Year: 1885

page_text: I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that description of slides for Gas Motor Engines.
wherein a cavity or passage is charged with combustible mixture of gas and air,
which, after being ignited by a permanent gas flame, is conveyed by the slide to
the port of the engine cylinder, so as to fire the combustible charge therein. In
such slides as heretofore constructed, the said cavity or passage is made of
comparatively short length and large sectional area, so that the small charge of
combustible mixture contained therein is liable, when the engine is running at a
slow speed, to burn out and become extinguished before it is brought to the
cylinder port, and thus the charge may fail to be fired. The present invention' has
for its object to prevent the possibility of this occurring, and consists in making
the passage or cavity that contains the firing charge of considerable length and of
comparatively small sectional area, whereby the combustion of the gaseous charge
contained therein will be made to take place very slowly, and consequently the
duration of such combustion will extend over a sufficient space of time to insure
the ignition of the cylinder charge thereby, even when the slide is moving at a
very slow speed. The said passage or cavity is also so arranged that when brought
before the cylinder port, it is made to communicate with the same either along a
considerable part or at several points of its length, so as to insure the contact of
the igniting flame with the cylinder charge without requiring the flame to have
passed through the entire length of the passage for that purpose.
Various arrangements may be employed for carrying out this invention. Thus
according to one arrangement, the cavity in the outer face of the slide which is
brought in contact with the permanent igniting gas flame, communicates with a
narrow horizontal channel passing a certain distance along the outer face of the
slide, which channel communicates at its other end by a narrow passage passing
transversely through the slide with a deep but narrow vertical channel formed on

page_text: the inner face of the slide; thus, assuming the cavity and passage to be charged
with combustible mixture, which is ignited in the cavity by the permanent gas
flame, the flame will travel slowly along the horizontal channel, and transverse
passage into the vertical channel, so that when, by the motion of the slide, this
channel is brought in front of the cylinder port, the flame existing in any part of
it will fire the cylinder charge.
Instead of the vertical channel, may be used a zig zag passage running
transversely and vertically through the slide, and which has openings at its several
bends by which it communicates with the cylinder port, so that a flame existing at
any part of such passage. will effect the firing of the cylinder charge. In the
construction of engine in which the cylinder is charged with combustible mixture
through a separate lift-valve the charging of the firing passage with combustible
mixture is effected through a lateral passage leading from the cylinder port along
the cylinder face and communicating with a lateral channel leading into the firing
passage. When the gas motor engine is of the kind in which the combustible
charge is introduced into the cylinder through passages in the slide, as in the
"Otto" gas engines described in the Specifications to Patents N° 2081 of 1876
and Nos 491 and 2177 of 1877, a portion of such chargé is caused to pass through
an aperture in the said passage into a channel in the slide cover and thence into
the firing passage, which at the time communicates with a subsidiary port leading
into the cylinder, so that by the suction stroke of the piston the combustible charge
is drawn into the cylinder partly through the main port and partly through the
igniting passage and subsidiary port, and thus the firing passage is already charged
with combustible mixture at the commencement of the compression stroke.
*
During the compression stroke, the firing passage is fed with combustible
mixture through a lateral passage leading from the cylinder port, as in the first
described arrangement.
As, during the compression stroke, the pressure of the combustible mixture in
the firing passage will gradually increase, the flame therein would also increase in
size; in order to prevent this and maintain a flame of uniform size, the said lateral
passage is made to communicate with the firing passage through two or more
holes at certain distances apart, so that at the commencement of the compression
stroke, the firing passage communicates with all these holes, but as the compression
proceeds, the movement of the slide causes these holes to be successively cut off, so
that when the maximum compression occurs, the gaseous mixture only enters the
firing passage through a single small hole.
1.
According to another modification, the firing passage may consist of several
distinct channels that may either be all of the same length but of varying sectional
area, or all of the same sectional area but of varying length, so that when moved in
front of the firing port, 'a'flame in one or other of these passages will always insure
the firing of the charge.

page_text: 1
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No 28 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that description of slides for gas motor engines wherein
a cavity or passage is charged with combustible mixture of gas and air, which
after being ignited by a permanent gas flame, is conveyed by the slide to "the
port of the engine cylinder, so as to fire the combustible charge therein. In such
slides as heretofore constructed, the said cavity or passage is made of comparatively
short length and large sectional area, so that the small charge of combustible
mixture contained therein is liable, when the engine is running at a slow speed,
to burn out and become extinguished before it is brought to the cylinder port, and
thus the charge may fail to be fired.
The present invention has for its object to prevent the possibility of this
occurring, and consists in making the passage or cavity that contains the firing
charge of considerable length and of comparatively small sectional area, whereby
the combustion of the gaseous charge contained therein will be made to take place
very slowly, and consequently the duration of such combustion will extend over a
sufficient space of time to insure the ignition of the cylinder charge thereby, even
when the slide is moving at a very slow speed. The said passage or cavity is also
so arranged that when brought before the cylinder port it is made to communicate
with the same either along a considerable part or at several points of its length,
so as to insure the contact of the igniting flame with the cylinder charge without
requiring the flame to have passed through the entire length of the passage for that
purpose.
The accompanying drawings shew various arrangements for carrying the above
described invention into effect.
In the arrangement shewn in elevation at Fig. 1, sectional plan at Fig. 2 and
cross section on line X X at Fig. 3, the engine is assumed to be of the kind in
which the combustible charge is admitted to the cylinder A and the slide cavity or
passage through a lift valve and is then compressed by the instroke of the
iston. The firing passage of the slide consists of the two opposite narrow but
deep channels e e², and the transverse passage e¹ which connects the two.
1
The channel e communicates with the cavity m, in which, when the slide is in
one position, the combustible mixture is brought in contact with the permanent
gas flame at h, so as to be ignited thereby, while when the slide is in another
position, the channel e communicates along the part from 1 to 2 of its length
with the port of the cylinder A so that the flame existing at any point of such
channel will ignite the charge.
In the modified construction shewn at Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the igniting passage is
formed by the channel e communicating with m, and by the several transverse
passages e e e e es, which are connected together in pairs by vertical passages
alternately at opposite ends, so that, when these passages are enclosed between the

page_text: cylinder face and the slide cover, a continuous zig-zag passage is formed, but when
the slide brings the igniting passage opposite the cylinder port o (the communi-
cation with the flame h being then cut off); the passage communicates with the
port at the several points 1, 2, 3 and 4, so that the flame burning in any one of
the passages e e e e e³, will effect the ignition of the cylinder chargo.
The action of the slide is as follows:-The combustible charge being made to
enter the cylinder through the valve v when the slide is moved so that the igniting
passage does not communicate with the port o, the charging of this passage with
combustible mixture will only take place during the compressing stroke, when a
portion of the cylinder charge will be forced through the narrow passage with
openings into the channel d in the slide leading into the igniting passage e³,
whence the gaseous mixture passes into the cavity m where it is ignited by the
flame h.
As soon as by the movement of the slide, the cavity m becomes closed by the
slide cover, an equilibrium of pressure will be established in the cylinder, firing
passage and cavity m, and the flame in the latter will travel through the
passage e ele, Fig. 1, or through the passage e el eª e³ et e³, Fig. 4, towards the
cylinder.
.
'
As a considerable length of the passage, or various parts thereof are now brought
in communication with the cylinder port o, the ignition of the cylinder charge
will be effected with certainty by the said flame existing at any point of the
passage.
Fig. 7 shews a diagram of the slide's action. The crank working the slide makes
one revolution while the engine shaft, makes two, the engine being of the class
known as the "Otto" engine in which a cycle of four strokes, namely, a suction
stroke, a compressing stroke, a firing stroke and an expelling stroke, occurs. T'he
slide crank is situated at right angles to the engine crank, so that at the moment
of firing, the former is situated at the point 1.
Figs. 8 to 12, shew the application of the invention to engines constructed
according to British Patents No 2081 of 1876 and Nos 491 and 2177 of 1877 in
which the combustible passes into the cylinder through the slide. Fig. 8 shews an
elevation, Fig. 9 a cross section on line X X Fig. 10 and Figs. 10, 11 and 12
horizontal sections of the slide in different positions. When the slide is in the
position shewn at Fig. 10, during the suction stroke, the mixture of combustible
gas and air, formed in the passage a, passes thence into the cylinder partly through
the port o and partly through aperture b, channel e passage e e¹ e², and subsidiary
portf, so that already at the commencement of the compression stroke, the
passage e ele is charged with combustible mixture. During the compression
stroke, this passage and the cavity m are supplied with combustible mixture
through the apertures 1 and 2 and groove d. As, in the said gas motor engines,
the pressure gradually increases during the compression stroke, the flame would,
without special provision, at first be only small in the cavity m, and would
gradually increase in size.
In order to maintain a flame of constant size notwithstanding the increase of
pressure, the passage through which the gaseous mixture is supplied to the firing
passage, is provided with two or more holes 2. At the commencement of the
compression stroke all the holes communicate with the firing passage, the slide
being then in the position shewn at Fig. 12; as the stroke proceeds, the communi-
cation between the holes &c and the channel d is gradually cut off by the
movement of the slide, so as to reduce the supply, until, at the moment when the
passage e ele begins to communicate with the cylinder port so as to fire the charge,
only one hole of small area communicates with the firing passage.
This arrange-
ment is also shewn in the construction previously described.
Fig. 13 shews a diagram of the action of the slide of the last described arrange-
ment; in this case also the slide crank makes one revolution to every two of the
engine shaft, the former, being situated at right angles to the crank of the latter, so
that at the moment of firing, the slide crank is situated at the point 1..
4

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1, Constructing slides of gas motor engines with a firing passage of considerable
length and small sectional area, communicating at one end with the igniting cavity,
and having at its other end an extended communication or several communications
with the cylinder port, so that the charge of combustible mixture contained in the
said passage will burn slowly along the same and will fire the cylinder charge
with certainty, no matter whether the flame has traversed a greater or smaller
part of the passage, substantially as herein described.
2, In a gas motor engine slide, the combination with the igniting cavity m, of
the firing passage e ele, arranged and operating substantially as herein described
with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings.
3, In a gas motor engine slide, the combination with the igniting cavity m,
of the firing passage e e¹ e² ese es communicating with the cylinder port at the
points 1, 2, 3, 4, substantially as herein described with reference to Figs. 4, 5 and 6
of the drawings.
4, In combination with the firing passage of a slide, a charging passage in the
cylinder face having two or more apertures ¿¹³ so arranged that as the compression
of the cylinder charge proceeds, the said apertures are consecutively cut off so as
to restrict the supply of the combustible mixture to the passage, substantially as
and for the purpose herein described.
5, In combination with the firing passage e e¹ e² and charging passage a of the
slide, the aperture b, channel c in the slide cover, and subsidiary cylinder port f
whereby the firing passage becomes charged with combustible mixture from the
passage a during the suction stroke of the piston, substantially herein described
with reference to Figs. 8 to 12 of the drawings.