US3472210A

US3472210A - Synchronized counterrotary engine

Info

Publication number: US3472210A
Application number: US671735A
Authority: US
Inventors: Hilbert J Savoie Jr
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1967-09-29
Filing date: 1967-09-29
Publication date: 1969-10-14
Anticipated expiration: 1986-10-14

Description

'Oct. 14., 1969 H. J. SAVOIE, JR 3,472,210

SYNCHRONIZED COUNTERROTARY ENGINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 29, 1967 W 120 M! Qlwwg, '47 7619445 345.

United States Patent US. Cl. 123-42 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An internal combustion engine having intermeshing rotors on parallel shafts, one of said rotors having peripherally spaced combustion sockets, the other having peripherally spaced lobes located to mesh with said sockets with predetermined clearance between lobes and sockets during such meshing, each of said rotors being mounted coaxially with a similar, synchronizing rotor, the lobes of the synchronizing rotor being adjustable so as to maintain contact with the sockets of the opposite rotor during meshing whereby to maintain said clearance between the lobes and sockets of the first named rotors; and means to cool the lobes and sockets of said first-named rotors.

This invention relates to internal combustion engines of the counterrotary type in which lobes on one rotor mesh with sockets on another in the manner of gear teeth. The lobe entering the socket effects compression, the charge is ignited and the resultant explosion of the charge acts to drive both the rotors. The prior art abounds in examples of this sort of arrangement which, however, has not heretofore proved satisfactory in practical use, chiefly, for the reason that ordinary gearing has been relied upon to synchronize the meshing rotors just discussed.

The fact of the matter is that meshing rotors of the lobe and socket type are not gears in the ordinary conventional sense. The profiles of the lobes and sockets do not follow the involute or cycloidal profiles ordinarly used in generating gear teeth so that mathematically ordinary gearing simply is incapable of functioning to synchronize mating rotors of the piston and socket type.

Consider only a pair of meshing rotors without regard to power take-off or synchronization. Ideally, the lobe should enter the socket, smoothly compress the charge in the socket, then under impetus of the explosion withdraw from the socket without there at any time being actual contact between the lobe and any portion of the socket.

To accomplish this absolute ideal probably is a physical A impossibility because of the fallibility of machining methods. By use of this invention, however, a very close proximity of this ideal may be realized.

It is, therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide an internal combustion engine of the counter rotary type in which there will be minimum contact 'between meshing lobes and sockets.

A further object of this invention is to provide in an engine as aforesaid means for synchronizing the engagement of lobes and sockets in such manner that no lobe exerts by contact on any socket nor any socket upon any lobe any circumferential driving force, the driving force being transmitted directly to and acted upon by the synchronizing means and not by the actual power rotors.

It is a further object of this invention to provide in an engine as aforesaid adequate cooling means both for the lobes and for the sockets as well as for the casing for such rotors.

It is a further object of this invention to provide in an engine as aforesaid means for adjusting the synchronizing means so as to maintain always the proper relationships 3,472,210 Patented Oct. 14, 1969 of lobe and sockets in the main rotors; to compensate for wear in the synchronizing means itself; and so far as possible to substitute rolling for sliding fraction both in the main rotors and in the synchronizer.

The above and other objects will be made clear from the following detailed description taken in connection with the annexed drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view partly in section, showing the general arrangement of active rotors and the synchronizers;

FIGURE 2 is a central vertical section through the active rotors shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 33 of FIGURE FIGURE 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of FIG- URE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view showing certain details of construction of the lobe-bearing rotor; and

FIGURE 6 is a section on the line 6--6 of FIG- URE 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, a casing for the active rotors is generally designated 10 and is made up of an external side plate 12 which is cast to contain

channels

14 and 16 for coloring fluid. The casing 10 also includes an interior side wall 18 also formed with

cooling channels

20 and 22. The side walls 12 and 18 are bolted to a center piece 24 which completes the enclosure of a socket rotor 26 and a lobed rotor 28. The socket rotor 26 is mounted on a shaft 30 while the lobed rotor 28 is mounted on a shaft 32.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the center piece 25 has an outer wall 34 surrounding a cooling passage 36 and an

inner wall

38, 40 curved to conform to the

rotors

26 and 28.

The opposite side of the center piece 24 has an exterior wall 42 enclosing a cooling space 44 and an interior wall 46 curved to conform to the socket rotor 26 and an internal wall 48 curved to conform to the lobe-bearing rotor 28. At the upper end of FIGURE 2 the external wall 42 and the internal wall 46 merge to define an open inlet passage 50. At the lower portion of FIGURE 2, the external wall 42 and the internal Wall 48 merge to form an open exhaust passage 52 while the external wall 34 and internal wall 40 merge to complete the spout 52.

As illustrated herein, the socket rotor 26 has six sockets 54 while the lobe rotor 28 has six lobes 56. The number of sockets, however, need not equal the number of lobes anymore than two meshing gears must always have the same number of teeth. If desired, for example, the lobe wheel 28 might be made smaller and supplied only with, say, four lobes 56, in which

case shafts

30 and 32 would operate at different r.p.m.s. This is a matter, however, for the individual designer and for the function to be performed by the engine as a whole.

The lobe rotor 28 is made up of a central drum 54 which has in its periphery transverse grooves 56 corresponding in number and spacing to the lobes 58. Each lobe 58, as best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, is preferably a cup-shaped casting closed at one end with the other end opening to a groove 60. A transverse groove 62 is formed in the bottom of each lobe and fits a spacer 64 which also fits a corresponding groove 56 in the drum 54. Spacers 64, therefore, act as keys between the drum 54 and the lobes 58 to assure alignment and rigidity as between the drum 54 and the lobes 58. Holes 66 are drilled in each lobe 58 within the area of the groove 62 and mate with similar holes 68 in the spacer 64 which in turn mate with similar holes 70 in the bottom of the grooves 56.

As best seen in FIGURE 4, the holes 70 of the drum 54 (except for the center hole 70') extend down to the hub of the drum and encounter an axial bore 72 which is interrupted between the two holes 70 by an insert 74. The central hole 70 is threaded to receive a stud 76 which extends up through the

central holes

68 and 66 to engage a nut 78 which serves to secure the lobe 58 to the spacer 64 and thus to the drum 54.

The lobe 58 is closed by a disc 80 which is secured in the groove 62. When the parts are assembled, as shown in FIGURE 4, it will be seen that the two open holes 66 of the lobe 58 with the open hole 70 of the drum 54, and with the channel 72 and spacer 74 define closed passageways through which cooling fluid may be circulated from either side of FIGURE 4 to circulate completely through each lobe 58.

The sockets 54 and the socket wheel 26 are defined by intermediate spokes 82 cooled by means illustrated in FIGURE 3. In FIGURE 3, each spoke 82 has a pair of parallel holes 84 drilled through from its outer surface. The holes 84 are connected by a transverse hole 86 drilled from one side face of the spoke 82 so as to intersect holes 84. The hole 86 extends only part Way through the otherwise solid spoke 82 and its open end closed by a plug 88 placed in a bore 90 at the entering surface. Plugs 92 are used to close the holes 84 and then are machined into the same contour as the radial outer surface of the spoke 84. In a hub portion 94 there is formed a central axial bore 96 into which the holes 84 pass. A plug 98 occupies the bore 96. Referring now to FIGURE 1, a single sparkplug or other ignition device 100 is placed at the point of the side plate 12 adjacent the point where the lobes 58 most deeply penetrate the sockets 54 and where the combustible mixture is under its highest compression. The result is an explosive force serving to rotate both the socket rotor 26 and the lobe rotor 28.

It is also to be noted that each lobe 58 has its outermost portion flattened, as indicated at 101, in FIGURES 1 and 2. This has the purpose of providing two sealing edges per lobe operative against or closely adjacent the Walls of the casing, but not, however, involving any real surface or pressure contact between the lobes and the casing.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 6, the synchronizing is made up of a socket wheel 102 keyed to the shaft 30 and accurately registered with respect to the power socket wheel 26 and a lobe wheel 104 keyed to the shaft 32 and accurately registered with the lobe wheel 28. The

wheels

26 and 102 rotate as a unit as do the wheels 28 and 104. The object of this arrangement is to eliminate all pressure contact or driving contact between the

power wheels

26 and 28 and to transfer the contact and driving functions to the synchronizing wheels 102 and 104.

Wheels 102 and 104 are loosely enclosed in a casing 106 which is joined to the partition wall 18. Ample clearance is provided on all sides of the wheels 102 and 104 which may be lubricated by conventional means and which require no cooling. The wheel 102 is provided with grooves 108 defined by spokes 110 corresponding to grooves 54 and spokes 82. The lobe wheel 104 is made up of a pair of spiders 112 having legs 114. Bolts 116 pass through the free ends of each pair of spokes 114. The bolts 116 support a pair of eccentric bushings 118 on which are rotatably mounted lobe wheels 120, the wheels 120 and bushings 118 being axially spaced by washers 122, as best seen in FIGURE 6. The eccentricities of the bushings 118 are oppositely directed and by rotation of the bushings relative to the spokes 114 one of the rollers 120 may be made to project slightly on the leading side of its spoke 114 while the other projects slightly on the trailing side. This is quite perceptible in FIGURE 6 but, of course, grossly exaggerated for the purpose of illustration.

The objective of this construction is two-fold. First, the composite lobes defined by the rollers 120 can be made to fit exactly to the dimensions of each groove 108 with which the lobe is to mesh. The second point is that rolling rather than sliding contact is established by this arrangement between the lobes and the grooves 108. All pressure and wear, therefore, are transferred away from the

power wheels

26 and 28 where combustion takes place and the thrust is exercised and occurs entirely between rolling surfaces on the low temperature synchronizing wheels. It becomes unnecessary, therefore, to lubricate the lobes and grooves of

wheels

28 and 26, just as it becomes unnecessary to cool the synchronizing wheels. It should be emphasized again that this type of synchronizing has the further advantage that the mathematics of meshing and rotation is exactly the same for the synchronizer as it is for the power rotors a thing which cannot possibly be true of conventional gearing used in any attempt to synchronize the power rotors, one with the other. As a result, there is an immense increase in mechanical efiiciency as well as very greatly increased machine life and decreased maintenance.

The arrangement shown with all of the grooves on one wheel and all of the lobes on another happens to be the preferred form. The principles of the invention, however, are equally applicable if both wheels were the same and each wheel alternated with grooves and lobes. With the arrangement shown, as previously noted, there is no need to have the same number of lobes as there are grooves. A differential can be set up so that the grooves exceed the lobes in number or vice-versa and the r.p.m. of the two shafts accordingly will be similarly differentiated. Other such changes and alterations, no doubt, will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. It is not intended, therefore, to limit this disclosure to the precise details shown but only as set forth in the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An internal combustion engine of the counterrotary type comprising: a pair of rotatable shafts; a pair of intermeshing combustion rotors, one such rotor being fixed to each of said shafts; a pair of intermeshing synchronizing rotors, one such rotor being fixed to each of said shafts, each of said synchronizing rotors registering with and being similar to the combustion rotor on the same shaft, and means for adjusting at least one of said synchonizing rotors to assure contact with the other of said synchronizing rotors during each intermeshing of said rotors, said means comprising adjustable pairs of adjacent eccentrically-mounted rollers on one synchronizing rotor, the other synchronizing rotor having sockets in which the pairs of rollers are receivable with substantially rolling contact.

2. An engine as set forth in claim 1, in which neither of said combustion rotors makes pressure contact with the other.

3. The internal combustion engine of claim 1, and wherein said one of the synchronizing rotors comprises a pair of spiders with radial legs arranged parallel to each other, said adjustable pairs of eccentrically-mounted rollers being mounted between the parallel legs.

4. An engine as set forth in claim 1, in which one of said combustion rotors carries only combustion sockets and the other of said rotors carriers only combustion lobes for intermeshing engagement with said sockets.

5. An engine as set forth in claim 1, including means for circulating a cooling agent through the interior of at least one of said combustion rotors.

*6. An engine as set forth in claim 4, in which neither of said combustion rotors makes pressure contact with the other.

7. The internal combustion engine of claim 3, and wherein each pair of legs is connected by a bolt and wherein a pair of eccentric bushings are mounted on said bolt, said bushings being rotatably-adjustable on said bolt, said rollers being journaled on said bushings.

8. An engine as set forth in claim 4, including means for circulating a cooling agent through the interior of at least one of said combustion rollers.

5 6 9. An engine as set forth in claim 6, in which the adjust- 2,164,462 7/ 1939 Lutschg 12312 ment of the synchronizing rotors is confined to the lobes. 3,323,499 6/ 1967 Gijbeis 123-12 References Cited C. J. HUSAR, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 CL 1,240,112 9/ 1917 Winger 123-12 123-8 1,440,451 1/ 1923 Ford.