Patent GB-190620459-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Rotary Engines.
Inventor: SULLIVAN FRANCIS SIMS
Filed: 1906-09-14
Granted: 1907-07-11
Abstract: 20,459. Sullivan, F. S. Sept. 14. Fixed - abutment type, with piston having g sliding- rocking vanes. Relates to a rotary engine which may be used either as an explosion e n - gine or as a steamengine. The walls of the working chamber 4 are jacketed for steam or water and formed of parts of cylinders having their axes at 25 and 26, an important feature being that the cylinder surfaces meet the surface of the drum 18 at an angle and not tangentially. The two sets of pistons 33, 34, 35 and 30, 31, 32 are pivoted at the centres 25, 26, respectively, of the chambers in which they operate. The centre pins 25, 26 are carried by fixed cranks 13, 14 on separate shafts 9, 10 keyed to brackets 7 on the bed of the machine. The drum 18, through which the pistons pass, is mounted upon sleeves 11, 12 which revolve on the shafts 9, 10. The ends of the pistons slide in trunnions 21 revolubly mounted in the drum and are provided with movable ends 41, 43, which close the slots in the trunnions when the pistons recede and are pulled back into place when the pistons again emerge by springs 44. The working chambers x, y are connected by passages 61 controlled by valves. Sparking-plugs 70, 94, 95, 96 are placed for forward and backward running and for explosions in both chambers. The valves 50 ... 53 are provided with non-return valves in their interiors, and other non-return valves are placed in the passages 57, 58. When used as an explosion engine in the first arrangement, the explosions take place in the chamber x and the gases are compressed in the chamber y. For this condition, the valves are arranged as shown. The gases are drawn into the chamber y from the pipe 58 through the valve 52 ; they are compressed in that chamber and are passed through the valves 50, 51 into the chamber x where they are exploded. The burnt gases are swept out through the valve 53 and the passage 66. In a second arrangement, the chambers are used alternately as explosion and compression chambers. To change from one to the other, it is necessary to shut the valve 53 and open the valve 50, or vice versa, and to change the sparking-plug contacts. Fig. 1 shows gear for doing this. The valve levers 83 are operated through rods 82, 81 by cam-grooves in worm-wheels 77 making one revolution for, say, twenty revolutions of the engine. The cams have four inclines so that the valves are changed every five revolutions, or, since there are three explosions per revolution, every fifteen explosions. The upper cam-wheel also rotates a switch 90, having two contacts connected to the plugs of the two chambers respectively, which moves over four groups of fifteen contacts, Fig. 6. To reverse the engine under the first arrangement, the positions of the valves 52 and 53 are reversed. To reverse the engine in the second arrangement, the valves 50, 53 are disconnected from the links 82 which are then connected to the other valves 51, 52, the valves 50, 53 are set open, and the switch 104 is reversed. For working as a steam-engine, the valves 51, 52 are set so that the ports 54 connect the chambers with the outlets 66. Steam is then admitted intermittently by means of valves, which rotate at the same speed as the engine and are provided with three ports to supply steam behind each piston. For further expansive working, one of the chambers may be used as a low-pressure chamber. Modifications for use as an explosion engine are described in which the valves 50 ... 53 are dispensed with and simpler valve-gear, or none at all, is used. Four or any other number of pistons may be used. The invention may also be applied to an engine having only one chamber and one set of pistons.