Patent GB-284994-A (GB)
Title: Improved system for driving internal combustion engine locomotives
IPC: B61C7/00
Filed: 1928-02-06
Abstract: 284,994. Cesar, V., and Franchimont, E. Feb. 7, 1927, [Convention date]. Railway locomotives, internal-combustion and compressed air.-Comprises a locomotive provided with at least two internal-combustion engines, the main engine 18, Fig. 2, being mechanically connected to the driving wheels and being capable of acting at the same time as an air engine, while the auxiliary engine 19 is not connected to the driving wheels but compresses air to supply to the main engine when required. In the construction shown the main engine comprises four blocks with four cylinders in each, the two crank-shafts being geared together by means of pinions 16, 17 gearing with a wheel 15 on a jack-shaft 8 from which the track wheels are driven through coupling rods 13, 6. The engine is preferably of the kind described in Specification 283,940, [Class 7 (i), Combustion-product &c. engines], and each cylinder has two pistons 34, 35, Fig. 4 (Cancelled), separated by a fixed partition, thus providing a combustion chamber 31 and two air chambers 32, 33. The engine is reversible, the inlet and exhaust valves for the combustion space 31 being operated from cam-shafts 40, 41 driven through lost-motion connections so that the cam-shafts take different settings according to the direction of rotation of the crank-shaft. The cam-shafts are driven from the crank-shaft 50 through the gearing shown in Fig. 5, the pinions 43, 47 being loose on their shafts and carrying pins 44, 48 engaging with arms f, g or d, h according to the direction of rotation. The arms d, f and g, h are fixed on the camshafts. The air chambers 32, 33 of the cylinders are connected with a tank 22 by pipes and passages controlled by a hand-operated valve 58 and a slide valve 54 worked by a Hackworth reversing gear 55, 56. The auxiliary engine, Fig. 6, has four cylinders r - - u, each with two pistons 34, 35 similarly to the main engine. In this case the cylinders are connected to the tank 22 by pipes 27 - - 30, each having a separate relief valve 75r - - u set for different pressures, so that as the pressure in the tank 22 rises first one pumping cylinder is cut out and the power of all four internal-combustion cylinders is concentrated on three pumping cylinders, then at a higher pressure a second relief valve opens and so on. The relief valve 75r is connected to a piston 78r working against a spring 80r in a cylinder connected by a duct with the tank so that the air in the tank acts on the piston and at a predetermined pressure forces the piston back and opens the valve 75r to connect the pipe 27 with the atmosphere at 76r. The pressure at which the piston acts is determined by means of a nut 81r. The main engine has sufficient power to propel the locomotive normally, the auxiliary engine supplying the additional power needed at starting and on inclines &c. The locomotive is started by driving the main engine by compressed air supplied from the auxiliary engine and the tank 22. When the locomotive speed is sufficient the main engine works under its own power. The main engine can be used for braking by setting the valves so that it compresses air and delivers it to the tank 22.