Patent GB-193408-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in rotary internal-combustion or steam engines
IPC: F01C7/00
Filed: 1923-02-15
Abstract: 193,408. Chilowsky, C. Feb. 18, 1922, [Convention date]. Centrifugal Sprengel pumps.-A rotary internalcombustion or steam engine comprises a pair of eccentric shafts 2, 5, Figs. 1 and 2, carrying rotors 1, 4, the former of which is provided with a series of radial chambers 3 which successively enter and recede from a liquid annulus 6, which is maintained by centrifugal force within an annular recess in the rotor 4 and acts as an abutment within the chambers 3. The liquid for the annulus 6 may be water, oils, hydrocarbons, solutions of chlorides of zinc or tin or mercury salts, mercury, or metals or alloys of low melting point. Two liquids of different densities may be used in conjunction. The chambers 3 may be pyramidal, cylindrical, hemi-spherical, &c. When used with internal combustion, the chambers 3 are connected by passages 10 to combustion chambers 9, into which air, entering at 22, is compressed as the liquid 6 enters the chambers 3. Liquid fuel, supplied by a pump and passage 14, is sprayed at 15 into radial tubes 11 connected to the combustion chamber 9 by U-shaped tubes 13, the fuel being forced along the tubes by centrifugal action. The spray may be directed against the hot walls of the chambers 9 or against projections formed on the walls of the chambers opposite the entering spray. The tubes 11 may be connected to the outer walls of the chambers 9, instead of to the inner walls as shown. The inlet passage 14 may extend through the shaft 2. Combustion occurs, either as in the Diesel engine or by means of sparking-devices, in the chambers 9 and 3 as the latter begin to move out of the liquid annulus 6. Exhaust is effected towards the side opposite the entry 22 for charging and scavenging air, either by shortening the walls 23 of the chambers 3 or by providing ports therein. The rotor 1 is set rapidly rotating at starting, movement of the rotor 4 being effected by the frictional action of the liquid 6, or by solid friction, or by a coupling such as a pin 25 and groove 26. Instead of spraying fuel into the chambers, carburetted air may be supplied by the passage 22. The chambers 9 may have a heat-insulating coating of mica, asbestos, corundum, &c. Starting may be facilitated by means of an air turbine, or by injection of pyrophoric fuels, for example, a solution of white phosphorus in sulphide of carbon. These fuels may also be used in normal running for ensuring ignition of ordinary fuels, or by spraying them upon the surface of the liquid annulus. Fig. 9 shows outer rotors 4 arranged eccentric in opposite directions with regard to the inner rotors 1. The working fluid is supplied by an axial passage leading to passages 36 fitted with valves 35. The valves 35 may be a sheet-iron strip or cone 37, Fig. 12, or cylindrical cap 37<1>, Fig. 13, or a flexible blade 37<2>, Fig. 14, all seated by centrifugal force. In the steam engine shown in Fig. 10, steam &c. is supplied through a passage 20 in the bearing shaft 7 of the shaft 2 and ending at 19 in a segmental cavity, which registers with radial passages 36 in the rotor 1 as this rotates. Exhaust may occur through a similar rotary valve device, or directly from the chambers 3 as these emerge from the liquid annulus. The exhaust may be directed tangentially to utilize the reaction effect, and may be further directed on to the blades or paddles of ordinary turbines. The rotors are preferably enclosed in a space connected with a condenser. The Specification, as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) (a) describes also a liquid pump, Fig. 12 (Cancelled), in which the annulus 6 is constituted by a liquid which is denser than the liquid to be forced, and may consist of two layers, for example a layer 6 of mercury and a thick layer 6<1> of the liquid to be forced. The chambers 3 are each provided with two valves 35, one for suction and the other for exhaust, which connect by means of passages 36 with the hollow shaft 2. The valves 35 may be replaced by rotary valves. The driving of the rotor 4 from the rotor 1 may be obtained by means of a series of projections 39 within the rotor 4. The invention could aleo be applied to air-compressers or compressed-air engines. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.