Patent GB-1105902-A (GB)
Title: A positive displacement rotary-piston internal combustion engine
IPC: F02B53/00
Filed: 1965-06-09
Abstract: 1,105,902. Rotary-piston internal combustion engines; silencing gaseous flow. T, W, BIRK. June 9, 1965, No.24351/65. Headings F1B and F1F. A rotary-piston I. C. engine, one embodiment of which is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, comprises a casing 32 bearingly supported on stanchions 14, 16 of an engine frame 10 for rotation about a fixed crank-shaft 18 which includes intermediate partitions 44, 46 rotatable with the casing and dividing it into a super-charging or mixing chamber 48, a charge chamber 50 and a power chamber 52. The chambers 50, 52 fitted with hardened steel liners 56, 58 respectively include rotary pistons 84, 86 eccentrically mounted on diametrically opposite crank portions 80, 82 of the crank-shaft 18. Vanes 94, 96 slidable in radial axiallyextending slots in the pistons 84, 86 respectively are pivotally mounted on axially aligned pivots 90, 92 constituted by a sleeve 120 passing through a bore in the partition 46. Within the sleeve 120 about a fixed transfer tube 128, Fig. 11, closed at its ends by plugs are mounted a further sleeve 124 and a piston transfer valve 126 which is moved in timed relation with the pistons by a cam-follower 164 and a slotted cam 160 within the partition 46 and fixed to the crank-shaft 18. The valve 126 is cushioned in its closing direction by a conical faced plug 140 loaded by belleville springs 142. In operation, a wet unheated fuel-air mixture from a carburetter 28 passes through passages 24, 20 in the fixed crank-shaft 18 to the chamber 48 where impeller blades 54 fixed to an end wall 42 of the casing 32 furthers its mixing and increases its pressure before passing into an induction part 102 of the charge chamber 50 through an intake passage 60 which co-operates with arcuate slots 68 in a fixed valve plate 66. Rotation of the casing 32 and the piston 84 compresses the charge in a compression part 104 of the chamber 50 and at the end of compression the charge is transferred through parts in the sleeve 120 and tube 128 by the transfer valve 126 to a combustion part 108 of the chamber 52. The transfer takes place in two stages, the major portion being transferred through a priming part in the sleeve 120 and a small amount as a jet discharge through a secondary part in the sleeve 120 just prior to ignition by a spark-plug 109. The jet discharge which enters the combustion part 108 adjacent the plug 109 causes turbulence of the mixture and more efficient combustion. After closure of the transfer valve 126 some of the charge still remains in the compression part 104 of the chamber 50, this is transferred through a peripheral groove 170 in the piston 84 to the induction part 102 of the chamber to be mixed with the incoming wet mixture to raise the temperature and pressure thereof which results in improved homogeneity and vapourization and a more efficient induction phase. After ignition of the charge the gases of combustion expand in the expansion part 106 of the chamber 52 and finally pass to exhaust through a radial piston passage 110 and passages 22, 26 in the fixed crank-shaft 18. Cooling air admitted to an outer stationary casing 38 through an opening 186 is circulated about the charge chamber 50 by fins 182 fixed to and rotating with the casing 32. This air leaves by radial ports 188 on one side of a baffle 195 whilst further air is sucked in through radial ports 190 on the other side of the baffle by fins 194 similar to the fins 182 to cool the power chamber 52. This further air enters an adjustable shrouded scoop 196 by which it is forced inwardly through a radial passage 197 in the sleeve 120 into an exhaust collector chamber 112. It then mixes with the exhausting gases of combustion to cool and reduce the back pressure of these gases to thus dampen pressure fluctuations and reduce exhaust noise. An output shaft 39 is driven through spur gears 41, 45 from the rotary casing 32. The crank journals of cranks 80, 82 may be adjusted radially by means of levers to rotate torsion rods 223, 224, which at their inner ends are D-shape in cross-section and co-operate with plungers (222) Fig. 6 (not shown) slidable in bores in the cranks 80, 82 to move journals (214) surrounding the cranks radially. This allows adjustment of the pistons 84, 86 so that they are just in sealing engagement with the respective liners 56, 58 in the rotary casing 32. In a second embodiment, the inner casing 310, Fig. 15 is stationary and the crank-shaft on which eccentric pistons 318, 320 are fixed and which is also the output shaft 311, rotatable. The transfer valve 378 reciprocable by a slotted cam-plate 380 driven by the engine controls transfer ports 376 in a partition 312. A fan 417 driven by the engine sucks in cooling air and a second engine-driven fan 416 extracts the air. Part of this air is directed through a suitable conduit to the end of a perforated tube 425 where it combines with the exhaust gases of the engine to reduce as before the temperature and back-pressure thereof, pressure fluctuations and exhaust noise. As before, the charge is transferred from the charge chamber to the power chamber in two stages to improve combustion of the fuel and at full compression a portion of the charge is transferred to the induction part of the charge chamber to improve the induction phase of the engine. A third embodiment, having a stationary casing and rotatble crank-shaft on which eccentric rotary pistons are secured is also described.