Patent GB-358873-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in reversible internal-combustion engines
IPC: F01L13/00
Filed: 1930-04-07
Abstract: 358,873. Reversing. BEARDMORE & CO., Ltd., W. and HALLIDAY, G. F., Parkhead Works, Glasgow. April 7, 1930, No. 11045. [Class 7 (v).] In an engine which is reversed by interchanging the functions of the inlet and exhaust valves or ports, the operation of means for retiming a fuel pump or a magneto, distributer or like electric ignition mechanism causes the reversal of the driving connection to a unidirectional auxiliary such as a water-circulating, lubricating or other pump. The function of the inlet and exhaust valves may be interchanged by means of switch valves in the inlet and exhaust manifolds. In a solid-injection oil engine for airships &c., the inlet and exhaust cams are preferably formed with symmetrical lobes and have similar periods of opening, and the eccentrics or other actuating means of the fuel pumps are re-phased. For an eightcylinder engine provided with four fuel pumps, each supplying two cylinders alternately, the pumps are actuated by eccentrics a<1> .. a<4>, or by corresponding cams, mounted on a shaft a driven from the engine crank-shaft d by means of a flanged member e having serrations or splines g in engagement with a torque shaft f within the shaft a. The shaft f engages the shaft a at the end remote, from the engine shaft d by means of splines h. At the end of the shaft a adjacent to the engine shaft is keyed a member i having on its periphery a screw or cam surface engaging a corresponding internal thread or surface on a member k formed with gear teeth k<1> and splined at l to engage splines on the member e. The gear k<1> drives unidirectional auxiliary devices either directly through a gear u, or through an intermediate gear v when the engine is reversed. Stop surfaces m on the member e and the shaft a limit their relative angular movement on reversing. Coaxial with the shafts a, f is a rotatable bush n splined at o to engage a member p rotatable by means of a cross-bar q or a hand-wheel &c. The member p is normally held in position by a removable pin t, and is connected by a bolt r and a screwed bush to the end of the shaft f. A spring s normally holds the shaft f in the position shown. In order to rephase the pump eccentrics when the engine is reversed, the pin t is removed, the member p and shaft f are withdrawn axially, to disengage the splines g from the member e and to engage the splines h with the splines o on the bush n; by turning the bush n by means of the members q, p, the shaft a is adjusted angularly to an extent determined by the stops m, and the shaft f is then allowed to return into engagement, by means of the splines g, with the member e, this movement being assisted by the spring s. During the angular adjustment of the shaft a, the member i moves the member k axially to bring its gear teeth into engagement with the intermediate gear v instead of the gear u, thus reversing the drive of the engine auxiliaries. For an engine employing electric ignition, the eccentric shaft a forms part of or is connected to the contact breaker, distributer, or other timing mechanism for the ignition.