Patent Abstract:
A hydraulic buoyant force engine is composed of a track assembly and several expansion floats. The track assembly contains two track ways forming into V structure. Two transmission chains are equipped at the outer side of each track way to carry the expansion floats. When this apparatus is immersed in a water tank filled with water, the float located at the widely apart portion between the two track ways is expanded to fill with the air such the it floats up and causes the chains to move. As soon as the expanded float approaches the narrowly apart portion between the two track ways, it is squeezed by the track ways to release the air inside and is flattened to sink down along with the movement of chains. By such a continuous motion the mechanical power is produced.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention relates to hydraulic buoyant force engin, in particular, to a mechanism which is capable of generating a mechanical driving power by circulation of several expansion floats sinking down in the water or floating up on the water level by discharging or absorbing the air.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    The conventional power generation techniques such as utilization of water power, steam, power or even neuclear power rely on natural resources of earth. In view of rapid fading of natural resources, and loosing of ecological balance, unlimited and environment unconscious exploitation of natural resources must be haulted for the sake of human right of existence. Development of some sorts of low cost and clean power generation means seems a matter of great urgency.  
           [0005]    It is what the reason the inventor has endeavored for years by continuous research and experimentation attempting to find out an ingenious and clean environment conscious power generating technique, and finally has come out with the hydraulic buoyant force engine of the present invention.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic buoyant force engine which can generate mechanical power without consuming any other resources.  
           [0007]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic buoyant force engine which can be fabricated with a low production cost and operate with inexpensive hydraulic buoyant force.  
           [0008]    To achieve the above objects, the hydraulic buoyant force engine is essentially composed of a track assembly and several expansion floats. The track assembly contains two gourd shaped track ways forming in V shaped structure. Two transmission chains circulation railways are provided to the outer side thereof on which the expansion floats are attached in equal spacing along the chains. The air gate of each float is communicated in series with a connecting hose whose output terminal is communicated with an air conducting tube laid on top side of the track assembly for absorbing or discharging the air. When the track assembly is set in a water tank filled with water, the air conducting tube emerges out of the water surface, the expansion float located at the widely apart portion between the two gourd shaped track ways is expanded by ingress of the air such that the buoyancy of the float overcomes its own weight. As a result, the float rises upward along the track ways and causes the chains to move. As soon as the expanded float approaches the narrowly apart portion between the two track ways, it is squeezed by the track ways to release the air inside and sinks downward along with the movement of the chains due to loosing of its buoyancy. In this way the chains at both sides of the track assembly keep continuous circulation and the mechanical power is outputted from the output shafts of the chains. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    For fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should me made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1A is an exploded view illustrating construction of an expansion float of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1B is an assembled three dimensional view of an expansion float of the present invention;  
         [0012]    FIG  2  is a schematic view showing the transmission mechanism of the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a front view of the present invention;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a rear view of the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a side view of the present invention; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIGS. 6A.  6 B are the illustrative views showing operation of the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0017]    Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, an expansion float  1  of the hydraulic buoyant float force engine of the present invention comprises:  
         [0018]    a float body  11  made of a steel wire coiled spring (not shown) covered with a canvas  111  so as to assure watertight effect and expansibity. An air gate  112  is provided at one end thereof.  
         [0019]    A first hoop  12 , a second hoop  13 , and a third hoop  14  respectively embrace around middle portion, left, and right sides of the float body  11 . Three stoppers  121 ,  131 ,  141  are provided at one end of the hoops  12 ,  13 ,  14  respectively, while other ends thereof are locked on the hooks  122 ,  132 ,  142  respectively. The hooks  122 ,  132 ,  142  are engaged to hasps  123 ,  133 ,  143  respectively. Tapped holes  124 ,  134 ,  144  formed on the hasps  123 ,  133 ,  143  respectively are to be fitted to the corresponding stoppers  121 ,  131 ,  141  so as to tie up the hasps  123 ,  133 ,  134  with the corresponding stoppers  121 ,  131 ,  141  by pressing down the hooks  122 ,  132 ,  142 . The second and third hoops  13 ,  14  are engaged with guide vanes  135 ,  145  respectively, and both sides of the hoops  13 ,  14  are protected by braces  136 ,  146  respectively. Two braces  136 ,  146  are provided with Reels  134 ,  147  respectively.  
         [0020]    A supporting stand  15  including a supporting plate  151  is provided at the right end of the float body  11  thereof. Two parallel slide arms  152 ,  153  are formed at both sides of the supporting plate  151 . The inner surfaces of the arms  152 ,  153  have corresponding in position but different sized first reels  1521 ,  1531  and second reels  1522 ,  1532 . With this structure the supporting plate  151  can be engaged with two guide vanes  135 ,  145  of the second and third hoops  13 ,  14  so as to tighten the supporting stand  15  firmly with the second and third hoops  13 ,  14 .  
         [0021]    A first and a second guide bars  16 ,  17  whose central portions are respectly engaged with two sides of the first hoop  12  so that the two guide bars  16 ,  17  are engaged respectively with the front and rear sides of the float body  11 , and their both ends perforate the braces  136 ,  146  laid at both sides of the second and third hoops  13 ,  14  such that the float body  11  may expand or shrink along the first and second guide bars  16 ,  17 , this expansion/shrinking motion of the float body  11  is facilitated by the aid of the reels  137 ,  147  provided at the sides of the braces  136 ,  146 . The guide bars  16 ,  17  are hollow and have inner threads  161 ,  171 .  
         [0022]    Two joint plates each with two tapped holes  181 ,  182  (see FIG. 1) are provided. The two joint plates  18  are jointed to both ends of the first guide bar  16  and engaged with screws  10  by aligning the tapped holes  181 ,  182  with both ends of the first guide bar  16 .  
         [0023]    Two sliding block  19  each provided with a tapped hole  191  respectively engaged with screw  10  to each end of the second guide bar  17  by aligning the hole  191  with the ends of the second guide bar  17 .  
         [0024]    Referring to FIG. 2, the drawing shows the schematic view of the transmission mechanism of the present invention. The transmission mechanism includes a track assembly  2 , an air conducting tube  3 , two output shafts  51 ,  52 , two chains  61 , and two circulation railways  62 .  
         [0025]    The track assembly  2  is composed of two gourd shaped track ways  21 ,  22  forming in V shaped structure, and are secured by a framework  23 .  
         [0026]    The air conducting tube  3  has an air gate  31  at its proper position thereof. The air conducting tube  3  is perforating near the top portion of the track assembly  2  and emerges its both ends out of the track assembly  2 . There is a pair of sprockets  41  with each sprocket fitted to one end of the air conducting tube  3  firmly from outside of the track assembly  2 .  
         [0027]    The two output shafts  51 ,  52  are each coupled with the corresponding one of the second sprockets  42  by perforating themselves through bottom portion of the two trackways  21 ,  22 , thereafter the two first and the two second sprockets  41 ,  42  are respectively aligned with each other thereby remaining a disconnected section  55  between the two output shafts  51 ,  52 .  
         [0028]    The two chains  61  are each provided with at least one support strap  611  with tapped hole  6111 . Each of the two chains  61  is coupled with a pair of first and second sprockets  41 ,  42  therefore both outersides of the track assembly  2  are enseized by the chains  61 .  
         [0029]    Each of the two circulation railways  62  are respectively welded to the framework  23  at both sides of the track assembly  2  so as to secure each circulation railway  62  firmly between the track assembly  2  and the chain  61 :  
         [0030]    Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, it is observed from these two drawings that the joint plates  18  fixed to both sides of the float body  11  are respectively engaged to the support straps  611 . By aligning tapped holes  182  of the joint plates  18  with tapped holes  6111  of the support straps  611 , the joint plates  18  can be engaged firmly with the chains  61  by tightening screws or welding so as to set the float body  11  between the two track ways  21 ,  22  and the two track ways  21 ,  22  are laid between the first reels  1521 ,  1531  and the second reels  1522 ,  1532  of the stand  15  to let the float body  11  circulate along the tack ways  21 ,  22 .  
         [0031]    Referring to FIG. 5, in this side view of the present invention, several expansion floats  1  are disposed between the chains  61 . One of the floats  1  has a four way coupling  81  jointed to its air gate  112 , while the rest of the floats  1  are each provided with a three way coupling  82 . All the air gates  112  are linked together with a hose  9  so that all expansion floats  1  can be communicated with one another. Finally, the output terminal of the hose  9  is connected to the air conducting tube  3  via four way coupling such that the air can freely flow into or discharge out of the expansion floats via the air tube  3 . The hose  9  disposed in the disconnected section  53  between the output shafts  51  and  52  at the bottom portion of the track assembly  2  is for preventing the hose  9  from entangling with the nearby objects during movement of the float  1 .  
         [0032]    For understanding the operation of the present invention, reference should be made to FIGS. 6A and 6B. Before operation, the framework  23  of the track assembly  2  is fixed in a water tank  6  to hold the track assembly  2  stationary at its position, and emerg the air conducting tube  3  out of the water level  7  so as to communicate with the outside air. When the expansion float  1  sinks under the water level  7  as shown in FIG. 6 a , the expansion float  1  located at the widely apart portion between the track ways  21 ,  22  is expansible to let the air in via the tube  3  so as to build up a buoyant force able to overcome its own weight and floats up. At this moment, being activated by the buoyant force of the expansion float  1 , the chains  61  start circulation which in turn activate other expansion floats  1 , the first sprockets  41 , the air conducting tube  3 , the second sprockets  42 , and the output shafts  51 ,  52  to operate. Since the two track way  21 ,  22  are located between the first reels  1521 ,  1531  and the second reels  1522 ,  1532  of the supporting stand  15 , this causes the float  1  can move along the two circulation railways with the sliding blocks  9  at its two sides thereof, and the hose  9  connected to the air gate  112  at one side of the float  1  is crooked around the tube  3  as shown in FIG. 5. As soon as the expanded float  1  has passed over the top portion of the track assembly  2  and reached down the narrowly apart portion between the track ways  21  and  22 , the hose  9  is straightened as shown in FIG. 6B. The expanded float  1  is now gradually squeezed between the first and the second guide bars  16 ,  17  to release the air contained inside. The flattened float  1  now sinks down in the water together with the chains  61  by its own weight. Each expansion float  1  carries out this motion one after another along the track assembly  2 , and the chains  61  continue to drive the output shafts  51 ,  52  thereby producing a useful mechanical power.  
         [0033]    It is understood from the description of the above example that the invention has several noteworthy advantages, in particular:  
         [0034]    1. No costly resources are needed to operate the engine of the present invention, hydraulic buoyant force is freely obtainable.  
         [0035]    2. The engine of the present invention can be fabricated with a low production cost which is beneficial for mass production.  
         [0036]    While the present invention has particularly shown and described with reference to a particular embodiment thereof. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be effected therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 5