Improvements in Explosion Engines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in Explosion Engines.
I, SAMUEL BRASSINGTON BAMFORD, of the Firm of Bamford & Sons, Leighton
Iron Works, Uttoxeter, in the County of Stafford, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object to simplify and improve the construction of
oil engines working on the "Otto
or four-stroke cycle" principle and to pro-
vide improved means for governing and regulating the speed of oil or gas
engines.
According to my invention I provide a vaporizer in the form of a bent tube
connected to the rear end of the cylinder and projecting for a short distance
horizontally, then upwards at an angle of about 45 degrees, and then vertically.
On the top of the vertical portion of the vaporizing tube is placed the air and oil
inlet valve, which opens inwards and is operated by the suction of the piston,
a small opening being formed in the valve seat through which the oil or liquid
hydrocarbon is allowed to flow to mix with the air when the valve is open.
When the valve closes under the action of a spring the supply of oil and air
are both cut off.
For the purpose of sufficiently heating the vapouriser, I allow the exhaust
gases to pass out of the cylinder through the horizontal portion of the vaporizer,
and from the angle I conduct the exhaust gases through a branch at a right
angle and in a horizontal course to the exhaust valve the junction with the
exhaust valve being curved in any suitable direction to suit the position of the
exhaust valve. The exhaust gas being turned at a right angle will considerably
heat the vaporizer at the point of junction between the horizontal and angular
portions (through which latter portion the explosive charge is drawn by the out-
ward stroke of the piston) and so ensure the whole of the oil charge being vapor-
ized, and at the return stroke of the piston-when the gases are compressed-
ignited.
I sometimes attach the horizontal part of the vaporizer to the rear end of the
cylinder, in the centre of the cylinder end, and sometimes at the lowest point of
the cylinder end. If attached at the lowest point I give a slight fall to the
passage from the lowest surface of the cylinder to the exhaust valve, whereby
any sediment or grit in the cylinder will be swept out by the return motion of
the piston along with the gases of combustion through the exhaust valve.
I sometimes place a cleaning-out lid or screw plug in the vaporizer in a
line with its angular portion and to permit this I continue the said angular
portion a short distance past its junction with the vertical portion and place the
aforesaid cleaning-out lid or plug on this extension.
I sometimes modify the shape of the vaporizer as follows, that is to say, instead
of turning the tube upwards, as described, I turn it upwards at a right angle, I
then place the cleaning-out lid on a continuation of the lower or horizontal por-
tion; or sometimes I bend the tube upwards as a quarter bend to the air and

page_text: oil inlet, or I use a double or syphon bend as the tube rises to the air and oil
inlet valve, the exhaust being taken off to the exhaust valve, from the horizontal
portion as before described, and I use a cleaning-out tube with door attached
at the junction of the horizontal and upright portions.
I also screw in an ignition tube at the lower angle, preferably in a line with
the horizontal tube at the end most remote from the cylinder. This ignition
tube can be heated by a small lamp for starting, and if the heat of the vaporiser
is found insufficient, its use may be continued.
The governor I use for controlling the speed of oil and gas engines has centri-
fugal balls with arms pivotted in projecting lugs in the usual way on the rising
head and having a removable weight on the top, the rising head has a groove
in which is fitted a collar pivotted to a fork lever working on a centre, the oppo-
site end of the fork lever is connected by a vertical rod fitted with a spiral spring
to the horizontal end of a bell crank lever, the lower end of which forms a
stop to the lever arm which opens the exhaust valve.
When the engine speed accelerates and the governor balls rise the fork lever
communicates a downward motion to the horizontal arm of the bell crank lever,
whereby, when the lever arm of the exhaust valve is pressed downwards by the
cam on the side shaft for the purpose of opening the exhaust valve, the lower end
of the bell crank lever is moved laterally by the action of the governor and
comes into contact with a catch placed on the exhaust lever arm thus holding
open the exhaust valve. The governor owing to the spiral spring has liberty to
fall when the speed of the engine is reduced and when the exhaust lever is
again pressed, by the action of the cam on the side shaft, the spring on the ver-
tical rod instantly removes the bell crank lever away from the catch on the
exhaust lever arm, thus again allowing the exhaust valve to be closed at the
proper time for the next charge.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
I, SAMUEL BRASSINGTON BAMFORD, of the Firm of Bamford & Sons, Leighton
Iron Works, Uttoxeter, in the County of Stafford, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention has for its object to simplify and improve the construction of
oil engines working on the
Otto" or four-stroke cycle" principle and to
improve the means for governing and regulating the speed of oil or gas
engines, and it comprises the improvements hereinafter described.
-
In the accompanying drawings:-
Figure 1 is a sectional view of the rear end of an engine cylinder having an
improved vaporizer applied to it:
Figure 2 is a plan of the same; and
Figure 3 is a section partly on the line 3-3 and partly on the line 3*-3
Figure 1:
Figures 4, 5 and 6 are views similar to Figures 1, 2 and 3 respectively illus-
trating a modification of my invention; and

page_text: Figures 7 and 8 are respectively a sectional side elevation and a sectional end
elevation illustrating a further modification; and
Figures 9, 10 and 11 are sectional views of other modifications:
Figure 12 is an end elevation illustrating an arrangement of governor
mechanism:
Figure 13 is a sectional side elevation of the same; and
Figure 14 is a sectional plan thereof.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
a indicates the. engine cylinder which is provided with a cooling jacket in
the usual manner and b is a vaporizer which is attached to the end of the cylinder
and which carries a valve box c containing a valve d which serves to control
the admission of air through the valve box and of liquid hydrocarbon through
the nozzle e the said valve opening automatically by reason of the suction pro-
duced during the outstroke of the piston in a well known manner.
f is a branch pipe upon the vaporizer for the escape of the exhaust gases
and g
is the exhaust valve, arranged in a chamber which is preferably pro-
vided with a cooling jacket and which chamber is connected with the exhaust
pipe by a flange joint. The valve g is operated by means of a cam Figure 12
on the usual side shaft of the engine through the medium of the lever k,
against a roller at one end of which the cam i acts and the other end of which
is in contact with the stem g₁ of the exhaust valve g.
is an igniting tube attached to the vaporizer 6 which igniting tube can be
heated by a lamp for starting the engine and its use then discontinued; or if
the heat generated by the explosion is found insufficient to maintain the heat
of the vaporizer after starting the engine the use of the said lamp may be
continued.
In the arrangement of my invention shewn in Figures 1, 2 and 3 the vaporizer
is formed with a horizontal portion 61, with a portion 62 inclined upwards at an
angle of about 45°, and with the vertical portion 63, the top of which vertical
portion carries the valve box c containing the valve d. The inclined portion 6ª
is formed with an extension m provided at the end with a plug or screw n, the
removal of which serves to afford access to the interior of the vaporizer for the
purpose of cleaning out the same if necessary.
It will be noticed that the branch f through which the exhaust gases pass
being placed at an angle with the vaporizer 6 the exhaust gases as they escape
from the cylinder impinge against the walls at the lower end of the vaporizer
so as to maintain the heat thereof in such a manner as to ensure the whole of
the oil charges being vaporized and, at the return stroke of the piston (when
the gases are compressed), ignited.
It will also be noticed that the communication between the vaporizer and the
cylinder is at the lower part of the latter and that a slight fall is given to the
passage from the lowest point of the cylinder to the exhaust valve, whereby any
sediment or the like in the cylinder will be carried out by the gases of combus-
tion through the exhaust valve.
The modification of my invention shewn in Figures 4, 5 and 6 differs from the
arrangement last described in that the vaporizer communicates with the cylinder.
at the centre of the cylinder end and that the chamber h is carried by the
cylinder cover and has its water jacket connected with that of the cylinder, and.
that the part of the vaporizer which carries the exhaust valve is returned towards
the cylinder slightly in the form of a syphon.
The same remarks apply to the modification shewn in Figures 7 and 8 the
difference between this arrangement and the previous one being that the vapor-
izer is formed with a still greater amount of return.
Instead of constructing the vaporizer as before described it may be a simple
quarter bend, as shewn in Figure 9; or have horizontal and vertical portions
only, as shewn in Figures 10 and 11, which are sectional views at right angles

page_text: to each other, Figure 10 being a section on the line 10-10 of Figure 11 and
Figure 11 a section on the line 11-11 of Figure 10.
The modification shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6, Figures 7 and 8, Figure 9 and
Figures 10 and 11, although shown attached to the centre of the cylinder end
may be fixed lower down, or at the lowest point of the cylinder end as in
Figures 1, 2 and 3.
The governor I use for controlling the speed of oil and gas engines is of the
ordinary centrifugal type, the rising portion o of which, Figures 12, 13 and 14,
has in it a groove 2. On the bracket 2 carrying the governor and which also
forms one of the bearings for the side shaft j is a pillar carrying in its upper
end a shaft s; to one end of this shaft s is keyed an arm t, the free end of which
is connected to a block or collar u running in the groove p of the rising part o
of the governor and at the other end of the said shaft is another arm the free
end of which is jointed to a vertical rod w connected to one arm of a bell-
crank lever the other army of which acts as a stop co-operating with a lug z
fixed to the exhaust valve operating lever . This bell-crank lever is so adjusted
relatively with the rod w that, so long as the engine is running at its normal
speed the stop arm y will be held out of contact with the lug z; should, how-
ever, the speed of the engine rise above a normal speed the rising head moves
upwards and causes the depression of the rod w whereby the stop arm y is brought
into the path of the lug z. The result of this is that after the lever k has been
pressed downwards by the cam i to open the exhaust valve the said lever will
be held down so as to hold the exhaust valve open until such time as the speed
of the engine is sufficiently reduced for the governor to draw the stop arm.
out of the path of the lug z. The stop army and lug z are arranged in such
relation to each other that the lever is not held by them at the limit of its down-
ward movement under the action of the cam i but in an intermediate position
with the exhaust valve partly open. During the time that the exhaust valve
is held open the charges drawn into the cylinder during the suction strokes will
be chiefly exhaust gases, which will be again discharged through the exhaust
valve without being compressed and ignited.
It will be noticed that a spiral spring 2 is arranged around the rod w between
the underside of the arm of the bell-crank lever and nuts on the lower end of
the said rod w. By the use of this spiral spring the governor is at liberty to fall
whenever the speed of the engine is reduced without disengaging the stop arm y
from the lug z, this disengagement only taking place when the lever kis
depressed by the cam i; immediately the lever is thus depressed the spring z
instantly moves the stop arm y of the bell-crank lever away from the lug z thus
allowing the valve to be closed at the proper time.
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. In an explosion engine a vaporizer having a lower horizontal or substan-
tially horizontal portion which forms with a branch at an angle thereto, the
exhaust pipe and an upwardly extending portion adjacent to the said angle and 4
carrying a valve-box containing a valve for controlling the admission of air
and hydrocarbon oil, and provided with an igniting tube, substantially as
described.
2. The application of a vaporizer having an exhaust pipe as referred to in the
preceding claiming clause to the lowest point of an engine cylinder so as to 5
form a drain to carry off all waste products to the exhaust valve, substantially
as described.
3. The combination with a vaporizer of the kind referred to in the first claim-
ing clauses, of a screw or plug for affording access to the interior of the vaporizer,
substantially as described.

page_text: 4. The combination with an explosion engine of a vaporizer constructed sub-
stantially as herein before described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3;
Figures 4, 5 and 6; Figures 7 and 8; Figure 9 or Figures 10 and 11 of the
accompanying drawings.
5. In an explosion engine the combination with the exhaust valve and the
usual lever for operating the same, of means controlled by the governor for
holding the said lever so as to retain the exhaust valve open and leaving the
governor free, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in Figures 12
to 14 of the accompanying drawings.
6. The combination in an explosion engine of a vaporizer and an exhaust
valve-box as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, and the governing arrangement as
shown in Figures 12, 13 and 14.
7. The combination in an explosion engine of a vaporizer and an exhaust
valve-box connected to the cylinder cover, as described in Figures 4, 5, 6, 7
and 8 and the governing arrangement as shown in Figures 12, 13 and 14.
Dated this 3rd day of January 1899.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.