US3793998A - Rotary engine - Google Patents

Abstract

A rotary engine comprising a hollow cylindrical casing and a hollow cylindrical rotor accommodated in said casing in rotatable fashion. An opening is provided in the cylindrical wall of the rotor, said opening being provided with a curved bulkhead extending inward along one side-edge thereof. A piston member with a surface shaped in a circular arc having a curvature identical with the surface of the rotor is pivoted on the opposite side-edge of the opening. A crankshaft is connected with said piston member and rotates relative to said rotor so that the piston member is oscillated to form a combustion chamber between the piston member and the casing.

Description

United States Patent [1 1 Yokoi et al.

[451 Feb. 26, 1974 ROTARY ENGINE [22] Filed: June 12, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 261,802

[52] US. Cl 123/43 R, 123/44 D, 418/265 [51] Int. Cl. F0lc 9/00 [58] Field of Search. 418/159, 265; l23/8.4S, 43 R,

123/43 C, 44 D, 44 E Primary Examiner-William L. Freeh Assistant ExaminerLeonard Smith Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Woodhams, Blanchard &

Flynn [5 7 ABSTRACT A rotary engine comprising a hollow cylindrical casing and a hollow cylindrical rotor accommodated in said casing in rotatable fashion. An opening is provided in the cylindrical wall of the rotor, said opening being provided with a curved bulkhead extending inward along one side-edge thereof. A piston member with a surface shaped in a circular arc having a curvature identical with the surface of the rotor is pivoted on the opposite side-edge of the opening. A crankshaft is connected with said piston member and rotates relative to said rotor so that the piston member is oscillated to form a combustion chamber between the piston member and the casing.

3 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures PATENTEI] H826 I974 SHEET 5 OF 5 FIG. 86

ROTARY ENGINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotary engine wherein a hollow cylindrical casing is combined with a hollow cylindrical rotor accommodated therein.

2. Description of the Prior Art The Wankel engine which has heretofore been popu- -Iar is possessed of various defects, such that: as the trefoil rotor rotates forming an epitrochoid curve centering around three vertexes as the fulcrum along the eyebrow-shaped internal wall surface of the casing to thereby impart torque to the output shaft, the rotation of the rotor is unstable; as the pressure working on the internal wall surface of the casing is uneven, there is brought about corrugated abrasion; as the rotor is not held on the casing by the direct use of a supporting shaft, it is impossible to construct an engine of a large capacity; its structure is so complicated that it cannot be readily built; and so forth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved rotary engine which eliminates the above-mentioned defects of the conventional rotary engines.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary engine which is so devised that the cylindrical rotor is disposed concentrically in the cylindrical casing, the center shaft or output shaft penetrates the side walls of the cylindrical casing and is sustained thereby, the rotation of the rotor can be performed stably, and the pressure to be applied to the internal wall surface of the casing is made uniform so that the corrugated abrasion scarcely takes place.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a rotary engine which is so devised that the cylindrical wall of the rotor is provided with an opening formed in a part thereof, the bulkhead extending inward from one side-edge of the opening and the circular arc-shaped piston member whose one end is pivoted on the opposite side-edge of said opening forms the combustion chamber, the opening and shutting of the piston member is operated by virtue of the interlocking system comprising the pinion provided on the end of the crankshaft pivoted between the side walls of the rotor and the inner gear provided on the rounded inner surface of the casing, thereby ensuring stable opening and shutting of the piston member.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a rotary engine which is devised to stabilize the rotation of the rotor as well as the opening and shutting of the piston member so that its rotor can be of a larger capacity than that of the conventional rotary engines.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary engine which is easy to manufacture and repair because of its comparatively simple construction and is low-priced accordingly.

The rotary engine according to the present invention consists of a hollow cylindrical casing and a hollow cylindrical rotor accommodated therein, and is characteristic of its construction, wherein: the center shaft, or output shaft, of the rotor penetrates the side walls of the casing to extend to the outside of the rotor; one side-wall of the casing is provided with the suction port and the exhaust port cut therein; the rounded inner wall surface adjacent to the other side-wall of the casing is provided with the inner gear; and ignition plug is mounted on the upper part of the cylindrical wall of the casing; an opening is formed on the cylindrical wall of the rotor; a bulkhead extending inward from one sideedge of said opening is provided; a circular arc-shaped piston member is pivoted by one side thereof on the opposite side-edge of said opening; the surroundings of this piston member is so formed as to slide along the surfaces of both side-walls and said bulkhead and form a combustion chamber enclosed by the piston member, the bulkhead and the side wall of rotor; the piston member is connected with the crankshaft; one end of said crankshaft penetrates one side-wall of the rotor to extend to the outside where it is fixed to a pinion; this pinion engages with the foregoing inner gear of the casing, so that, with the rotation of the rotor, the crankshaft is set in motion, whereby the opening and shutting of the piston member is performed; and a suction/exhaust port located to confront said suction port as well as exhaust port of the casing is provided for the rotor by cutting its wall constituting the wall of the combustion chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the accompanying drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the casing as partially cut off taken of the opposite side of the same apparatus as in FIGJ.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the rotor of the same apparatus as in FIG. 1, as taken from the opposite side thereof.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the cross section as cut longitudinally in two in the middle of the same apparatus as in FIG 1.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus in FIG. 4 as out along the line V-V taken following the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the same apparatus as in FIG. 5, as partially cut off.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the piston member.

FIG. 8A through 8H illustrate the operational sequence of the rotary engine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In FIG. 1 representing the perspective view of the whole body of a rotary engine under the present invention, the numeral reference 1 denotes the hollow cylindrical casing consisting of the cylindrical wall 3 and the side- walls 4 and 5, said side-wall 4 being provided with the fan-shaped suction port 7 and exhaust port 8 bored therein, 13 denotes the output shaft of the rotor as explained in the following, and 26 denotes the ignition plug.

In FIG. 2, the casing 1 shows its side opposite to that appearing in FIG. 1, the side-wall 5 is provided with the penetrating bearing hole 6, the rounded inner surface of the cylindrical wall 3 is equipped with the internal gear 10, and the circular projection 9 is provided along the inside of said inner gear 10.

In FIG. 3, there is shown the cylindrical rotor 2 consisting of the cylindrical wall 14 and the side- walls 11 and 12. The output shaft 13 penetrates both side-walls l1 and 12 and is fixed thereto, and a quadrilateral opening is provided in the Cylindrical wall 14 by cutting a part thereof, and the perimeter of this opening is provided with the seal member 16. To explain the internal structure of the rotor 2 in reference to FIG. 4 and so on, the curved bulkhead 15 extending inward is installed on one side-edge of the quadrilateral opening in the radial direction while the opposite side of said opening is pivotally connected by pin 20 with one end of the piston member 19, which piston member has a surface shaped in a circular are having a curvature identical with that of the surface of the rotor 2. Three sides of the thus curved surface of the piston member 19 is provided with the seal member 25 which is so designed that its portion attached to the front of the piston member slidably contacts with the surface of the bulkhead 15 while its portions attached to the flanks of the same slidably contact with the inner surfaces of the side- walls 11 and 12 of the rotor 2 respectively. The side-wall 11 of the rotor 2 is provided with the fanshaped suction/exhaust port 24, which is similar in shape to the suction port 7 as well as the exhaust port 8 of the casing 1 and is located in the region of said side-wall corresponding to the arc of movement of the piston member 19, and this suction/exhaust port 24 is surrounded by the seal member 22. The piston member 19 is connected .with the crankshaft 17, which is pivoted inside the rotor 2, by means of the connecting rod 21. The crankshaft 17 rotates about an axis which, as illustrated in FIG. 5, is parallel to but radially offset from the rotational axis of the rotor 2. One end of the crankshaft l7 penetrates the side-wall 12 of the rotor 2 to project to the outside, and its tip is fixed to the pinion 18. This pinion 18 meshes with the pinion 27 which is coaxially fixed to the pinion 28.

The state of assembly wherein said rotor 2 is accommodated in the casing l is shown in FIG. 3 and onward. The output shaft 13 of the rotor 2 projects to the outside through the side-walls 4 and of the casing 1. The pinion 28 is engaged with the inner gear of the casing 1. The ratio of the number of teeth of the pinion 18 and the inner gear 10 is determined so that the crankshaft 17 rotates one time per half rotation of the rotor 2, thereby bringing about one stroke of the piston member'l9. That is, one stroke of the piston member 19 by virtue of the first half rotation of the rotor 2 effects the suction and compression, and one stroke of the piston member 19 by virtue of the next half rotation of the rotor 2 effects the explosion and exhaust. And, when the rotor 2 accommodated in the casing 1 is made to rotate in the same way as the conventional engines, the pinions 28, 27 and 18 of the rotor 2 which are engaged with the inner gear 10 provided on the rounded inner surface of the cylindrical wall 3 of the casing I perform the revolution along with the rotor 2 while turning on their axis outside the side-wall 12 of the rotor 2, whereby the crankshaft 17, on which the pinion 18 is fixed, is rotated to make the piston member 19 oscillate inward and outward centering around the pin 20 through the connecting rod 21, and, on the occasion of inward oscillation of the piston member 19, its surface, the bulkhead, the inner surface of the sidewalls and the rounded inner surface of the casing forms the combustion chamber 23.

Hereunder will be given an elucidation of the working order of the rotary engine having the foregoing structure in reference to FIGS. 8A through 8H:

In the drawings, FIGS. 8A and 8B show the suction stroke for the blended gas; FIGS. 8C and 8D show the compression stroke; FIGS. 8E and 8F show the explosion stroke; and FIGS. 8G and 8H show the exhaust stroke. The dotted line around the connecting rod 17 represents the locus of said rod.

Referring to FIG. 8A, the suction port 7 of the casing 1 communicates with the suction/exhaust port 24 of the rotor 2, while the piston member 19 is pulled inward by the connecting rod 21. Upon taking the blended gas in the resulting combustion chamber 23 through the ports 7 and 24, the rotor 2 turns to the position shown in FIG. B, whereat the suction stroke is completed. As the rotor 2 goes beyond this position of FIG. 8B, the piston member 19 starts moving outward in the direction opposite to that in shown in FIG. 8A, and, with the rotation of the rotary 2 as shown in FIGS. 8C and 8D, the blended gas within the combustion chamber 23 is compressed by the piston member 19, whereby the compression stroke is completed.

As the rotor 2 goes beyond the position of FIG. 8D, the ignition plug 26 works to ignite the blended gas thus compressed, and by virtue of the explosive power generated by the combustion of this blended gas, the rotor 2 is imparted with a turning effort clockwise as seen in the drawing and continues to rotate in the same direction as shown in FIG. 8F while the piston member 19 simultaneously moves inward, whereby the explosion stroke is completed.

As the rotor 2 goes beyond the position of FIGS. 8F, the suction/exhaust port 24 of the rotor 2 begins to communication with the exhaust port 8 of the casing l and, at the same time, the piston member 19 starts moving outward in the direction opposite to the previous direction to thereby discharge the combustion gas inside the combustion chamber 23 through the ports 24 and 8 to the outside as shown in FIG. 8G. And, with the outermost displacement of the piston member 19 as shown in FIG. 8H, the exhaust stroke is completed.

The rotor 2 in the foregoing embodiment is provided with a single piston member 19, but the additional provision of one more piston members similar to it and disposed symmetrically will double the capacity of the combustion chamber. Besides, the explosion will be effected twice per one rotation of the rotor, entailing the enhanced horsepower and further stable torque. Even in this case, any additional provision of the suction port 7 and the exhaust port 8 for the casing 3 can be dispensed with, and the ignition plug 26 suffices to be single.

Although particular preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed hereinabove for the purpose of illustration, it will be understood that variations or modifications thereof which lie within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims are fully contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. A rotary engine comprising a hollow cylindrical casing and a hollow cylindrical rotor accommodated in said casing in rotatable fashion, wherein: said hollow cylindrical casing is composed of a cylindrical wall and two side-walls which meet at right angles with said cylindrical wall; said cylindrical wall having an ignition plug mounted thereon and communicating with the interior of said casing, said casing also having a gear fixed thereto adjacent one end thereof; both of the side-walls having bearing holes therein to support an output shaft of the rotor; a suction port and an exhaust port in one side-wall of the casing opposite to the other side-wall adjacent to said gear; said hollow cylindrical rotor having a cylindrical wall whose outer diameter is almost equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical wall of said casing and two side-walls which meet at right angles with it; an opening in the cylindrical wall of the rotor, said opening being provided with a curved bulkhead extending radially inward along one side-edge of the opening; a piston member associated with the opening, the piston member having its surface shaped in a circular are having a curvature identical with that of the surface of the rotor and its base pivoted on the rotor adjacent the opposite side-edge of the opening; a crankshaft connected with said piston member and rotatably supported by the two side-walls of the rotor; one end of said crankshaft extending through one sidewall of the rotor and having a pinion thereon disposed in driving engagement with said gear of the casing, so

that, with the rotation of the rotor accommodated in said casing, the piston member is oscillated by virtue of the engagement of said pinion with the gear of the easing and the void created by the inward oscillation of the piston member functions as the combustion chamber; and one side-wall of the rotor which constitutes one side-wall of the combustion chamber having a suction- /exhaust port therein which communicates with the suction port as well as the exhaust port of the casing.

2. A rotary engine according to claim 1, wherein said gear comprises an internal gear fixedly secured to the rounded inner surface of the cylindrical wall of said casing adjacent the one end thereof.

3. A rotary engine according to claim 1, wherein said crankshaft is mounted on said rotor for rotation about an axis which is substantially parallel to but radially offset from the rotational axis of said rotor.

Claims (3)

1. A rotary engine comprising a hollow cylindrical casing and a hollow cylindrical rotor accommodated in said casing in rotatable fashion, wherein: said hollow cylindrical casing is composed of a cylindrical wall and two side-walls which meet at right angles with said cylindrical wall; said cylindrical wall having an ignition plug mounted thereon and communicating with the interior of said casing, said casing also having a gear fixed thereto adjacent one end thereof; both of the side-walls having bearing holes therein to support an output shaft of the rotor; a suction port and an exhaust port in one side-wall of the casing opposite to the other side-wall adjacent to said gear; said hollow cylindrical rotor having a cylindrical wall whose outer diameter is almost equal to the inner diameter of the cylindrical wall of said casing and two side-walls which meet at right angles with it; an opening in the cylindrical wall of the rotor, said opening being provided with a curved bulkhead extending radially inward along one side-edge of the opening; a piston member associated with the opening, the piston member having its surface shaped in a circular arc having a curvature identical with that of the surface of the rotor and its base pivoted on the rotor adjacent the opposite side-edge of the opening; a crankshaft connected with said piston member and rotatably supported by the two sidewalls of the rotor; one end of said crankshaft extending through one side-wall of the rotor and having a pinion thereon disposed in driving engagement with said gear of the casing, so that, with the rotation of the rotor accommodated in said casing, the piston member is oscillated by virtue of the engagement of said pinion with the gear of the casing and the void created by the inward oscillation of the piston member fUnctions as the combustion chamber; and one side-wall of the rotor which constitutes one side-wall of the combustion chamber having a suction/exhaust port therein which communicates with the suction port as well as the exhaust port of the casing.

2. A rotary engine according to claim 1, wherein said gear comprises an internal gear fixedly secured to the rounded inner surface of the cylindrical wall of said casing adjacent the one end thereof.

3. A rotary engine according to claim 1, wherein said crankshaft is mounted on said rotor for rotation about an axis which is substantially parallel to but radially offset from the rotational axis of said rotor.

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