US1698102A - Construction and method of operating crankless internal combustion and explosion engines - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 8, 1929. I 1,698,102.

A. ,G. MN MICHELL CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF OPERATING CRANKLEss INTERNAL COMBUSTION AND EXPLOSION ENGINES Filed July 1. 1927 ent invention), than existing internal. comvscribed in the above cited patent. Asin all Patented Jan. 8, 15929..

UNITE resales lFFEQ ANTHONY GEORGE MALDON MICHELL, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, ASSIGNOR,.-IBY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO MICHELL-CRANKLESS ENGINES OORIEORATION, OF NEW I YORK, N. 'Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF OIERATING ORANKLESS INTERNAL COMBUSTION.

AND EXPLOSION ENGINES. I

Application filed July 1, 1927, Serial No. 202,897, and in Great Britain July 27, 1926.

engine, such engines being designated herein,

for the sake of brevity, crankless engines. The object of the invention is to produce an engine of that type which shall have greater fiexibility'and' which shall admit of more con-' venient and efficient methods of control (which methods also form part of the presbustion or explosion engines. By the expression greater flexibility is meant that the engine is capable of operating at any given speed, with a greater range of turning moment and consequently of'power, without limitations due to defective ignition or combustion of the fuel. It is a well-known defeet of existing internal combustion and explosion engines, that the range of turning moment which they are capable of exerting at given speed is comparatively small. For

this reasonit is usual to combine with such engines a variable transmission gear, which enables the turning moment applied to the v driven shaft to be increased or diminished independently of that exerted by the engine. It is one of the aims of the present invention to dispense, either completely or partially,

with such transmission gear. In particular,

the improvements in construction and operation are intended to be applied to internal "combustion and explosion engines of the The accompanying drawing is a longitudi-h nal sectional view through a multi-cylinder engine to illustrate one of the cylinder units incorporating a practical example of the invention.

- For the purpose of illustration the invention is shown in application to a crankless engine of the kind described in the specification of United States Patent DIG-1,409,057, Reissue No. 15,756. For the description of the mechanism of thisengine, and for definition of the terms hereinafter used in describing that mechanism, reference is directed to the above cited specification;

The engine is constructed with one or more internal combustion cylinders lwhi'ch operate on one or other of the well-known internal combustion or explosion cycles, either fourstroke or two-stroke. Where a pluralit of cylinders are arranged about the main s aft the construction may accord with that -de-' such engines, the essential operations are that the working fluid is compressed during the upward stroke of the piston 2 with a rise of pressure depending on the ratio ofthe clearance volume 3 to the volume swept by the piston. lhe fuel is either introduced before compression or is injected after compression and ignited either by the heat generated by the compression of the air or by electric spark or other suitable'means. The maximum amount of power which can be .developed' at each stroke of the engine'depends on the quantity of fuel which can'be burned in the cylinder, and this again. depends 'directly on the mass of air available for its combustion, that is on the mass of air in the clearance volume 3 at the 'end of the compression stroke. Since the compression pressure is limited by practical considerations, this mass s in practice approximately proportional to the volume of'the compression. space.

In internal combustion and explosion engines as usually constructed the volume of the compression space is fixed. Constructions are, however, already known, in which the compression volume is variable. The present invention consists of means producing such variation in a crankless engine, and also includes meansfor varying the supply to the The piston 10 reciprocating in the cylinder 11 serves to supply air for the combustion-in the power cylinder through connecting passages or pipes not shown in the drawing.

Valves 11 are provided in the cylinder head 12 for admitting air into the cylinder 11 from the atmosphere and for controlling delivery of air compressed in that cylinder to the power cylinder 1.; These valves may be either automatically or mechanically operated. A

' portion 13 of'the cylinder wall at the end re- .ble of being closed and rendered effective' 15 -rnote fromthe head 12 of the cylinder'll, is

perforated but is constructed so as to be capaas a cylinder wall by the movable sleeve 14. In the drawing the position of the sleeve 14 is such as togive the maximum degree of opening to the perforations, and as the piston 10 overruns these perforations in its working stroke only the portion of the cylindeiybetween the cylinder head and the perforations nearest thereto is available for delivering air to the .power' cylinder 1. By moving the sleeve Mtowards the left, a larger and larger portion of the-cylinder becomes so available, and a larger and larger quantity of air is compressed at each working stroke into the power cylinder 1,

- As already stated, the pressure to which such air can be compressed is limited by practical considerations. In order that the power attached to the' engine frame,

the. gear wheel 18, which may be effected by cylinder 1 may receive the larger quantities of air without exceeding thepermissible pressure,'m'eans are provided for increasing the effective volume of the compression space 'when required. For. this purposethe thrust bearing 8 is mounted in a movable housing. 15, which 1s made capable of being moved longitudinally with respect to the frame 16 of the engine, and to 'the'cylinder 1 which is fixed to the said frame. For this purpose the housing 15 may be furnished with-a screw 17 which is provided with means, such as a' gear wheelv 18, for rotating it in. the nut 19 Rotation of hand, or by gearing from the engineitself,

- or by an independent motor, thus moves.lon

diminished. Thus simultaneously the cyl-,

'gitudinally the engine shaft,[slant 5 and pistons 2 and 10'. If the motion is towards the right the compression space 3 in the-cylinder 1 is increased, while the compression space 20 in the head of the cylinder 11 and the extent to which the piston 10 overruns the perforated portion 13 of the cylinder 11' are both inder 1 is adaptedto'receive more air, and the cylinder 11 to supply an increased quantity.

,- The latter effect is enhanced if at the same time the sleeve 14 is moved longitudinally to jthe left over the perforated portion 13 of the cylinder 11,. and for this purpose the gear wheel 18 may be arranged to engage with a car Wheel 21 mounted on a screw 22 engage ing in nut 28- attached to the sleeve-14, Alternatively, the sleeve 14 may be actuatedby' means independent of the means employed for moving the thrust bearing 8. I

In addition to the variation of the quantity of air admitted to the power cylinder 1 by the means. above described, the quantity offuel supplied to the cylinder may also be varied, as by varying the stroke of the fuel pump, or -by opening or closing a'by-pass valve on the fuel-supply pipe, or'by other 7,5

known means. 'Such mechanism controlling the fuel supply, may be automatically coupled to the mechanism for varying the air supply, so that thequantities of air and fuel increase or diminish together. But, in order to give a wider range of variation of power of the engine, the diminution of the fuel supply may be continued, after the air supply hasbeen reduced to thelimit which the means of its" control permits and down to' the point at j which the proportion of fuel to air islso' low that efficient combustion no longer takes- VVhen' more than one of the intakemeans may be omitted altogether if sufiicient ,variation of the quantity of combustion air is provided by the variation of the limitsof the stroke of the piston 10 consequent on'themovement of the thrust-bearing 8.- It is alsoto be understood that the, thrustbearing 8, may be applieddirectly to the slant 5 instead of to a collar'on the-shaft 4 and that the slant 5 may be arranged to slide longitudi nally on the shaft instead of being rigidly mounted thereon, and that various means other than a screw, may be employed for moving the slantlongitudinally. Thus it may be movedby the plunger of asmall hydraulic press applied with oil under pressure .from a pump driven by the engine.

or other means may be controlled directly by the driver or may be effected automatically according to .the speed or load of the engine through a centrifugal governor or like contrivance.

I claim: 1

x The move- 1 mentof the thrust bearing whether by a screw 1. In an'internal combustion'engine, in

combination, a combustion cylinder, a swash plate having a fixed inclination anditsaxis of rotation parallel to the axis of the combustion cylinder, a piston fitting said-combustion cylinder and arranged-to coact with and rotate said swash-plate, and means for movingsaid swash-plate and coacting piston in the direction of their axes, whereby the compression volume of the said cylinder is stroke of the piston remains constant.

2. In an internal combustion engine, in combination a combustion cylinder, a swashplate having a fixed inclination and its axis of rotation parallel to the axis of the combustion cylinder, a piston fitting said combustion cylinder and arranged to coact with and rotate said swash-plate, a compressor supplying working fluid-to the combustion cylinder, and means for moving said swashplate and coacting piston in thedirection of their axes and simultaneously varying the capacity of said compressor whereby the quantity of' working fluid supplied to the combustion cylinder is varied simultaneously with the compression volume therein,-for the purposes set forth. V

3. In an ,internal combustion engine, in combination, a combustion cylinder, a swashplate having a fixed inclination and its axis of rotation parallel to the axis of the combustion cylinder, a power piston fitting said combustion cylinder and arranged to 'coact with and rotate said swash-plate, a compressor piston connected to said power piston and fitting in a compressor cylinder for supplying working fluid to the combustion cylinder, and means for moving the said swash-plate and therewith the coacting power piston and compressorpiston in the direction of the axes of their cylinders, whereby the quantity of working fluid supplied to the combustion cylinder is varied simultaneously with the compressor volume therein, for the purpose set forth. v i

4. In an internal combustion engine, a combustion cylinder, a swash-plate having its axis of rotation parallel to the axis of the combustion cylinder, a power piston in'the, latter and arranged'to coact with androtate said swash-plate, a compressor cylinder for supplying working fluid to the combustion 7 cylinder having perforations in the wall thereof, a compressor piston in the compression cylinder overrunning said perforations to a variable, extent according to the movement of the compressor piston and swash plate, and means for moving the swash plate and pistons in the direction of the axes of said cylinders, whereby the quantity of working fluid supplied to the combustion cylinder is varied simultaneously with the compressor volume therein.

5. In an internal combustlon engine, a combustion cylinder, a swash-plate having its axis of rotation parallel to the axis of the eombustioncylinder, a power piston in the latter and arranged to'coact with and rotate said swash-plate, a compressor cylinder for supplying working fluid to the combustion cylinder having perforations in the wall thereof, a compressor piston in the compression cylinder overrunning said perforations to a variable extent according to the movement of the compressor piston and swash plate, means for moving the swash-plate and pistons in the direction of the axes of said cylinders, and a sleeve concentric with the.

compression cylinder movable simultaneously with the swash-plate to cover said perforations to a variable extent.

6. In an internal combustion engine, a combustion cylinder, a swash-plate having its axis of rotation parallel to the axis of the combustion cylinder, a power piston in the latter and arranged to coact with and rotate said swash plate, a compressor cylinder for supplying Working fluid to the combustion cylinder having perforations in the wall thereof, a compressor piston in the compression cylinder overrunning said perforations to a variable extent according to the movement of the compressor piston and swashplate, means for moving the swash-plate and pistons in the direction of the axes of said cylinders, a sleeve concentric with the compression cylinder movable simultaneously with the swash plate to cover said perforations to a variable extent, a thrust bearing for the swash-plate, and means for simultaneously moving'the sleeve and thrust bearing axially. I

7. In an internal combustion engine, a combustion cylinder, a swash-plate having its axis of rotation parallel to the axis of the combustion cylinder, a power piston in the latter and arranged to coact with and rotate said swash-plate, a compressor cylinder for supplying working fluid to the combustion cylinder having perforations in-the wall thereof, a compressor piston in the compression cylinder overrunning said perforations to a variable extent according to the movethereto, a thrust bearing on said shaft, and

means for moving the sleeve, thrust bearing and shaft longitudinally.

8. In an internal combustion engine, in combination, a swash-plate rigidly mounted on a rotating shaft and movable longitudinally therewith, a plurality of combustion cylinders surrounding the axis of the shaft and having their axes parallel thereto, a plurality of compressor cylinders each opposed to and coaxial with one of the combustion cylinders, a power piston in each combustion cylinder and a compressor piston in each compression cylinder rigidly connected together as'a reciprocating unit coacting with the rotating swash-plate, perforations in the wall of'eachof said compressor cylinders adapted to be uncoveredto a greater or lesser extent by the compressor piston at the outer thrust bearing of which the; rotating element is rigidly nounted upon the shaft and ing capable of axial movement with respect to the cylinders, and means for 'moving' the thrust-bearing, shaft and swash-plate, re-

ciproeating units and sleeves in the direction of their axes for the purposes set f0rth.- ANTHONYIGEORGIE MALDON MICHELL.

the stationary element is mounted in a hous-

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