a lowergrade fuel is fed through nozzle 89 from oil line 90 under control of needle valve 91, nozzle 89 spraying the lower-grade oil directly against the reciprocating outer sides 92 of receptors 34, 35 which, as described,

are heated both by the first and second stages of combustion of each compressed fuel charge. Receptors 34, 35 slide reciprocat-ingly in pressure rings 93 housed in walls of rotor 3. This heating of individual charges of fuel and air during the second-stage of compression against hot sides 92 is highly regenerative because of the substantial area of the heat-transfer surface.

Feeding of the first-stage of compression of a fuel Charge is as follows: inward strokes of pistons 31, 32 overcome the yielding resistance of springs 94 in intake valves 70 as shown in Fig. 12. 'Indrawn charges of air, or fuel and air from carburetor 8 are compressed and by-passed on the outward strokes of pistons 31, 32 to inner ends of cylinders 4, 5 where the volume is much lcssrthan at the outer ends. On the same outward strokes, air or fuel and air may be drawn in at the inner ends of the cylinders and/or fuel or other material, as hereinafter explained, injected by nozzle 89. This provides a number of ways and a number of different times of combining the ingredients of a fuel charge. Compartmented cylinders 4, 5 have each a cold end and a hot end. By-pass passages 66 provide means of a thorough mixing action. The structure is such that the components of each compressed charge are thoroughly mixed, compressed and heated up to the point of combustion while being injected into the even hotter combustion chambers of the turning rotor. Thus, compression may be up to the point of ignition of the fuel charge. The heated surfaces 92 against which the charges are compressed may actually crack the injected oil to make it more combustible and nozzle 89, instead of one inlet passage, may have several spaced around the annular space between surfaces 92 and the inside walls of cylinders 4, 5. Depending on the fuel and compression ratios used, electric plugs 95 may be positioned at the small ends of combustion chambers 57, 59 and connected with wires a running through hollow 12 in shaft 1 to distributor (not shown).

Cylinders 4 and 5 have cooling outer fins 96 and fanblades 73 may circulate a flow of air through these fins. Since products of combustion do not come into direct contact with the compression cylinder walls, fins 96 have little more heat to dissipate than the fins of an air compressor, and cylinders 4, 5 and pistons 31, 32 may collectively be described as a compressor. The outer bulk 97 of each cylinder 4, 5 may be individually die-cast of a light-metals alloy and cylinder liners of ferrous metal housing by-pass ports 65 may be forced into the cast portion 97 of the cylinders, leaving by-pass passages 66 between. Liners 98 may extend into the hollow cylinder bases 26 of stator 3. Or, alternatively, cylinders 4 may all be cast in a single block, as may cylinders 5. Sections 10 and 11 may be die-cast of nonferrous alloy, as of aluminum, and have steel liners 22 pressed in, or the sections may be cast of steel and the liners dispensed with. Section 12 may be die-cast of aluminum alloy and hand-access opening closures 76 may be push-fitted into access openings 99 like the pryout tops of paint cans. Rotor 29 may be cast or made up of assembled parts and, as shown in Fig. 9, combustion chambers 57, 59 may each comprise an individually formed unit 100, all or part of which is of refractory material or heat-resistant alloy, set into the rotor housing through which air may circulate freely around each unit 100, the inside wall of which has a conical length 101 and a constricted throat or nozzle 102 spaced inwardly from outer rim 30 of rotor 29, and the outward flare 163 of a fuel pocket extending between dis charge nozzle 102 and rim 30. It is the fuel pockets outside nozzles 102 that provide openings 56, 58. Flame of combustion itself is cone-shaped in travel and the shape of the inside of combustion chambers 57, 59 is cone-shaped to accommodate fl.ame-travel,-the insidecontours diverging from the smaller ingress end of each chamber to a cross-section of greatest area, then abruptly converging to form an annular shoulder housing nozzle 102. This constricted or choked opening acts like the choke of a shotgun to increase the recoil. A part of each compressed charge is concentrated in flared space or pocket 103 and tends to be blown into receptors 34, 35 in a largely uncombusted state, so that the expansion of that residue will take place as the secondstage of the combustion of the initial fuel charge.

At the present time, automotive engineers assume that the power of the automobiles of the future will be supplied by a small gas turbine. In such a prime mover, the rotor may revolve at speeds ten to twenty times greater than the crankshaft of a typical Otto automobile engine. This great speed has to be geared down to an extent that makes difficult the instant acceleration and deceleration required in heavy trafirc. Metal itself fatigues at great speeds long continued. There is little doubt that the simplicity of jet propulsion and of the turbo-jet plane engine is intriguing but their province would seem to be in the air, not on land where speeds of motorcars are under one-hundred not over one thousand miles per hour. It is not that the small gas turbine burns so much gas and lacks responsiveness that damns it for automotive use. The smog-causing effects of motorcar exhaust are already raising howls of protest. The small gas turbine would aggravate this problem and leave an even greater problem unsolved: the relatively low pressures at which small gas turbines operate: i.e., from one-half to one-twentieth the pressures of discharges from the first combustion stage of my engine. My engine represents a compromise between the Otto impulsion engine and the vaned turbine. 'It is a reaction-impulsion engine.

The radius of rotor 29 of the drawings, being more than twice the throw of an average crankshaft, plus the six simultaneous explosive discharges counterclockwise from openings 56, 58, spaced atsixty degree intervals about the shaft and twice repeated within a single turn of the shaft, apply a powerful leverage and torque on shaft 1 even at low rpm. The dimensions of the rotor are such that it can build up momentum like a flywheel, but where the Otto type engine (four-cycle) depends on such momentum to carry through the seven hundred and twenty degree revolution necessary to smooth out the various operations that insure a single firing of one charge from one cylinder, in my engine rotor momentum has to carry over only a one hundred and twenty degree revolution to achieve the first stage firing of one charge. The smoothness of operation of my engine thus stands between that of the Otto type engine and the turbine.

As suggested by Fig. 7, at two points on each side of centerline *C-C, sealing rings 104 with resilient backers 105 may extend between stator 3 and rotor 29. As for friction, the means did not exist a decade ago for effectively machining to the close tolerances required today in turbo-shift mechanisms and my engine requires no closer tolerances than a good sleeve valve, which most of the ports actually are. At higher pressures than todays engines can effectively utilize, the tolerances in my engine must become closer, the sealing more effective, but the art of high-pressure low-friction sealing had developed rapidly in recent years. In Fig. 6, charging valves 25 each comprises a ball 106, a valve seat 107, a spring 108 and a central passage 109. When compression at inner ends of cylinders 4, 5 becomes suflicient to overcome the yielding resistance of spring 108, ball 106 unseats and the compressed (second-stage) charge of fuel and air flows through central passage 109 into charging slots 24. In an alternate structure (not shown) plugs '95 may be at right-hand ends of charging slots 24 shown at the lefthand side of Fig. 3, and intake valve 72 is eliminated. Other modifications of the structureshown in the drawings are possible and variations within wide limits depend 10 largely on the decision as to what proportion of each fuel charge is to be exploded in each combustion stage.

The main diiference between this engine and that of the parent application lies in the greater emphasis herein on components of my engine that make possible the preparation and kinetic utilization of a fuel charge that chemically is much more powerfully explosive than any ever before effectively harnessed in a prime mover. In simple terms, my engine combines a compressor and combustor in a stator which houses a central shaft and other parts common to the compressor and combustor. Since combustion of a charge prepared by the compressor occurs outside the compressor and in the combustor, my engine is an external combustion engine. In the compressor, at opposite ends of a compartmented cylinder therein, constituents of a fuel charge are taken in, confined, compressed as two separate portions of a single charge and, while thus compressed, the :two separate portions are effectively driven together and forced under conditions of heat and growing pressure to merge. As the chemical consequences of this merger are about to make themselves manifest, the fuel charge is further compressed and heated, but by this time, the charge has left the compartmented compression cylinder and receives its final compression in a compartmented combustion chamber where the explosion takes place. Such an explosion, or a series of the same, would wreck a diesel engine, the interior working parts of which are only adapted to cope with pressures on the order of 500 lbs. per square inch. Yet my engine is predicated on the assumption that higher torque can be substantially increased effectively by making use of pressures double those of the diesel or higher. The kinetics of my engine make the employment of such higher pressures-working pressures-practical, eventual pressures of 1,000 pounds per square inch and over.

The very concept of such high working pressuresis catalytic. Fuel specialists now are producing octane gasoline for speedboat engines. Costly higher octane is the only language the Otto engine understands for the simple reason that the Otto engine is practically a centurys-old concept. The earths supply of gasoline is not endless and my engine can utilize much more chemically complex combustibles, of which a low-volatile oil derivative will continue to be a principal constituent only while petroleum remains abundant. But suppose major present sources of oil should suddenly be shut off. Fuel chemistry will become more knowledgeable when it is stimulated to compound fuels twice as potent as any small engine now can handle. My engine can utilize such fuels for two reasons: (1) both the compressor and combustor are two-stage or compound; i.e., the compressor prepares a charge in successive stages, and the combustor explodes the compressed charge in successive stages; (2) kinetically, my engine can turn highly explosive charges into motion easily because the initial stage of combustion, where the working pressures are highest, requires no piston rod or crankshaft, pins or crankshaft bearings, but directly converts the energy of the explosion into rotation of the power take-off shaft because of the reactive recoil of the combustion chamber itself. In my engine, it is only the lesser second-stage combustion that pushes a piston to reciprocate a follower within the constraint of a cam. in the engine of the drawings, six simultaneous explosions spaced equi-distant about the shaft, take any unusual load off the main bearings, no matter how high the working pressures.

While the exact nature of the fuel charge best suited for my engine lies outside the scope of this invention, what the structure of my engine invites is a fuel charge much more explosive than air and gasoline or diesel oil. The invention does contemplate a fuel charge particularly apt to power my engine made up of air largely, of a lowvolatile petroleum derivative, of a powerful oxidizing agent in solution, the solvent being alcohol or water or a mixture of the two. By use of moisture in the charge, a coolant for the hot walls of the receptors is provided inside the compression cylinder and precombustion is prevented. Water in the process of turning to steam can absorb a great deal of heat. Thus, by the amount of water in the charge, the temperature of the second-stage compression compartment can be held within desired limits. Here it should be emphasized that in the diesel engine, it is the high pressure of the air that raises the temperature of the air to 6001,000 degrees which ignites the injected oil. In my engine, combustion maybe a consequence of the'chemical action of a powerful oxidization agent on an otherwise poorly combustible fuel constituent.

With the growing problem of automobile exhaust which the diesel and gas turbine threaten to accentuate, my engine with its emphasis on fuel charges of a more complex chemical nature, offers the opportunity to include a fuel oxidizer in the charge that will promote more complete combustion and tend to neutralize the more toxic and smog-forming constituents of engine exhaust. To stress the capacity of my engine to make use of far more explosive fuels than other types of engines can handle, it is called a chemo-kinetic engine and as this may be spelled kemo-kinetic, which for short leads to the K-K" engine, my engine to differentiate it verbally from other engines may be called simply the K engine.

Some of the terms as used herein will be defined. Compressor includes the parts of my engine that take in, confine, compress and otherwise prepare a fuel charge and deliver the same. Combustor includes the parts, of my engine that receive, confine and expode the compressed charge and rid the engine of the products of combustion. The compressor and combustor in my engine share parts in common. Stage is a specific recognizable step in the compression or in the combustion of a fuel charge. A two-stage compressor is one that compresses a single fuel charge in successive stages or steps as in different enclosures at opposite ends of a cylinder. A two-stage combustor is one that explodes a single fuel charge in successive stepsas in different enclosures; one rotary, one reciprocative. Chemo-kinetic engine is one that employs a fuel charge that is chemically selfexplosive to create working pressures much higher than an Duo or diesel engine can handle. Two-fold (or compound) kinetic conversion means the mechanical use of one part of a fuel charge in my engine to directly rotate a cam by reaction, and of'the balance of the charge to push a piston which, by means of a follower, rotates the cam by impulsion.

The description, now completed, indicates that one of the chief limitations of the prior art has been overcome; 'a mechanical means of converting highly explosive fuel charges directly into useful motion. Here an engine lacking bothcranks and vanes has a cam directly powered by rotor reaction, butthe cam is also directly powered by piston impulsion. The working pressure of the firststage of combustion is very high and the energies of this stage of combustion are turned directly into the rotation of a power shaft. The first stage of combustion slightly precedes the second-stage to achieve practically constant torque. Thus the efficiencies obtained by the use of high operative pressures in the modern steam power plant are made available to the combustion engine for the first time and the disadvantages of the crankshaft give place to a rotor that turns itself like a pinwheel, only the lesser second stage of combustion making use of a cam and followers in a manner avoiding the frictional disadvantages of the swashplate and cam as power converters in the past.

Being illustrative, the drawings are more or lms diagrammatic in character and it is to be observed that various changes in the structure that has been described herein may be made without departing from the ."spirit 'andscope ofthe invention as set forth in the appended 12 claims; and it will be understood that any of the variants and modifications in the parts essential to the operation of my external combustion, reaction-impulsion, chemokinetic prime mover using more violently explosive chemical fuels and high working pressures may be used separately and in any desired combination.

Having thus fully described the invention, its structure, mode of operation and points of dissimilarity between my engine and engines of the Otto, diesel and gas turbine types, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. As a new product of commerce, a chemo-kinetic external combustion engine combining in a stator a cam having a central shaft, a compressor having a compartmented cylinder enclosed at opposite ends, a piston operative in the cylinder to blend and compress in stages two strongly chemically reactive portions of a fuel charge, a combustor having a two-stage combustion chamber made up of two enclosures, one turning with said shaft and the other reciprocating with said piston, the cam having a follower making the two enclosures temporarily conjunctive and each enclosure exploding a different part of said charge: combustion of part of said charge in and discharge from the rotative enclosure directly powering said shaft by recoil of said rotative enclosure, and combustion of the balance of said charge in the reciprocative enclosure indirectly powering said shaft'by pushing said piston and follower to turn said cam.

2. A chemo-kinetic engine combining in a stator and around a central shaft a compressor having in a compartmented cylinder means of mixing, heating and highly compressing in stages a charge made up of air, fuel and a chemical coolant permitting the charge to be compressed substantially above its otherwise normal combustion temperature without combustion, a continuously ogec curved cam held in fixed spaced relation to said shaft by a rotor in said stator, a follower for the cam, a piston in said cylinder under constraint of the follower, and a two-stage combustor having a first-stage combustion chamber in the rotor, means permittingsaid chamber to receive all and explode part of the compressed charge, and a second-stage combustion chamber extending into said piston to receive and explode the balance of said charge: said shaft being directly turned in recoil from said first-stage combustion of said charge and being indirectly turned by said second-stage combustion of said charge pushing against said piston, said follower and said cam.

3. An engine combining in a stator, compound compression cylinders housing double-acting pistons to compress fucl charges in stages in the cylinders, a shaft mounted on the stator, a cam fixed in a continuous ogee curve around the shaft, the shaft and cam being parts of a rotor turning in the stator, the cam having followers swivelly mounted on yokes connecting the pistons in opposed pairs through stufling boxes in the ends of 0pposed cylinders, the followers'having rolling contact with parallel opposite sides of the cam, and compartmented combustion chambers receiving the compressed fuel charges for combustion in stages therein: explosive discharges of the first stage of combustion of said charges from said rotor reactively turning the rotor shaft and cam and expansive pushes against said pistons and followers of the second stage of combustion of said charges impulsively turning said cam, said rotor and said shaft.

4. An engine combining a stator, a rotor with a peripheral cam and a central shaft mounted to turn in the stator, compound compression means including pistons housed in cylinders having'bases extending snugly alongside opposite ends of the rotor, combustion chambers in the rotor and having fuel ingress ends near the rotor rim and opposite ends comprising discharge nozzles opening into wide-mouthed fuel pockets at said rim: said pistons compressing fuel'charges in stages in said cylinders and forcing the charges through said bases into said chambers for 13 ignitiontherein, explosive discharges through said nozzles reactively turning the rotor to power said shaft, said discharges through said fuel pockets into receptors 'attached to said pistons carrying into the receptors along with products of combustion unconsumed fractions of the fuel charges for expansion therein that pushes said pistons and followers of said cam to impulsively power said shaft by rotating said cam.

5. An interiorly accessible engine combining a stator having an exhaust manifold and housing a cylindrical void walled by several cylindrical centrally hollow stator sections secured together and including a central ring section having inwardly extending flanges and hand-access openings fitted with closures between said flanges and opening into said void; a cylindrical rotor fixed to a power shaft and mounted on the spaced end sections of the stator to turn snugly in said void, a cam extending in an endless ogee curve around the rotor, a compressor having fixed cylinders in the stator housing hollow pistons that have extending therefrom smaller inner cylinders rigidly connecting the pistons in opposed pairs under constraint of followers in rolling contact with opposite sides of the cam, said followers being accessible from said hand-access openings; and a two-stage combustor having first-stage combustion chambers in the rotor to receive fuel charges compressed in stages in the fixed cylinders, and means igniting the charges in some of said chambers while others thereof are being charged and causing explosive discharges from the charged chambers to reactively turn the rotor and power said shaft and, on the way to said manifold, to impinge against directionchanging surfaces in said inner cylinders and push against said pistons to reciprocate said followers and power said cam.

6. Au air-cooled engine combining a stator housing an exhaust manifold and made up of sections secured demountably together to house a cylindrical void, breather apertures spaced around the stator and two of said sections walling parallel opposite sides of the void by means including central hubs supporting radial spokes between open gaps, bearings housed by the hubs, a power-shaft mounted on the bearings, a cylindrical rotar snugly fitted to turn in the void, fan blades fixed betweenthe shaft and the outer rim portion of the rotor, combustion chambers housed in said rim portion and ventilation slots extending through said rim portion alongside the walls of the combustion chambers to permit a cooling flow of air to be drawn by the rotation of said fan blades in through said apertures and slots and out through said gaps, means supplying compressed fuel charges to said combustion chambers including compartmented cylinders operatively housing double-acting pistons and having air-cooling outer fins, and means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom and on the way to said exhaust manifold to reactively turn the rotor and directly power said shafts.

7. A reaction engine burning various mixtures of fuel components and combining a stator, a shaft mounted therein, combustion chambers separate from means supplying the chambers with compressed fuel charges made up of mixed components of widely different types, said means including cylinders spaced about the shaft and double-acting pistons operatively housed in the cylinders and dividing each cylinder into two closed compartments of variable volume, and means supplying fuel components of one type to one of the compartments of each cylinder and fuel components of a different type to the other compartment of each cylinder and by-pass passages between the compartments of each cylinder ensuring a thorough mixture of said components, and means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers pistons.

8. A reaction engine using different fuel components at different times and comprising a stator having exhaust ports, a rotor fixed to a shaft and 'mounted to turn snugly in the stator, combustion chambers in the rotor, means supplying an initially high-volatile compressed fuel charge to the combustion chambers when the engine is cold before switching to a less volatile compressed fuel charge when the engine has warmed, including cylinders having double-acting pistons dividing each cylinder into a pair of compartments of variable volume one compartment of each pair being supplied a charge made up of a high-volatile fuel and air or air only, and the other compartment of each pair being supplied a charge made up of air only or of a low-volatile fuel and air, by-pass passages between the compartments of each pair and by-pass ports at opposite ends of said passages and covered and uncovered by the reciprocation of said pistons, and means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom to turn the rotor, power the shaft and reciprocate the pistons.

9. A reaction engine combining a rotor having a central shaft, a stator supporting the shaft and snugly enclosing cylindrical rim and opposite end surfaces of the rotor, means insuring an effective operative pressure seal between said surfaces and the stator, combustion chambers having discharge openings in the rotor rim, means supplying compressed fuel charges to the combustion chambers including cylinders housing pistons and having bases in snug contact with said opposite end surfaces of the rotor, and means extending the time of charging the combustion chambers including co-active pairs of arcuate charging slots concentric with said shaft, one slot of one pair being in the base of one cylinder and the other slot of said pair being in one of said end surfaces of the rotor, and means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing extended explosive discharges through said discharge openings in passage to exhaust outlets in the stator to reactively rotate the rotor, power the shaft and reciprocate the pistons.

10. As a new product of commerce, a reaction-impulsion compound exterior combustion engine having a twostage compressor in a stator that houses a rotor and shaft and cam mounted to rotate as a unit, the compressor having a piston for blending and compressing two chemically reactive portions of a fuel charge, the cam having a followersecured to the piston, and the rotor having a combustion chamber made up of two temporarily conjunctive enclosures, one rotating with said shaft, the other reciprocating with said piston, the stator having a passage wherethrough to transfer said charge into the rotative enclosure as said portions of said charge are becoming violently combustible therein: explosive discharge of the partially burned charge causing the rotative enclosure to recoil and reactively turn said shaft, and completion of the combustion of said charge in the reciprocative enclosure working on means exerting a thrust on said follower to turn said cam and shaft by impulsion.

11. The product of claim 10 wherein the inner wall of the rotative enclosure comprises refractory material enclosing a conical void of fixed volume and having inner contours that diverge from a small ingress opening to a cross section of greatest area adjacent to an annular shoulder surrounding a discharge nozzle: said explosive discharge being from said nozzle.

12. The product of claim 10 wherein said reciprocative enclosure comprises a receptor extending into and protruding from said piston, the piston reciprocating in a fixed cylinder of the compressor, and the outside wall of the receptor being spaced inwardly from the inside wall of said cylinder and being highly heated by said combustion as said piston compresses a fresh fuel charge in the annular space between said walls: said fresh fuel charge containing a coolant to keep the receptor 15. wall below a temperature tending to cause premature combustion of the compressed charge in said cylinder.

13. An external combustion engine having an exhaust manifold and combining a compressor and a combustor in a stator wherein a rotor and shaft and cam are mounted to rotate as a unit, a compartmented cylinder in the compressor housing means of compressing a fuel charge in stages, a combustion chamber in the combustor made up of a pair of enclosures, one revolving in the rotor and the other reciprocating in the stator and housing a free bounce piston, the cam having a follower attached to the reciprocating enclosure to move said pair of enclosures into' and from conjunction, a passage wherethrough said fuel charge is transferred from said cylinder and compacted up to the point of combustion in the revolving enclosure when said pair are disjunctive: recoil of said rotor from the explosive discharge of the partially consumed charge from the revolving enclosure when said pair are conjunctive reactively turning said shaft, further cornbustivezexpansion of the partially consumed charge in the reciprocating enclosure .against said free piston exerting thrust on said follower against said cam, and backward bounce ofsaid free piston .scavenging products of final combustion of said charge from the reciprocating enclosure into said exhaust'manifold.

14. An external combustion engine combining a stator enclosing a cylindrical void, a rotor with central -shaft mounted to turn snugly in the void, a compound combustion chamber made up of two temporarily conjunctive enclosures, one of fixed volume in the rotor andone ,of variable volume-reciprocating in the stator, a two-stage compressor-having opposed: pistons, one operativeto supply a compressed fuel charge in stages to the rotor enclosure of fixed volume which has a discharge nozzle spaced fro'm-the rotor rim and opening into a fuelqpocket at said rim: said nozzle explosively dischargingproducts of incomplete first-stage combustion of said charge through said pocket to reactively power said shaft, said enclosure of variable volume receiving said products of incomplete combustion including fuel from said pocket for the second-stage combustion of said charge, and means operative in said second combustion stage to convert theexpansive energy thereof into thruston oneof said oppo'sed pistons that forces theother to compress a fresh fuelcharge.

15. A lightweight engine having a two-stage compressor and a combustor both operatively housed in a stator made up of die-cast sections of .a lightweight non-ferrous alloy, the sections being secured together about hollow cylindrical liners of ferrous metal, arotor'having a power shaft and mounted. on the stator forsnug rotation in two of said linersfixed end to end except for a gap between, combustion chambers in the rotor, means supplying compressed charges to the chambers including opposed. pairs of pistons forced to reciprocate in the compressor by a follower secured to each of said pairs and within the constraint of a cam extending around the rotor withinsaid gap, means effecting a pressure seal between said liners and said rotor, means causing the combustion of said charges in said chambers, and recoil of said rotor in consequence of violent discharges ofthe products of said combustion reactively turning said shaft and cam and the turning of the cam reciprocating said followers.

16. In a reaction engine, a stator, acylindrical roto'r having a central shaft-and extending between spaced bearings that support said shaft on the stator, combustion chambers in the rotor positioned'in two groups, one adjacent one end, the other group adjacent the oppo'site end of the rotor, each chamber having a discharge nozzle, means operative in the stator to compress components of fuel charges therein, means transferring and means temporarily confining the compressed charges in alternate numbers of said combustion chambers'in both said groups as saidcharges become combustible -means releasing simultaneous explosive discharges from thecharged chambers as the other chambers in both groups are being charged, and a succession of explosive discharges from alternate numbers .of discharge nozzles spaced in rows and .equi-distant around the rotor rim subjecting said hearings to no maldistribution of stresses as said rotor, in a succession of recoil responses, :builds up the momentum of a flywheel in powering said shaft.

'17. A chemo-kinetic engine combining a stator housing a central cylindrical void, a shaft mounted on the stator, a 'rotor fixed to said shaft, rim surfaces of said rotor turning snugly inside said void, combustion chambers in the rotor that have discharge openings spaced at substantial equal distances around said rim, a compressor housed by said stator and comprising operative means cornpressing fuel charges for the combustion chambers, the compressor having two types of .intake valves, one type admitting a fractionalpart of each charge and'the second type admitting the balance of each charge, said compressor having means compounding a chemically {reactive blend of ,the :thus admitted charge components and of driving-the reacting ,compo'nents out of said compressor and at the point of combustion into said combustion chambers for combustion therein: highrexplosive discharges of .the products of combustion from said discharge openings-causing reactive recoil of said rotor and heating substantial .inner surfaces of said compressor in contact with fresh fuel charges, a component of each fresh fuel charge admittedby said second type of intake valve comprising a spray of low .volatile fuel directed againstsaid hot surfaces to makesaid fuel more volatile,

- and said fractional part of each fresh charge .admitted byisaidifirst-named type vof valve comprising substantial quantities of Iair and an oxidizer of said fueL and asuccession 10f said explosive discharges from said openings giving said rotor the momentum of a flywheel'to power both said compressor and said shaft.

18. A reaction engine combining a stator, a rotor with a central shaft,-combustion chambers in the rotor, means supplying compressed fuel charges to ,the combustion chambers including regenerative means substantially preheating the charges during compression, comprising fixed cylinders operatively housing opposed pairs of reciprocating inner cylinders, and means igniting the chargesin the combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom to enter and pass through the inner cylinders to exhaust outlets in the stator: a succession of said discharges reactivelyturning the rotor, poweringthe shaft and heating the outer sidewalls of the innercylinders in directcontact with ,said charges during the.compression-thereof.

-19. A reaction engine combining astator, a rotor having ashaft and mounted to rotate snugly in the stator, combustion chambers in the rotor, means supplying compressedfuel charges to the combustion chambers including rectilinearly reciprocated receptors linking pistons in opposed pairs, and means igniting the charges inthe combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom to enter the receptors and performwork therein in passage toexhaust outlets in the stator: a succession of said discharges reactively powering theshaft and reciprocating the receptors.

,20. A reaction engine combining a stator, a rotor mounted to rotate snugly therein and having a central shaft .and a peripheralcam, combustion chambers in the rotor, means supplyingcompressed fuel charges to the combustion chambers including primary pistons, cam-reciprocated receptorslinking the pistons in opposed pairs and free pistons operatively housed by the recepto'rs,,a,nd means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing explosivedischarges therefrom ,to enter the receptors and, cause the free .pistons to push the, primary pistons andscavenge the receptors: a succession ofsaid dischargesreactively turning the rotor to power the shaft.

21. A reaction engine-combining a ,stator, a rotor in .the statorandvhaving a central shaft, combustion chambers in the rotor, means supplying compressed fuel charges to the combustion chambers including pistons and receptors linked in reciprocated pairs, and means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges of partially consumed fuel therefrom to enter pockets at the inner ends of the receptors when the volume of said pockets is minimal: a succession of said discharges enlarging the pockets without great initial resistance and reactively turning the rotor like a pinwheel to power the shaft, and combustion of the combustible residue of said discharges in the receptors further enlarging the pockets with increasing resistance and pushing against said pistons before passing from the stator.

22. A reaction engine combining a stator, a rotor having a power shaft mounted to be turned in the stator, a cam having gentle slopes and bends curving around the rotor, combustion chambers in the rotor and having discharge openings on opposite sides of the cam, means supplying compressed fuel charges to the combustion chambers including reciprocated receptors having intake ports in open alignment with said openings only during specific time intervals, means igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom to enter the then open intake ports, said receptors having skirts closing the discharge openings while the combustion chambers are being charged and opening the discharge openings while said charges are being fired, and a succession of said discharges reactively turning the rotor to power the shaft.

23. The reaction engine combining a stator having exhaust outlets, combustion chambers mounted on a shaft to rotate snugly as a unit in the stator, means supplying highly compressed fuel charges to the combustion chambers including cylinders and pistons, means easing the cold starting of the engine including relief valves'for temporarily decreasing the compression in the cylinders, ,and means igniting the charges in the chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom in passage to said exhaust outlets to reactively turn said rotor, power the shaft and reciprocate the pistons.

24. A reaction engine combining a shaft, a stator housing cylindrical liners concentric with the shaft, combustion chambers made up of enclosures of fixed volume fixed to the shaft to rotate snugly inside the liners and enclosures of variable volume reciprocated outside the liners in the stator, ports in the liners in temporary conjunction with ports in the enclosures upon the turning of the shaft, a compressor supplying compressed fuel charges to the enclosures of fixed volume, and means igniting the charges therein and causing explosive discharges there- 18 from through said ports into the enclosures of variable volume to reactively turn and power the shaft, and free bounce pistons in the enclosures of variable volume aiding the compressor and scavenging products of combustion through exhaust outlets in the stator.

25. A reaction engine combining a stator, a shaft mounted to rotate in the stator, combustion chambers formed by the temporary conjunction of openings between rotated enclosures of fixed volume and reciprocated enclosures of variable volume, a compressor supplying compressed fuel charges to the enclosures of fixed volume, and means igniting the charges in the enclosures of fixed volume and causing explosive discharges therefrom of energy-containing products of incomplete combustion to pass through said openings and into enclosures of variable volume to complete combustion therein in passage to exhaust outlets in the stator: said enclosures of fixed volume having means promoting combustion of less than the whole charge in each of said charged enclosures, and a succession of said discharges powering said shaft and operating said compressor.

26. A reaction engine combining a stator housing exhaust outlets and a cylindrical void, a rotor having a shaft mounted on thrust bearings for the snug rotation of the rotor in said void, combustion chambers in the rotor, each combustion chamber having a restricted opening, means supplying compressed fuel charges to the combustion chambers including primary pistons operative in the stator and a cam to reciprocate the pistons on the turning of the rotor and extending around the rotor be tween two rows of discharge openings, charging ports in the stator for the transfer of compressed charges of fuel and air into the combustion chambers and reciprocating receptors between the discharge openings and the exhaust outlets, means for igniting the charges in the combustion chambers and causing explosive discharges therefrom through said restricted openings: successive discharges into said receptors reactively turning the rotor to power the shaft, and free pistons in said receptors, pushed by the energy remaining in said discharges, helping said cam to reciprocate the primary pistons to compress further fuel charges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 970,152 Winand Sept. 13, 1910 1,319,752 Brown Oct. 28, 1919 1,915,995 Higley June 27, 1933 2,393,594 Davis July 8, 1941 2,549,819 Kane April 24, 1951 2,680,949 Butler -1--- June 15, 1954

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