US640711A - Explosive-engine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 640,7". Patented Jan. 2, I900. J. A. SECOR.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

4 Sheets-'Sheet I,

INVENTOR IQ MMZ .ATTORNEY MM. 5% M m m mm. W m /fl M .H 0 J... N N H W nu: "ohms PETERS w. Pnmou'mo WASHINGYON, u. r

Patented Jan. 2, I900.

J. A. SECOR. EXPLOSIVE ENGINE. (Application filed I May'25, 1899.)

4 Sheets$hee 2.

(No Model.)

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIY WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY THE NORRIS PETTZRS w, wnovauma. WASHINGTON. 0. c4

No. 640,7". Patented Ian. 2, I900. J. A. SECDR.

EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

(Application fllad may 25, 1899.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

m: Nowms PEYERS 4-. morwuwo. WASNXNGTDN, u. c.

Patented Jan. 2, I900.

J. A. sEcoR. EXPLOSIVE ENGINE. (Application filed May 26, 1899.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 4,

(No mow.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS 7H5. uonms PETERS co. PiO10-UYNO..WASHING7ON. u. .1

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN A. SECOR, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

EXPLOSlVE-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,71 1, dated January 2, 1900.

Application filedMay 25, 1899. Serial No. 713,169- (No model.)

To all whont it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. SEcoR, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Explosive-Engines; and Ido hereby declare that the following is a f ull,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of an explosiveengine made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan View of certain parts thereof. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken in the line'. y y of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a plan view, on a larger scale, of the expansion-cylinder of the engine and the valve-chest thereof. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the same, taken in the line y y of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a face view or elevation of the parts shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional View of the valves and valve-chest of the expansion-cylinder, taken in the line a; 00 of Fig. 5. Figs. 9 to 12, inclusive, illustrate the construction and arrangement of the valves and valve-chests of each of the high-pressure cylinders of the engine, the said parts being the same for each high-pressure cylinder, except in the mechanical details necessarily implied by the fact that the two valve-chests are placed at opposite sides of the valve-chest of the lowpressure or expansion cylinder, Fig. 9 being a plan view, Fig. 10 a vertical sectional view taken in the line y y of Fig. 9, Fig. 11 a face View or elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 9, and Fig. 12 a vertical sectional view taken in the line w as of Fig. 9. Fig. 13 is a detail view of one part of the valve-operatingmechanism shown in Fig. 1.

It is well known to those conversant with the production and use of motive power that while many attempts have been made to utilize the so-called compound principle in explosive-engines in order to expand a compressed charge to a greater volume than that existing before compression, such projects have heretofore met with only a very slight and practically useless measure of success. This has been due in part to the fact that the principles necessarily involved in compounding in this class of motors have not been thoroughly understood and in part to the further fact that means for insuring a properly-balanced action of the operative and moving parts of the engine during all the stages of the cycles involved in compounding have not been available in the art.

My invention is based upon a more exact and extended application of the scientific principles involved in compounding in explosive-motors, and it combines certain novel combinations of parts whereby an effective balance in all the parts of the engine when in operation is secured and whereby I produce a motor which in its structure and operation is not only adapted for use as a gasengine within the usual meaning of that term, but also foruse with compressed explosive mixtures derived from safe petroleum or similar oils, thereby rectifying in a most important degree the unstable and unreliable character heretofore attributed, and justly so, to the class of explosion-motors known as oil-engines.

The engine is provided with a suitable base W and with a framework for the support of its various parts. As said base and frame work may be of any suitable character and requires only the exercise in construction of ordinary workshop skill, the same needs no special description here.

The engine comprises, among other things, two high-pressure cylinders A and B and an expansion-cylinder G, which are placed in the same plane, or substantially so, the expansion-cylinder being placed between thetwo high-pressure cylinders, the longitudinal axes of the three cylinders being parallel, or practically so, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The expansion-cylinder is arranged to alternately receive the exhausts from the two high-pressure cylinders. The cubic contents of the expansion-cylinderbears,loroadly considered, a certain relation or ratio to the aggregate of the cubic contents of the two high-pressure cylinders. While this ratio may vary somewhat without departing from my invention, it may be stated that the working space within the expansion-cylinder should, as nearly as may be, equal twice the sum of the working spaces of the two high-pressure cylinders. The purpose and results of this will hereinafter presently appear.

A and B are the working pistons of the two high-pressure cylinders A and B, respectively, and C is that of the expansion-cylinder 0. As shown in the drawings, all the pistons are of the trunk variety, their connectlug-rods being shown at a, b, and 0, respectively.

All the aforesaid pistons are arranged to actuate and be actuated by cranks on a drivingshaft D, which latter is arranged at right angles to the three cylinders, as shown more fully in Fig. 1. The wrist d of the crank D of said shaft D connects with the connecting-rod a of the high-pressure piston A of the high-pressure cylinderA and the wrist (Z of the crank D with the connecting-rod b of the high-pres sure piston B of the high-pressure cylinder B. The connecting-rod c of the expansionpiston O connects with the wrist c of the crank I) of this same shaft D. The throw of the crank D is greater than that of the cranks D D By this means I obtain a greater speed of the expansion-piston C and a longer expansion-cylinder than would otherwise be available, the objects and advantages of which hereinafter presently appear. The pistons of the cranks on the drivingshaft D are such that at a certain stage in each complete operation of the engine the two high-pressure pistons for different purposes will be at or near the top of their respective cylinders, while at the same moment the expansion-piston will be at or near the bottom of the expansion-cylinder, as illustrated in the sectional View Fig. 4: and indicated by the positions of the several cranks in Fig. 1. The shaft 1) is of course journaled in suitable hearings or boxes provided to the base or to the framework of the engine.

The valves by which the motion of the engine is controlled are the inlet-valve H and outlet-valve H provided to each of the two high-pressure cylinders and located in the valve-chests E thereof, and the inlet-valves I I and the exhaust-valve K of the expansioncylinder, placed in the valve-chest E of said expansion or lowpressure cylinder. The valves and valve-chests of the two high-pressure cylinders are alike and operate in the same manner with reference to the expansioncylinder, but in alternation with each other. The high-pressure valves and valve-seats are illustrated in Figs. 9 to 12, inclusive. The low-pressure or expansion valves and valveseats are shown in Figs. 5 to 8, inclusive. In a general way the relations of the several valves to the several cylinders are shown in dotted outline in Fig. l. The valves, as shown in the drawings, are puppet-valves worked from valve-stems having a rectilinear movement. The valve-stems which are ap purtenant to the high-pressure cylinders A B are indicated by the reference-letter 6 as in Figs. 10 and 12, and those appurtenant to the valves of the expansion-cylinder are indicated by the reference-letter f, as in Figs. 6 and 8.

The valves of the high-pressure cylinders and also of the expansion-cylinder are actuated from cam devices on a counter-shaft F, which is arranged in suitable bearings provided to the frame of the engine and which is parallel with the driving-shaft D. The counter-shaft Fis driven from the drivingshaft through the agency of a system of gearing or equivalent means of transmitting motion. As shown in the drawings Figs. 1 and 2, this system of gearing comprises a spurwheel a fast on the driving-shaft D, an intermediate spur-wheel b, which gears with another spur-wheel 0 on which or on the shaft of which is a spur-pinion 01 that in its turn meshes with a spur-wheel e on the counter-shaft F. The several spur-wheels are so proportioned that the speed of revolution of the counter-shaft is properly proportioned to that of the driving-shaft to secure in the valves the requisite unison of move ment and operation with reference to the movements and operation of the several pistons in their respective cylinders. Fast upon the counter-shaft and arranged in due relation with the respective valve-stems c and f are cam devices which, as shown in the drawings, are composed of cam-disks G and M, one for each valve-stein. In one side of each of these disks G and M is a cam track or groove m. (Illustrated in a general way in the detail drawing Fig. 13.) Each of the valve-stems of all the valves is connected at its lower end with a slide G. These slides move in fixed vertical guides G and to the lower end of each slide G isprovided a downwardly-extended part G which has a later ally-extended stud g, which extends into the cam-track m of the adjacent cam-disk G or M, as the case may be. The cam-track m of each dish is so shaped as in the rotation of the disk to give the requisite movement in a vertical direction to the slide above, and consequently to the valvestem and valve with which the slide is connected. By this means the several valves are operated in unison with each other and with the piston movements, as required in the working or operation of the engine. As each cam-track m acts upon both the upper and lower surfaces of the stud g, according as the latter is moved upward or downward, it follows that a positive movement is given to each valve, which insures its positive action in point of time and motion with reference to other moving parts of the engine.

At h is the inlet-port of the high-pressure cylinderA, and,correspoudinglyfl is the inletport of the high-pressure cylinder B. It is through these ports that the explosive material by which the engine is driven enters the high-pressure cylinders from any suit-able source of supply. The port 72. terminates in the valve-chest E and has at its inner end a valve-seat 0., upon which is a valve H. From this same valve-chest extends an outlet-port 12 which has at its inner end a valve-seat b,

communicating with the valve-chest of the expansion-cylinder by a passage m corre sponding with the passage m from the cylinder A and having a valve-seatj anda valve 1 which correspond to the valve-seatj andv valve I, which cooperate with the cylinder A, as hereinbefore explained. In other words, the high-pressure cylinder B has ports and valves corresponding to those of the cylinder A-that is to say, an inlet-port for the admission of the explosive material, which has a valve-seat upon which is a valve, an exhaustport which connects with the expansion-cylinder by a suitable passage, as shown at m with avalve-seat, (markedj j) upon which is a valve 1 The expansion-cylinder has an exhaust-port is, controlled by a valve K.

It will be observed that the admission of the explosive material to each high-pressure cylinder is controlled by its valve H and that the expulsion of the exploded charge toward the expansion-cylinder is controlled by its valve H also that the admission alternately from each high-pressure cylinder of the exploded charges from the high-pressure cylinders to the expansion-cylinder is controlled by the valves I I of the latter and that the explosion of the exhausted products of explo sion from the expansion-cylinder is controlled by the valve K. The stems e of the valves of the high-pressure cylinders being connected, as hereinbefore explained, with the camtracks m of the disks G, and the stems f of 4 the expansion-cylinder with the cam-tracks of the disks M,the several valves are actuated by a positive motion from the disks and in unison with each other and with the movements of the several pistons as required in the use and operation of the engine.

Assuming the pistons of the three cylinders to be, for example, in the positions shown in Fig. 4 and indicated by the positions of the cranks in Fig. 1, the operation of the engine is as follows: The piston A of the highpressure cylinder A, actuated by the crank D, makes an outstroke-i. e., a downward movement-thereby drawing in the charge of explosive material behind it. Simultaneously with this the piston B of the high-pressure cylinder B makes an outstroke due to the impelling effect of the explosion of the compressed explosive behind it and afiording motion to the crank D, and consequently to the shaft D. The energized outstroke of the piston B of the cylinder B thus coincides in time and movement with the indrawing or pumping action of the piston A in the cylinder A. When the outstroke of the piston A has reached its limit, its movement is reversed by the impelling action of the crank D, and the indrawn explosive behind it is thus compressed simultaneously with this compressing action of the said piston A. Meanwhile the outstroke of the piston B having reached its limit, the motion of the said piston is reversed, and its instroke thereupon exhausts the exploded charge behind it into the low-pressure or expansion cylinder 0, the crank D on the shaft D meanwhile carrying the piston O of the low-pressure cylinder in the reverse direction to the limit of its instroke, at which it is met by the exhaust under pressure from the cylinder B, thereby giving it an energized outstroke, the power of which is of course transmitted to the crank D and consequently to the driving or main shaft D, to supplement the action of the pistons A and B in connection with the said shaft. These last-mentioned instroke movements of the pistons A and B being completed, the compressed charge of explosive behind the piston A is exploded, thereby producing another and energized outstroke sition so that the return or succeeding in-- stroke of this piston A exhausts the exploded charge behind it under pressure into the lowpressure cylinder 0, which gives an energized outstroke to the piston O of said low-pressure cylinder, the energy of which is of course transmitted to the main shaft D. Simultaneous with this the piston B of the cylinder B makes its instroke to compress the explosive material behind it, thereby completing the cycle of operations of the enginein other words, bringing the parts to the positions first described, ready for a repetition of the movements just explained, and so on indefinitely.

To recapitulate, the relative movements and operations of the pistons of the three cylinders in a complete cycle of the working of the engine may be summarized as folllows:

- Piston of low-pres- Piston of high-pres- Piston of hl hsnre cylinder A. igfiiggg pressure cylin er B.

1. Outstroke drawing Instroke expelling Outstroke explodin charge of exspent charge. ing charge. plosive.

2. Instroke compress- Outstroke ener Instroke exhaustin g e xp 1 0 s i v e gized by exhaust ing into expancharge. from high-pression-cylinder C.

sure cylinder B.

3. Outstroke explod- Instroke expelling Outstroke drawing ing charge. spent charge. in charge of explosive.

4. Instroke exhausting Outstroke ener- Instroke compressinto expansiongized by exhaust ing explosive cylinder 0. from high-prescharge.

sure cylinder A.

The relative proportions between the capacity or cubic contents of the expansion-cylinder and those of the high-pressure cylinders, hereinbefore set forth, provide a stable relation between the work of each high-pressure cylinder and that of the expansion-cylinder in utilizing the exhaust under pressure from such high-pressure cylinder. Simultaneously with this the greater speed of the lowpressure piston, due to its greater stroke in the same time with the shorter strokes of the low-pressure pistons, prevents any rhythmic or concordant vibrations from being set up in the parts by reason of their simultaneous motion, the vibrations due to the regular stroke of the low-pressure piston being dissonant to those of the equally regular strokes of the low-pressure pistons, the two series of vibrations thus neutralizing each other, and, in connection with the graduated relations of the contents of the low-pressu re cylinder and of the high-pressure cylinders, insuring a great firmness and stability to the engine when in operation, and thereby contributing greatly to its efficiency and durability. The three cylinders being arranged side by side, with the larger or low-pressure cylinder between them, enables the cylinders to mutually support each other and greatly strengthen each in its fixed relation with the others, while the arrangement of the valve-chests in line, or substantially so, with each other greatly simplifies the structure of the valvebperating mechanisms and enables them to be actuated from a single shaft common to all, and, as a counter-shaft to the drawing crank-shaft, easily connected with and conveniently operated from the latter.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination with two high-pressure cylinders and their respective pistons placed in, or substantially in, the same plane, of a low-pressure cylinder placed between the two high-pressure cylinders and having a cubic contents substantially equal to twice the aggregate of the cubic contents of said two cylinders, a low-pressure piston placed in the low-pressure cylinder and arranged to have a stroke longer than the stroke of the highpressure pistons, and a driving crank-shaft the cranks whereof are proportioned to the difference between the longer stroke of the low-pressure piston and the shorter strokes of the high-pressure pistons, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination with two high-pressure cylinders, their respective pistons, alow-pressure cylinder placed between and in the same, or substantially the same,plane with the highpressure cylinders and having a cubic con- 6o tents the same or substantially the same as twice the aggregate of the cubic contents of the two high-pressure cylinders, a low pressure piston in the low-pressure cylinder constructed and arranged to have a stroke longer than the stroke of the pistons in the highpressure cylinders, valve-chests provided to the several cylinders and substantially inline with each other, and valves arranged for operati on in said valve-chests,of a drivin gc ran kshaft the crank-wrists of which have throws proportioned to the difference between the stroke of the low-pressure piston and the strokes of the hi gh-pressure pistons,a countershaft parallel with the driving-shaft, a sys tom of gearing for transmitting motion from the driving-shaft to the counter-shaft, a system of cam mechanism fast on the counter shaft, and devices for transmitting motion from said cam mechanism to the valves in So the valve-chests, substantially as herein set forth.

3. The combination with two high-pressure cylinders, their respective pistons,a low-pressure cylinder placed between and in the same, 8

or substantially the same plane with the two high-pressure cylinders and having a cubic contents the same or substantially the same as twice the aggregate of the cubic contents of the two high-pressure cylinders, a lowpressure piston in the low-pressure cylinder constructed and arranged to have a stroke longer than the stroke of the pistons of the low-pressure cylinders, valve-chests provided to the several cylinders and substantially in line with each other, and valves arranged for operation in the said valve-chests, of a driving crank shaft the crankwrists of which have throws proportioned to the difierence between the stroke of the low-pressure pis-- ton and the strokes of the high-pressure pis= 'tons, a counter-shaft parallel with the driving-shaft, a system of gearing for transmitting motion from the driving-shaft to the counter-shaft, a series of cam-disks fast on the counter-shaft, each cam-disk constructed with a cam-track in one of its lateral faces, slides each constructed at one end with a lateral stud which works in the cam-track of an adjacent cam-disk, and atthe other is conno JOHN A. SECOR.

Witnesses:

BENJ. W. CARLL, Tnos. P. MACKENNA.

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