US906425A - Rotary engine. - Google Patents

Description

P. F. HODGES.

ROTARY ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 001222, 190s.

906,425. Patented' De@ 8, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

VORNE V3 PLINY F. ODGES, OF OLD OFFICE, VIRGINIA.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1908.

Apucaaon mea october 22, 190s. serial No. 459,009.

To'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PLINY F. Honoris, re-

siding at Old Office, in the county of Gooch` land and State of Virginia, have invented a newand Improved Construction of Rotary Engine, of W ich thefollowing'is a specification.

This invention relates to rotary engines and has for its purpose to provide an im tight, by the cross bolts 6--G, as clearly shown roved means of utilizing the expansive orce of asteam 1n rotary engines, and 1t conslsts 1n parallel steam passageways between vthe inlet and exhaust ports and valve incohanism operating to admit and out ofi' the steam to said passage Ways alternately,'so that the4 initial pressure from .the boiler will be applied to one of said passages whilethe expansive force of' steamis operating in the other passage way.

In its more subordinate features, my invention consists in certain details of construction and peculiar combination of parts, all of which will befhereinafter fully described,

specifically pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1, isa perspective View of my improved construction of rotary engine. Fig. 2, is a vertical", longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3, is a horizontal section of the casing, the rotary pistonor runner being omitted. Fig. 4, is a plan view of the. rotary piston or 4 Fig. 5,'is a perspective view of the rotary valve.

In the practical arrangement of my invention, the same is arranged as shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, and comprises a circular casing l, which rises -vertically from the base or foundationA L() integral with the casing and suitably flanged whereby it can be conveniently and solidly secured to a floor r other support. IVithin the casing is roatably mounted the piston 2, which is keyed to the shaft 4 that journals in hub bearings 5 5 on the cap plates 5 that form the end closures for the casing l, to which they are held, steam in the drawings. The cylinder casing l has centrally disposed exhausts r-.r that are transversely disposed and discharge into a central exhausting port and at one side the said casing has a pair of transverse inlets 7 0"7()b that discharge into the casing and which communicate with a single valve chamber 7 in which is rotatably mounted the valve 8 and with which the feed pipe from the boiler connects.

The valveS, the detailed construction of which is shown in Fig. 5, is formed with a central annular steam space 8 and at each end with a number of equi-distantly spaced channels 81 that extend in the longitudinal axis of the valve and an e ual number of cut ols 82, said cut offs and the channels in the opposite ends of the valves being alternately arranged whereby to provide for a proper cooperation of the valve with thestear'n passages in the casing and particularly for admittin the steam .intermittently and alternate y throu h the feed ports or inlets 70a--70b as best s iown in-Fig. 8.

The rotary piston 2 has its peripheral faces provided with two sets of parallelly disposed radial abutments 2a, nine being shown in the drawings, that are joined by a series of peripheral passage ways or pockets 2b that gradually but uniformly increase in depth in the forward direction, that is, in the direction of rotation of the piston, for reasons presently explained.

The two sets ofpassage waysV or pockets in the manufacture of the piston and the casing are cored out and the said two sets form two continuous rows of steam passages that are interrupted at predetermined inter,d vals by the abutments 2a and 3, the said pockets or Apassage ways, as will be best seen from Fig. 4, do not extend'entirely across the piston faces but are stopped short of the ends and of eachother whereby to provide end closure portions 2b' and a central closure portion c2 for the pockets or ways to hold the steam from passing against the end caps 5--5,

the other, theV said two sets 4of pockets also or from one passageway tov from passing endwise out ofthe said pockets By arranging the pockets or steam pas-p sages on the piston and on the casing in the manner shown and described, the space l between the casing wall and the piston is most' restricted at the infeed end. and is of` gradually increasing area toward the ex* l hausts cv, whereby to provide for taking proper care of the expansive force to prevent any back lash or cushioningof the said force,- since by reason of the gradually increasing depth of the casing surfaces practically all of the back pressure of the expansion force is taken up by the said abutments, thereby causing the'said expansive force toexert a maximum pressure against lthe abutments on the down-going side of the piston.

It will be noticed that by the peculiar construction and relative arrangement of the pockets or steam passages on the piston and in the opposing casing Wall, that at intervals the steam after the infeed is cut off, is pocketed, the times of which is regulated by thenumber of pockets or abutments formed on the steam engaging faces of the casing and the piston and by reason thereof the expansive force is repeatedly utilized on the piston as the live,y steam impulses' are intermittently admitted into the restricted spacev between the piston and casing, the hve steam impulses being regulated by the relative speeds of the valve and the piston, and by the number of cut offs and feed channels formed inthe rotary controlling valve. Again, the valve mechanism is of' such 'character that it provides for practically continuous live steam impulses against the piston, by reason of first charging against the abutments at one side of the said piston and then against the abutments at the other side thereof, as well asthe continuous use of the expansive force,

sincethe correlation of the pocketsin the piston, the steam inlet, the pockets in the .casingare so combined that at predeter- Ymined times, the live steam impulses are either at 'one side of the rotary piston or at 'the other: side, While the ex )ansion of the prior ycharge is exerting itsel on the downgoing side of the piston, such operation not alone 'rendering the engine one of high efficiency and speed, but also overcoming the sudden jerks and jars usually found in rotary engines. Furthermore, by reason of the gradually increasing depth of the pockets maximum energy from a minimum expense of steam power.

While I have shown the piston with nine radial abutments and pockets, I desire it understood that the said number, as also the number of pockets and abutments on the casing chamber may be increased or diminished and the valve may have a greater or less `number of properly spaced cutoii's 'and stean channels without departing from my invention or the scope of the appended claims. It should be noted that the abutments are oppositely arranged inboth. piston and casin y.

. It shou d be stated, the general construction of my present ty e of engine 4is also disclosed in my co-pen ing application, Serial No. 388239, iiled August l2, i907, allowed October 12, 1908. My present invention differs from what is shown in the said copending application in that the two series of steam passages and abutments are oppositely arranged, that is, in transverse alinement, instead of alternately arranged as described,` shown and claimed in said other application. By reason of arranging the'steam passages and abutments in transverse aline-kv ment or oppositely as stated, the live steam impact is applied at the samevcircumferent`a points on the piston in each of the passage ways. l

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. In a rotary engine, the piston and cas ing therefor, comprising two series of oppo-A sitely disposed annular abutments and opp0 sitely disposed pockets in the casing, two series of peripheral pockets and abutments encircling the piston in cooperation with the /said annular abutments and pockets so as t0 form parallel steam passageways from the inlets to the exhausts and a valve operating to admit and cut otlf the steam to and from the abutments and pockets, the lpockets and l controlling valve for the inlet having two seabutments of the two series being in transries of alternately arranged pockets and out 10 versealinement and of u-neqal}numb r.d d i o's. 1

4. n a rotary engine in W ic 1 is inc u e 1 5 a rotary disk and a casing therefor, the said l y P F' HODGEb disk and the casing each having two series of i WVitnesses: annular abutments and pockets and the cas- FRED G. DIETERIOH, ing having an inlet and an outlet; 'a rotary l ELEANOR MACCORMICK.

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