US1731385A - Internal-combustion engine - Google Patents

Description

Oct 15, 1929. s. LADLEY Z Z3 53 mun. COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed April 1, 1922 WITNESSES: INVENTOR v I, ATTORNEY A second ob vide an arrangement of the character indicated above in which the quality and the quantity of the fuel Inixturemay. besimul: taneously regulated to. maintain substantially Patented Oct, 15, 1929 SAMUEL LA'DLEY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA IN TEEN AL-COMBUSTION ENGINE Application filed April 1,

My invention relates to internal-combustion engines and-it has'particular relation to means for controlling the supply of fuel thereto.

5. My invention has forv one of its objects to provide an arrangement for automatically I controlling the quality and the quantity of the fuel mixture supplied to an internal-combustion engine r 'ect of ray invention is to pro .15 constant engine speed, a I My invention comprises broadly a governor for automatically controlling butterfly valves j located respectively in the fuel-intake and the air-intake pi es, of an internal-combustion engine. Un er normal operating conditions,

' [both valv'esare controlled-simultaneousl in accordancewith the speed of the engine. The automatic regulation of the quality and the quantity of the combustible mixture operates to maintain the constant. y

I In the accompanying drawing,"

I a F'gure 1 is a view, partially in side eleva- I tionand partially in sectio r1,0f an internaleo combustion engine embodying my. invention. -E Fig. 2 is a similar View, 111 enlarged detail,

.' ofa portion of the fuel-controlling means. 1

= -'Referringparticularly to Fig. 1, an"in- ;;"}ternal-combustion:engine 1 which may, for '32 "exampl g be employednn connection with isolated power lants, commonly known as her 2, a crank case 3 and a cylinder 4. A fuelintake pipe 5, which is connected in a well knowii manner to the cylinder 4, is controlled by fabutterfly valve Gthat is commonly known as {the throttle.v

' The fuel whichlnay bqfor eziainple',

' sen'e or. other low-grade hydrocarbon com- 43' pound-,jis contained in a tank 7 that is located "within thebase member 2.; The fuel passes through'a check valve 8 and a. pipe 9v having a bore-of relatively small diameter that o ens intothef'throat of a Venturi tube 10' to w ich 59 the intake pipe 5 is connected; An air-intake engine speed substantially I journaled in the sides of the air-intake pipe farm-lighting p ants, comprises a base mem- 1922. Serial N0. 548,842.

pipe 12, which is connected to the outer end of the Venturi tube 10, is controlled by a butterfly valve 13, I

The details of the arrangement whereby a pipe of relatively small bore supplies fuel to thethroat portion ,of the Venturi tube constitutes the subject-matter of the copending application of Newill & Dicksee, Serial No.

= 548',806, filed April "1, 1922 and assigned to thelVestinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company.

A centrifugal governor 14, which may be of any usual or ordinary construction, is

ioperatively connected to the crank shaft of i the engine by means of a shaft 15. The centrifugal governor comprises a plurality of weight meinbers'16 which, when the move outwardly, exert a lever action upon t e slidable sleeve member 17, causin the latter to engage alever l8.- The latter is-connected to a link 19 that is connected by a lever arm 20 to the butterfly valve 6 and by a link 21 and lever arm 22'to the butterfly Valve 13.

7 Referring particularly to Fig. 2, the valve 13 is mounted on a rotatable shaft 24 that is 12, theshaft being of such length as to extend beyond the sides of the pipe. The lever ally-operable lever arm 25, which is rigidly secured to the shaft 24 adjacent to the lever arm 22, is provided with a In 26 (Fig. 1) that is adapted to engage the lever arm 22. The other rojecting portion of the shaft 24 is surroun' ed b a coil spring 27 that is secured at one on to the shaft and at its other end to the pipe 12.

' The spring 27 tends to rotate the shaft 24 and the valve 13 in a clockwise direction, as 00 viewed in Fig. 1 or as viewed from the right in Figi 2, and t'hereby'maintain the engagement-of the lu 26 and the lever arm 22 under normal operatlng conditions. From the fore- .goingdescription, it will be apparent that the valve .18 may be rotated or rocked in n. counter-clockwise direction against the force of the spring 27 and relatively to the lever arm 22.

The details of the arrangement whereby the valve for controlling the air-intake pipe may be controlled manually constitutes the subject-matter of the copending application of C. B. Dicksee, Serial No. 550,371, filed April 7, 1922 and assi ned to the Westinghouse Electric & Manu acturing Company.

In starting the engine, it is desirable that a comparatively rich mixture be supplied to the engine cylinder. When the parts are in the respective positions in which they are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the rotation of the engine crank shaft at relatively low speed would not materially affect the position of the ,valve 13. Accordingly, in order to reduce the quantity of air admitted to the pipe 12 and to correspondingly increase the proportion of fuel in the combustible mixture, the lever 25 is pressed downwardly, that is, rotated in a counter-cloclnvise direction, by the operator. The engine is then cranked by the usual electric generator 29 operating as a motor, or by other usual or suitable means.

WVhen the engine starts, the lever 25 is released, and the valve 13 is returned by the spring 27 to its position relatively to thelever 22 in which it isillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The centrifugal governor automatically and simultaneously controls the valve 6 to regulate the quantity of fuel mixture supplied to the internalcombustion engine and the valve 13 to control the quality or richness of the fuel mixture by varying the proportion of air admitted during the suction strokes of the engine.

From an inspection of Figsl, it will be noted that the valves 6 and 13 occupy their respective fully open positions simultaneously. The relative lengths of the lever arms 20 and 22 and their relative angular positions are such that the valve 13 for controlling the air inlet is actuated toward its closed position at a rate which exceeds that of similar movement of the fuel-controlling valve 6. This arrangement is desirable by reason of the fact that the quantity of fuel drawn from the pipe 9 by the air drawn through the Venturi tube across the opening of the pipe 9 varieswith the velocity of the air. The velocity diminishes withthe closing of the valve 6. The valve 13,

however, closes at such increased rate as to increase the vacuum produced by the engine piston to such degree as to compensate for the decrease in air velocity.

It will be appreciated that I have provided a simple and efiicient means for automatically controlling the-supply of combustible mixture to an internal-combustion engine during normal operation of the engine.

The character and quantity of the fuel mixture is so'eontrolled as to insure substantially constant speed of the engine under varying loads. i

' I claim as my invention:

1. In an internal-combustion engine, the combination with a fuel-intake pipe and an air-intake pipe and a valve for controlling each of said pipes, of automatic means for maintaining the speed of said engine sub stantially constant comprisin means for simultaneously controlling saic valves whereby they both occupy their fully open positions simultaneously and are actuated toward their respective closed positions at different rates.

2. In aninternal-combustion engine, the combination with a fuel-intake pipe and an air-intake pipe and a valve for controlling each of said pipes, of automatic means for maintaining the speed of said engine SUbSllflIb tially constant comprising means for simultaneously controlling said valves whereby they both occupy their fully open positions simultaneously and the valve for controlling the air-intake pipe is actuated toward its closed position at a rate greater than that of the other valve.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 24th day of March, 1922.

SAMUEL LADLEY.

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