US710727A - Explosion-engine. - Google Patents

Description

Nu. 7|0,727. Patented 00L 7, I902.

W. G. WILSON.

EXPLOSION ENGINE.

(Application filed. Nov 1, 1900.)

(No Model.)

HI!!! H L I Exrusmv ilNiTnn STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

)VALTER GORDON WILSON, OF XVESTMINSTER, ENGLAND.

EXPLOSlON-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,727, dated October 7, 1902.

Application filed November 1, 1900- Serial No. 35,163- (NO model.)

To CI/ZZ whom it Wtay concern:

Be it known that LWALTER GORDON WIL- SON, engineer, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 32 Great Peter street, in the city of )Vestminster, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Explosion-Engines,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in and relating to explosion-engines.

According to this invention there may be four or six cylinders or multiples of two, and these with their cranks are so arranged as to practically balance the engine and do away with vibration. As applied, for instance, to a four-cylinder explosion-engine working on the so-called Otto cycle, the crank-shaft has four cranks, of which the two outer cranks are in one direction and the two inner cranks are in the opposite direction. Two of the cylinders are on one side of the crank-shaft, and the other two cylinders are on the other side of the crank-shaft. The pistons of each pair always have the same phase, and the cylinders and cranks are so arranged that there are as many equidistant phases as there are pairs. The valves for the inlet of the explosive charge and for the exhaust are preferably mounted in casings, which form the covers of the cylinders, and are Operated in any convenient manner. If it be intended to cool the cylinders by air, the spokes of the fly-wheel are formed like a fan or screw, the result of which is that a current of air is always directed or induced onto the cylinders, which are, as usual, provided with radiating fins, even when the motor (if the engine be applied to a motor-car) is standing still.

Figure l of the accompanying drawings represents in horizontal section a four-cylinder engine constructed according to my invention, and Fig. 2 is an elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is a plan, partly in section, of a six-cylinder engine; and Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the relative positions of the cranks.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, which illustrate a fourcylinder engine working on the Otto cycle,the crankshaft S has four cranks, (numbered l, 2, 3, and 4,) of which the two outer cranks (marked 1 and 4:) are in one direction and the two inner cranks (marked 2 and 3) are in the other direction-that is to say, the

the inlet for the cylinders O and D.

two outer cranks are at one hundred and eighty degrees to the two inner cranks. Two of the cylinders (marked A and C) are on one side of the crank-shaft S, and the other two (marked B and D) are on the other side of the crank-shaft. The four pistons (marked, respectively, A, B, O, and D) are connected to the cranks by four connecting-rods (not shown) of usual construction. The valves (not shown) for the inlet or admission of the explosive charges and for the exhaust of the products of combustion are preferably mounted in casings, (marked, respectively, A B C and D which form the covers of the cylinders and are operated in any convenient manner. The inlet-valves may,

for example, in some cases be provided, as.

is well known, with springs only, which always tend to close the valves, and in that case the vacuum formed in the cylinders will be sufiicient to cause the valves to open to allow of the inlet of the explosive charge; but the inlet-valves may also be directly Operated by means of rods (of which only two, marked O and D Fig. 2, are shown) and of cams (of which only one, marked E, Fig. 2, is shown) on'a counter-shaft F, suitably geared to the crank-shaft S. Similarly the exhaust-valves (not shown) are operated by means of rods (of which only two, marked O and D, Fig. 2, are shown) and of cams (of which only one, marked G, is shown) on a counter-shaft H, receiving motion by gearing from the crankshaft S. As indicated, the valves are so arranged that one cam Operates the inlet for two cylinders. Thus one cam (not shown) on the shaft F operates the inlet for the cylinders A and B and the other cam, E, operates In like manner one cam G operates the exhaust for the cylinders G and D and another cam (not shown) on the same shaft H operates the exhaust for the cylinders A and B, it being understood that the inlet-valves for the cylinders A B or O D are preferably in line with each other and with their common cam and that the exhaust-valves are also similarly in line with each other and with their common cam. It is also evident that such an arrangement applies to an engine with two cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. There are consequently only two cam-shafts, one

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for the inlet-valves and the other for the exhaust-valves, or there may be only one camshaft to operate both sets of valves. An engine with the crank-shaft and cylinders disposed in this manner is practically balanced and runs with the minimum of vibration, owing principally to the fact that the two crankpins 2 and 3 of the two inner cranks are on the same center line. Similarly the two crank-pins 1 and 4 of the two outer cranks are on the same center line opposite to that of the inner cranks, and the obliquity of the opposite connecting-rods is always equal. If the cylinders be cooled by air, the spokes I of the fly-wheel K are formed like a fan or screw, the result of which is that a current of air is always directed or induced onto the cylinders, which will then, as usual, he provided with radiating fins, (indicated by the letterL in Fig. 2 only,) even when the motor (if the engine be applied toa motor-car) is standing still. In the example shown the piston A has just completed its working stroke, the piston B has drawn in its charge of explosive mixture, the piston G has exhausted the products of combustion, and the piston D has compressed its charge. At the end of the return stroke of the piston A the latter will have exhausted, the piston B will have compressed, the piston C will have drawn in a fresh charge, and the piston D will have had its working stroke. At the end of the next or third stroke the piston A will have drawn in a fresh charge, B will have had its working stroke, 0' will have compressed, and D will haveexhausted. Finally at the end of the fourth stroke, which completes two revolutions of the Otto cycle, the piston A willhave compressed, B will have exhausted, C will have completed its working stroke, and D will have drawn in a fresh charge.

In engines heretofore constructed the two opposite pistons are balanced as far as concerns the reciprocating forces; but there is a moment due to the cylinders not being coaxial. Now according to this my invention the pistons of a pairsay A and B or C and Dare combined to reduce the moment to a minimumthat is to say, when the two pistons forming one pair of pistons are in the two pistons forming the other pair are out.

In a six-cylinder engine, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the cranks next to each other, for example, are at one hundred and eighty degrees, the next pair are at one hundred and twenty degrees to the first pair, and the third pair are at one hundred and twenty degrees to the second pair. Thus the cranks numbered l and 2 are opposite to each other, as are the cranks 3 and 4 and the cranks 5 and G. The cranks 3 and at are at one hundred and twenty degrees to the cranks l and 2, the cranks 5 and 6 are at one hundred and twenty degrees to the cranks 3 and 4, while the cranks l and 2 are at one hundred and twenty degrees to the cranks 5 and 6. In this example the piston of the crank marked 1 has just completed its suction-stroke, the piston of the crank marked 2 has completed its working stroke, 3 has caused its piston to perform about two-thirds of its compressing stroke, 4 has caused its piston to move about twothirds of its exhausting stroke, the piston of 5 has had about one-third of its working stroke, and the piston of 6 has had about one-third of its suction-stroke.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An explosion-engine comprising a plurality of pairs of cylinders, one cylinder of each pair being on one side of the crank-shaft and the other being on the other side of the crank-shaft, pistons in the said cylinders, cranks on said crank-shaft of opposite throw for each pair of pistons, each pair having thus the same phase, the whole being arranged in such manner that there are as many equidistant phases as there are pairs, means for connecting the said pistons and their cranks and means for causing the suctions, compressions, explosions and exhausts to take place in rotation in the cylinders, first on one side of the crank-shaft and then on the other side of the crank-shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. An explosion-engine comprising a plurality of pairs of cylinders, one cylinder of each pair being on one side of the crankshaft and the other being on the other side of the crank-shaft, pistons in the said cylinders, a crank on said crank-shaft for each piston, the crank of one piston of a pair being of opposite throw to the crank of the other piston of the pair, each pair of cranks being equidistant from the next pair, each pair of pistons having thus the same phase, the whole being arranged in such manner that there are as many equidistant phases as there are pairs of pistons, means for connecting the said pistons and their cranks and means for causing the suctions,compressions,explosions and exhausts to take place in rotation in the cylinders, first in a cylinder of one pair on one side of the crank-shaft and then in a cylinder of another pair on the other side of the crank-shaft, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A four-cylinder, four-stroke cycle explosion-engine comprising two pairs of cylinders, two cylinders, each being one of a pair, arranged on one side of the crank-shaft and the other two cylinders, each being one of a pair arranged on the other side of the crankshaft, pistons in the said cylinders, a crank on said crank-shaft for each piston, the cranks for each pair of pistons being at one hundred and eighty degrees to each other and so arranged with regard to the cylinders that the pistons of one pair of cylinders are at the end of their stroke when the pistons of the other pair of cylinders are at the beginning of their stroke, each pair of pistons having thus the same phase, the Whole being arranged in such manner that there are two equidistant phases,

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means for connecting the said pistons and In testimony whereof I have signed my their cranks and means for causing the sucname to this specification in the presence of IO tions, compressions, explosions and exhausts two subscribing witnesses. to take place in rotation, first in a cylinder of 5 one pair on one side of the crank-shaft and WALTER GORDON WILSON then in a cylinder of the other pair on the WVitnesses: other side of the crank-shaft, substantially V. JENSEN, as and for the purpose set forth. WALTER J. SKERTEN.

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