Improvements in Internal Combustion Engines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Improvements in Internal Combustion Engines.
We ERNEST JOHN CLUBBE and ALFRED WILLIAM SOUTHEY, both of 16, Elm
'Street, Grays Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to internal combustion engines burning gas or oil vapour,
and it has for its object to provide improved arrangements whereby to enable
economical and regular working to be obtained on an engine actuated by an
explosion at every revolution, and to enable the engine to be more easily started
than those working on the Otto or four-phase cycle.
In order to carry the invention into effect, an explosion chamber is provided
separate from the working cylinder but capable of being put into communication
therewith through an admission valve to admit of the gases burnt in the explosion
chamber expanding in the working cylinder and doing work on the piston or pistons.
The admission and exhaust valves are of as large area as practicable and may be
coupled together directly or indirectly so as to be worked by the same cam so that
when the admission valve is opened to allow the burning gases to pass into the
cylinder the exhaust valve is closed and vice-versa.
The explosion chamber is supplied with the explosive charge by a pump alongside
the main cylinder and worked from the crank shaft, an automatic or mechanically
operated valve controlling the communication of the pump cylinder with the explosion
chamber. The explosion chamber is provided with a water-jacket and means of
maintaining a circulation of water therein, and the ignition tube is fitted to the
explosion chamber in such position, and communicates with the explosion chamber
in such a way, that there shall be no liability of premature explosion.
In order to reduce the weight and adapt the engine for working locomotive
carriages a mechanical system of circulating water in the jackets and of cooling it
at a point in its circulation would be provided so as to enable a comparatively small
bulk of water to be used continuously.
In order to diminish vibration the working cylinder is preferably provided with
two pistons working simultaneously in opposite directions so as to balance each other,
the one piston being connected to a central crank and the other piston to a cross-
head coupled by outside connecting rods to side cranks of the engine shaft.
Dated this 28th day of August 1895.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
Improvements in Internal Combustion Engines.
We, ERNEST JOHN CLUBBE and ALFRED WILLIAM SOUTHEY both of 16, Elm
Street, Grays Inn Road, in the County of Middlesex, Electrical 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 relates to internal combustion engines burning gas or oil and it
has for its object to obtain economical and regular working in an engine actuated by

page_text: an explosion at every revolution; to provide means for completely clearing the
working cylinder of all products of combustion at the end of each home-stroke; and
to enable the engine to be more easily started than one working on the Otto or four-
phase cycle. In order to carry the invention into effect an explosion chamber is
provided separate from the working cylinder but communicating therewith through
suitable mechanically operated valves by means of which communication is made and
broken at the required inoment, into which chamber a charge of air is compressed to
a high pressure and a charge of liquid fuel is injected at each stroke, the gases of
combustion passing from the explosion chamber into the working cylinder and there
expanding in doing work.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specifica-
tion which represents, in a more or less elementary or diagrammatic way, a horizontal
section of the engine.
A is the working cylinder, B the pump cylinder, and C the explosion chamber
the latter being of very small capacity relatively to the pump so that the charge of
air is compressed therein to a high degree of pressure. In order to diminish
vibration the cylinder A is preferably provided with two pistons D D' working
simultaneously in opposite directions so as to balance each other, the one piston
being connected by a rod E to a middle crank and the other to a cross head F
coupled by outside connecting rods to outside cranks diametrically opposed to the
middle crank of the engine shaft, but this invention is equally applicable to the
ordinary single-acting cylinder. The pump piston is worked by a crank on the said
shaft in line or nearly so with the main crank so that the instrokes of the working
and pump pistons shall coincide or nearly so. The pump draws in air through a
spring-closed valve G and delivers it through a spring-closed valve H to the explosion
chamber C with which is connected an oil-injector J worked from the main shaft. by
which a charge of oil is injected into said chamber at the moment when the charge
of air has been compressed therein. The oil becomes vapourized by the heat of the
explosion chamber and the charge is fired at the proper moment by an ignition tube
or an electric firing device connected to the explosion chamber at I. The explosion
chamber communicates with the working cylinder A at the proper moment through
an admission valve K which permits the burnt gases in the explosion chamber to
pass at the proper moment into the main cylinder. L is the exhaust valve. The
admission and exhaust valves K L are of as large area as possible and may be
worked by the same cam so that when the admission valve is opened to allow the
burning gases to pass into the cylinder the exhaust valve is closed and vice versa.
The valves Hand L will be water-jacketted although no water-jacket is required
for the explosion chamber and in order to lessen the quantity of water required it
may be caused to circulate through the jackets and be cooled at a point in its
circulation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
An internal combustion engine having an explosion chamber separated from the
working cylinder into which a charge of air and a charge of liquid fuel are introduced
and compressed at each instroke by the operation of a separate pump, the said
explosion chamber being put in communication with the working cylinder at the
proper moment by an admission valve allowing the gases of combustion to pass into the
working cylinder, whereby an impulse is obtained at every revolution and the working
cylinder is completely cleared of the burnt gases at each home-stroke.
Dated this 29th day of Inne 1896.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.