Patent GB-444918-A (GB)
Title: Crank case cleaning apparatus
IPC: F02B77/04
Filed: 1934-12-13
Abstract: 444,918. Cleaning crankcases of internal - combustion engines. DELANO, J. K., 176, Pennyfield Avenue, New York, U.S.A. Dec. 13, 1934, No. 35804. [Class 116] [See also Group II] Crankcases of internal-combustion, engines, having a number of communicating compartments for lubricating oil, are cleaned by injecting a volume of heated cleaning fluid into one of the compartments to create a flow therefrom into the other compartments, and then removing the fluid from the first compartment after the level has become approximately the same in all the compartments, to cause a reverse flow, the injections and removals of cleaning fluid being repeated for a predetermined number of times. The fluid is cleaned between successive injections by a centrifugal separator. The cleaning fluid is charged into a tank 30, Fig. 7, and cylinder 15, a piston 20 being reciprocated in the cylinder by a motordriven crank mechanism, the rod 21 of which has an extension 91 actuating a ratchet wheel 90 step-by-step, so that after a predetermined number of reciprocations of the piston, an arm 92 on the ratchet wheel breaks a contact 95, 96 in the motor circuit. The cleaning fluid, on descent of the piston 20 is driven by way of a pipe 43 to a chamber 44 housing an electrical heater, and from thence by pipes 45, 18 to a nozzle 48 inserted in one compartment 14 of a crankcase 10. On upward movement of the piston 20, the fluid is withdrawn from the crankcase 10 by way of the pipes 18, 64, a non-return valve 46 preventing backward flow through the heater chamber 44. The dirty fluid passes through the pipe 64 into a chamber 51 in which a separator 57 is driven at high speed by the electric motor 28 employed to drive the piston 20. Solid suspensions in the fluid are thus thrown on to the walls of the separator 57, the cleaned fluid passing on through the pipe 62 and back by way of the pipe 43 to the cylinder 15. Shortage of fluid in the cylinder 15 occasioned by quantities used for charging the separator and heating chamber, losses in the crankcase &c. are made up from the tank 30 by way of a pipe 41, a float - controlled valve 34 being fitted to prevent air suction when the level of liquid falls in the tank. A freely rotatable member 83 is mounted within the separator, this member having scrapers 84 which, owing to the inertia of the member 83, continue to rotate after the separator stops, thus scraping sludge &c. from the separator. This sludge collects in a chamber 65 and from thence passes into a drain pipe 70, when a valve 66 is opened either manually or mechanically as by the release of an electromagnet 77. The opening of the valve 66 is accompanied by the admission of air from the atmosphere to a pipe 78 by way of a piston valve 73 in order to apply atmospheric pressure to the interior of the separator so that the sludge may be effectively drained. The temperature in the heating chamber is controlled by a thermostat 205. The operation of the apparatus is initiated by a push switch closing an electric circuit which is then held closed by an electromagnet until the contact 95, 96 is broken on completion of the cleaning operation. According to a modification, the cleaning fluid is circulated by a rotary pump 130, Fig. 11, constantly driven in one direction by a motor 28, the injection of fluid into the crankcase and the withdrawal of fluid therefrom being effected by an oscillating valve 150 which is driven by a shaft 151 coupled through reversing gearing to a shaft 167 driven by the motor. A chamber 155 containing a heating element 145 is charged with cleaning fluid which is first delivered to the crankcase 10 by way of a valve 163 and pipes 154, 152, 153 and 156. During the injection of cleaning fluid, a worm 177 on the shaft 151 actuates a rod 180 which advances a cam 161 on a shaft 169 by means of a ratchet wheel 181<a>, the movement of the rod 180 also being used to throw over a clutch 176 to reverse the shaft 151, whereupon the valve 150 is turned so that the pump 130 draws direct from the crankcase and discharges by way of pipes 153, 154 valve 162 and pipe 158 to a head tank 137 from which the dirty fluid flows, by gravity into a centrifugal separator 57. The cleaned fluid is returned through orifices 143 to the chamber 155, the sludge removed by scrapers 84 passing into a tank 131 and thence away through a drain pipe 70. The separator is loose on the shaft 27, but is driven thereby by teeth 133. The wheel 83 carrying the scrapers 84 is fast on the shaft 27 which is rapidly stopped once the circuit of the driving motor is opened, by the application of a brake 192. The motor circuit is opened after a predetermined number of injections, by a gap 188 in the cam 161 which breaks the contact 183, 184.