Patent GB-417180-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to means for starting internal combustion engines
IPC: F01L13/04
Filed: 1933-03-28
Abstract: 417,180. Starting ; air compressors. HEYWOOD, C. F., 8100, E. Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. March 28, 1933, No. 9362. [Class 7 (v).] For starting a multicylinder engine having associated therewith a source of compressed air and a starting reservoir containing fuel, compressed air is injected into some or all of the engine cylinders during the expansion stroke of the respective pistons, a fuel-air mixture is injected into these cylinders during the suction and /or the compression stroke, and liquid fuel from the starting reservoir is fed by the pressure of the compressed air to a point or points, for example, in the engine intake manifold, from which it can be drawn by suction into one or more of the cylinders. The arrangement shown comprises an engine-driven compressor 11 supplying air to a reservoir 27, Fig. 7, connected by a pipe 28 to the cover 21 of a rotary distributer 30, which is driven from the shaft of the compressor and is connected by pipes 25 to one-way valves 26 on the engine cylinders. The crankcase 10 of the compressor is closed on the driving side by a supporting member 12 formed with a bearing bush 14 for the compressor crankshaft 15 and flanged at 13 for attachment to the engine crank-case or other support. The opposite side of the crank-case 10 is closed by a fuel reservoir member 16 fitted with a second crankshaft bush. 18. The cavity 17 of the reservoir member is closed by a block 19 having a removable inset 20 with air passages 23 in communication with the outlet pipes 25 leading to the engine cylinders. The distributer member 30 is a disc having an air port 31 registering in turn with the passages 23, and is secured, by means of a nut 33 and locking washer 34, upon a conical seat on a shaft 32 driven from the compressor shaft through a tongue-and-slot connection 50. The cover 21 of the distributer is fitted with a fuel nozzle 41, Fig. 6, disposed in a bore 44 in the end of the distributer shaft 32 which communicates through radial passages 45 and a passage 46 with a mixture port 47 in the face of the disc 30. The nozzle is fed from the fuel reservoir 17 through passages 37, 39 and past a ball valve 38, Fig. 4, in the upper end of the passage 39, the fuel in the reservoir being under the pressure of air admitted past a ball valve 38b in a passage 38a. Liquid fuel is also supplied to atomizing nozzles 88 in the intake manifolds 89 through one or more pipes 87 leading from an auxiliary fuel reservoir 84 supplied by a pipe opening below the normal fuel level in the reservoir 17. A valve in the outlet from the reservoir 84 is loaded sufficiently to prevent its being opened by the pressure head of the fuel in the absence of air pressure. The fuel level in the reservoir 17 is controlled by a ball valve arranged to close when compressed air is admitted above the fuel in the reservoir. The starting-air valves 26 on the engine cylinders may comprise a ball 91, Fig. 8, normally resting on a plug-like body 92 having a cruciform slot 92a, a valve seating being formed on the lower end of a tubular member 93 screwed in the body 92, so that the valve closes when the cylinder pressure is greater than that of the compressed air. A connection 23a from the pipe 25 is clamped between a screw cap 94 and a shoulder on the member 93, which has radial air-inlet apertures 93a. In a modification, a spring-controlled poppet valve replaces the ball 91. The compressor cylinder 11, Figs. 1 and 2, has a piston 65 of two diameters, the annular space 71 around the smaller end serving as a high-pressure cylinder. The inlet valve 74 in the cylinder head comprises a spring-pressed disc 74b seated on a narrow rim 74a in a valve body fitted with a gauze disc 74d and an apertured cap 74e. The air is transferred through a ball check valve 72 in the piston to the high-pressure space 71, from which it is expelled through a ball valve 75 to the outlet pipe 76. The compressor crankshaft 15 is driven from the engine through a pinion meshing with a spur wheel 57 on one of the crank webs 58. Lubricant is conveyed to a bore 53 in the compressor crankshaft through a passage 51 and a hole 52 in the bush 14, and is squirted across the big-end 54 into a bore 55 for lubricating the bush 18. In a modification of the rotary distributer, Fig. 10, in order to prevent fuel-air mixture from blowing back into the air chamber 29 when the distributer passages 23 are closed, a cover plate 101 forms a chamber 103 in which the mixture is received and from which it escapes through an orifice 102 when the outlet ports are in register. A cup 105 may be formed in the end of the stub shaft 32 to assist carburation. In another modification, Fig. 11, the distributer disc 30 is integral with the stub shaft 32 and a chamber 103 formed in a boss 104 communicates through a passage 46 with the outlet port 47. According to a further modification, the distributer with its fuel reservoir is separate from the compressor and is driven at camshaft speed, the compressor being driven at engine speed. Specifications 168,614, 327,789, and 329,310, [all in Class 7 (v)], are referred to.