US1266954A - Internal-combustion engine. - Google Patents

Description

S. C. KIRK.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION man ram/.21. 1910.

1,266,954. Patented May 21,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

S. C. KIRK INTERNAL QOMBUSHON ENGINE. APPucAnau min uov.21. 1916.

Patenmd May 21,1918.

3 suns-sun 2'.

S C. KIRK. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPUCAHON mm uuv. 21. [916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Patented May 21,1918.

-citizen of the United States,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SHIRLEY C, KIRK, OI WIKDBOR, ILLINOIS.

INTERNAL- COM BUSTION ENGINE.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, SHIRLEY C. KIRK, a residing at Windsor, in the county of Shelby of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion En 'nes, of which the following is a specificafion.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in internal combustion engines and more particularly to two-cycle engines, the primary object of my invention being the provision of an engine in which the cylinders are cast en bloc, one constituting a precolnpression cylinder for the explosive mixture and the second the final compression and firing cylinder, as many pairs of these cylinders being employed as desired.

In this connection, a still further objeetof my invention consists in the provision of a novel arrangement of the cylinders, their water jackets and the transfer ducts between the precompression and firing cylinders, whereby the volume of the coolin system is increased without undue increase in size and weight of the motor, the explosive mixture is preheated by the water jacketing during its first compression, its heat is maintained or increased during its transfer from the precompression to the firing cylinder and cylinders are kept from overheating.

A still further object of my invention is t so arrange the fuel supply pipes, cyliners and transfer ducts that no valves will be exposed to the exploding or burning gases of the firing cylinders which does away with burnt out or carbonized valves and valve seats, thereby greatly decreasin the necessity of re airs and adjustment and prolonging the life of the motor.

A furtherolziject of my invention is to so construct the ring cylinders and the fuel supply ducts leading thereto that all chance of leakage from the firing cylinders is prevented.

Another object which I have in view is to increase the durability of engines of the above described type and to simplify their construction and reduce the necessary parts and decrease the care, skill and attention required to operate and'maintain it.

With these and other objects in view my invention will be more fully described, illus trated in the accompan ing drawings, and then specifically pointe out in the claims Specification of Latte" Patent.

Application flied November 21, 101i. Ierlello.

and State 'lookin Patented May 21, 19! R.

which are attached to and form a part of this a plication.

In t e drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of an engine constructed in accordance with my invention, at the fuel supply side and showing the va ve actuating mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal vertical sectional view of the engine, showing the relative positions of the pistons;

Fig. 3 1s a fragmentary perspective view, showln one means of transmitting power from t a crank shaft to the magneto shaft and valve operating cam shaft of the enne- Fi 5: is a plan view of the en 'ne, showing tie fuel supply system to t e precompression' cylinders and from such cylinders to the firingcylinders, parts of the engine not relating to this being omitted for clearness;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, showing one of the valves controlling the supply of fuel to the precompression cylinders;

Fig. 6 is a corresponding view, showing one of the valves controlling the passage of fuel from the recompresslon cylinders to the firing cyiin ers.

orrespondiiig and like parts are referred to in the following description and indieated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

For the sake of convenience, I have illustrated my invention as embodied in an enand the upper portions and heads of the cylinders of each pair are surrounded by a common water jacket 11, as best shown in Fig. 2. These cylinders are mounted in the usual manner upon the upper section 12 of a crank case 13, being secured thereon by bolts 14. The upper section 12 and lower section 15 of the crank case have mating flanges 16 through which are passe bolts 17 receiving nuts 18 and these crank case sections are formed to provide aliyled bearin e 19 for'a crank shaft 20 having ra ity of crank arms or pins 20', one cylinder.

Each cylinder block includes a precomor each pression cylinder 21 and firing cylinder 22, the firing cylinders being disposed adjacent each other, while the precompression cylindcrs are located at the front and rear of the en ine. Pistons 23 operate in the cylinders an are provided with the usual piston rings 24 to prevent leakage from the cylinders into the crank casing. The pistons of the firing cylinders are also rovided at their per ends with upwar y and inwardly irected batlles 25 to direct incomin gases toward the upper ends of the cylin ers, as will be later apparent. Piston rods 26 operatively connect the pistons with the crank ins 20 of the crank shaft 20. At this point it should be noted that the crank ins to which the pistons of the firing cylin are are connected are set at 180 degrees to each other so that the pistons will move in o posite directions to permit firing in one cy inder during final compression in the other. It should also be noted that the crank pins to which the pistons of the precompression cylinders are connected are dis used at 180 degrees to the crank pins to w ich the pistons of the corresponding firing cylinders are connected so that, upon the power stroke of each firing piston, the corresponding precompression piston will be on its compression stroke.

The crank shaft, as is usual, pro'ects at its ends beyond the crank casing an at one end carries a fly wheel or pulley 27. Its opposite end pro ects through a gear housin 28 and within such housing carries a pair 0 sprocket wheels 29 and 30 which are fixed to the shaft by set bolts 31 or other suitable means. Alined bearings 31', formed upon the upper portion of the crank case, journal a magneto shaft 32, one end of which projects into an extension of the hdusing 28 and carries a sprocket wheel 33. In like manner, a plurality of alined bearings 34, at the free side of the crank case, journal a cam shaft 35, one end of which projects into the housing 28 and carries a sprocket wheel 36. A

sprocket chain 37 is trained about the sprockets 80 and 33, while a sprocket chain 38 is trained about the sprockets 29 and 86 to provide means for transmitting power from the crank shaft to the ma etc and cam shafts. These sprockets are 0 suchsize as to drive the shafts 32 and 35 at the same speed as the crank shaft.

Ducts 40, cast with the cylinder blocks, rovide inlet passages through the water ackets between the upper portions of the precompression cylin ers and inlet valve chambers or casin' 41, also cast with the blocks, and rojecting from the sides of the c linders. ach valve chamber or casing inc miss a cylindrical portion 42 disposed verticall above the cam shaft 35 and an outward minatmg in an attaching flange 44 which desired type.

y and laterally directed portion 43 ter=- will mate with the attaching flange 45 of a branch 46 of the in take manifold 47 which in turn connects with a carburetor 48 of any As shown, the flanged ends of these casings are directed,toward each other and downwardly in order that a Y- sha ed manifold may be readily connected to 81cm. A valve seat 49 is formed in the vertical portion of each of the valve casings at a level below scat an inlet valve 50 having a valve stem 52 projecting through a stuffing box 53 threaded into the lower end of the cylindrical portion of the valve casing. The upper en of the cylindrical portion of the valve casing is open and internally threaded to receive a cap 54 which, with a gasket or packing ring 55, tightly closes the valve casing. Cast with each cylinder block is also a duct 56 providing a passage from the upper portion of the precompression cylinder to the chamber or casing 57 of the transfer valve, this casing also being cast integrally with the block and projecting beyond the cylinder. Cast with each block is a duct 58 which is formed wholly within the water jacket of the block and which provides a passage between the transfer valve casing. and that portion of the firing cylinder im-. mediately above the piston when the latter is at the lower portion of its stroke.

the duct or passage 40 to The ducts 58 provide transfer passages for the,

ex losive mixture from the precompression cy inders to the firing cylinders and such passage of gas is controlled by a transfer valve 59 cooperating with a seat 60 to either permit or shut olf communication between -the duct 56 and duct 58. Thestem 61 of the valve 59 is passed through a stufiing box 62 threaded in the lower wall of the casing 57 and the upper wall of the casing is formed with an opening to permit ori mal insertion of the valve which is closed y a cap 63 cooperating with a gasket or was er 64. These valve seats (SO-are disposed vet-- tically above the cam shaft 35 and it should be noted at this point that both the inlet valves and transfer valves open upwardly.

.The cam shaft 35 is rovided or formed with a plurality of crank 'pins'65, one below each of the valve stems 52 and (Hand all preferably having an equal th'row. A link 66 pivotally connects each crank pin with a push rod 67 which is reciprocally mount-' ed in a bracket 6,8 carried by the-,crank casing and which, at its upper end, is provided with a reduced threaded exteiflifih 69. Threaded into the extension is an adjusting screw 70 which may be secured in any de neld against movement by a cotter pin and a helical spring 76 surrounds each valve stem engaging between its Washer and the free end of the shell 72.

By this means, I provide a mechanism for positively closing, as well as positively opening, the various valves as t e tendency of the spring 76 is at all times, to holdthe valves closed and the valvesdwill open only when the free ends of their'valve stems are engaged and lifted by the adjustable screws 70 of the push rods. The length of the push rods and connectin links is such that the adjusting screws will engage their respective valve stems on y during the time ,of greatest upward throw of the corresponding crank )ins of the shaft and, as a result, the valves will be opened for only a relatively short time, being held strongly to their seats at other times b the springs.

Conductor cables 77 lea from the magneto to spark plugs 78 threaded through the heads of the firing cylinders 22 to supply a spark producing current at the proper times. A water sup ly pipe 79, leading from a radiator or other source of supply, communicates with the water jackets of the cylinder blocks and a return ipe 80 has branches 81 communicatin wit the upper portions of such jackets. ucts 82, cast integrally with the lower portions of the firing cylinders 22, establish communication between these cylinders and the branches of an exhaust pipe 83, these ducts opening into the cylinders atpoints slightly above the upper ends of the pistons when the latter are at the bottom of their stroke.

In considering the operation of my improved engine, it should be noted that each block in efi'ect constitutes an engine unit, as many blocks, of two cylinders each, being employed as desired and all blocks acting the same. Of course, however, the firing cylinders should be so arranged as to insure alternate explosions in a twoblock engine in order to balance the power exerted upon the crank shaft. Considering, therefore, a. pair of cylinders 21 and 22, and bearing in mind that the crank pin of the inlet valve is set to open the inlet valve as the piston of the compression cylinder 21 approaches the end of its suction stroke and the crank pin of the transfer valve is so set as to open the transfer valve just prior mthe completion of the compression stroke, the operation may be readily understood. During the down stroke of the piston of a compression cylinder, an explosive mixture is drawn into this cylinder and is compressed therein upon the upstroke of the piston, the inlet course, being closed during its compression stroke. As this compression stroke nears its end, the transfer valve opens and permits the compressed gases to pass from the compression cylinder into the firing cylinder 22' ,gases admitted to the firing cylinder, as

valve, of

at the time when the piston in the firing cylinder has completed its firing stroke and the burnt gases are escaping throu h the outlet port of the cylinder. The bail e upon the piston, of course, directs the explosive mixture toward the upper end of the firing cylinder and so keeps it out of contact with theputcoming burnt gases. Upon the next suction stroke of the compression piston, the

above explained, are com ressed therein so .that when the iston in t e firing cylinder reaches or near y reaches its uppermost position, these gases are ready for firing. The time of firing is, of course, determined by a suitable timer in connection with the magneto and the charge will ordinarily be ignited shortly before the piston in the firing cylinder reaches its highest point, the amount of lead so provided being dependent upon the extent to which the spark control is advanced or retarded.

As the pistons in the firing cylinders lap, the inlet orts or passages of such cylinders, during a most the'entlre time of firing, it will be clear that no valves are exposed to the burning gases and all burning out or carbonizing of valves and valve seats is, therefore, avoided. Alsr ll. possibility of any leaka from the Ling cylinders, except past t e piston rings or about the spark plugs, is prevented. The compression of the exp osive gases in the compression cylinders 21 prior to their compression in the firing 0y inders,'serves to more thoroughly mix t e gases and also to preheat them. Furthermore, inasmuch as the transfer passages between the compression cylinders and firing cylinders lie almost wholly within the water chamber or jacket of the engine, it will be clear that any heat attained by this precompression is not lost during transfer of the gases. Furthermore, by includin each compression cylinder in the water jac ret of its corresponding'firing cylinder, the volume of the cooling system, as a whole, may be increased without unduly increasing the size or weight of the motor and any overheating of the compression cylinders, due to too closely fitting pistons, will be avoided.

The pistons of the firing cylinders being connected to the intermediate portion of the be unders ood that I reserve the ri ht to make any structural chan s and alterations in arrangement of arts w lch may be found advisable, within e scope of the appended claim, without in any yvay departing from the spirit of my invention.

Hnvin thus described the invention, what is claimefi as new is:

In an internal combustion engine, a precom ression cylinder and firing cylinder cast an Zoe, a common water jacketing comletel inclosing the cylinder heads an inlet uct ldillg through the water jacixeting of the precompression cylinder adjacent its head, an exhaust duct leading throu h the water jacketing from the firing eylin er in spaced relation to its head, a valve chamber formed exteriorly of the water jncketing, a porte web dividin the valve chamber, a duct ding from t e upper portion of the precompression cylinder through the water acketing to the chamber at one side of the web, a duct leadin from the chamber at the oppiosite side of jac eting to the firing c substantially diametrica y opposite the exhaust duct ending therefrom, an inlet conduit communicating with the first duct of the precompression chamber, a valve, in the conduit having a, stem pro'ecting through the wall of the conduit, a, valve in the chamber having a stem projecting through the wall of the chamber, pistons in the cylinders, a crank shaft having operative connection with the pistons, and means driven from the crank shaft controlling the opening and closin of the valves through engagement with eir stems.

linder at a point e web through the water In teatimoil ylwhereof I aflix mly'si ature.

S RLEY O. KIR Lei-l

Images