Improvements in and relating to Motors for Automotor Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Oct., 1899-Accepted, 13th Jan., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Motors for Automotor Vehicles.
We, LOUIS METTEWIE, Manufacturer, and Louis ROCHET, Engineer, both of
Molenbeek St. Jean, Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, 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:-
The present invention relates to improvements in motors for automotor
vehicles driven by peroleum, petroleum spirit or the like.
The petroleum, petroleum spirit or the like motors which are actuated by
the explosion of a mixture of carburetted air have the great advantage of being
able to carry with them conveniently a considerable supply of fuel which is
not voluminous. On the other hand the motors of this kind have numerous
inconveniences which render their application imperfect for automotor vehicles.
These inconveniences consist principally, 1, in the little elasticity of develop-
ment of power since the motor produces its determined force only at a certain
normal speed which cannot be reduced without causing a reduction of the
efficiency of the motor and necessitating the interpolation between the motor
and the axle of complicated arrangements for transmission of the movement
such as toothed gear or the like in order to obtain the different speeds and
changes in the direction of rotation.
2. In the impossibility of augmenting the driving power for overcoming
unusual resistance, to furnish hill climbing power unless one has a machine
of much greater power than is necessary for the ordinary requirements of trac-
tion of the vehicle in question.
3. In the difficulty of setting the motor in action which is shown by a labor-
ious starting of the vehicle.
4. In the necessity to carry for cooling the motor a proportionately consider-
able quantity of water.
5. In the transmission to the carriage body of tremors and vibrations from
the motor produced by explosions etc. this transmission resulting from the neces-
sity to render the motor solid with the frame or to connect it directly to gear
arranged on the frame.
The purpose of the present invention is to suppress all these inconveniences
though preserving the principal quality of the petroleum or petroleum spirit
motor in the little weight and volume of its fuel or power storage.
The invention consists essentially in the interpolating between the petroleum
or petroleum spirit motor (hereinafter referred to as the spirit motor) and the
axle of the driving wheel of the vehicle an air-compressor, a reservoir or air-
accumulator fed by the said compressor and connected to a compressed air
machine which is geared to the moving axle.
The invention consists also in particular devices appropriate to the special
combination of the above explosion motor with a producer and accumulator of
compressed air and a compressed air motor, for making sure of a good working
and improving the efficiency of the whole; these devices comprise notably 1,

page_text: a valve arranged to regulate the pressure in the air reservoir and to interrupt
automatically the electric lighting of the spirit motor when this pressure, attains
a determined degree, a degree which can be varied as desired by means of a
mechanism acting upon the regulating spring of the same valve this device
having the result of regulating the work of the spirit motor to the work of the
compressed air motor; 2, a device for effecting the putting in action of the
spirit motor by the compressed air motor by which device a transmission gear
connecting the compressed air motor directly with the spirit motor is thrown
into gear with the fly-wheel of this latter motor whilst the suction valves of the
air compressor are prevented from falling back on their seats thus suppressing
the resistance of the air compressor during the putting to work of the spirit
motor. 3. A circuit of water closed upon itself for cooling the compressed air
motor body; the circuit comprising a helical or similar part constituting the
escaping pipe of the compressed air motor and producing the desired reduction
of the temperature of the cooling water.
The annexed drawings illustrate a form of execution of the combined motor
for automotors, constructed according to this invention.
Fig. 1 is a vertical section and Fig. 2 a plan view partly in section of the
motor adapted to a carriage body as shown in dotted lines.
The petroleum motor having one or more cylinders of any system 11 is
connected with an air compressor 22, the proportion of the speed between the
motor and the compressor is determined by gearings 3 3 allowing a normal
rapidity of piston movement for the aspiration and the compressure of air.
The air compressed in 2 is pushed back through a conduit 4 into a reservoir
or accumulator 5 which feeds two compressed air machines G, G connected with
the driving axle 7 for instance by means of two cranks placed at 90° to one
another.
The sections of the cylinders of the compressors and the air motors are calcu-
lated after the rules of thermodynamics in order that the produced compressed
air may be able to effect the necessary work on the motor axle 7.
The compressed air after having expanded in the cylinders 66 escapes into
a serpentine pipe 8 traversing several cooling pipes 9 filled with water.
The extremity of the serpentine pipe abuts with expansion on the case itself
of the spirit motor.
The compressed air is introduced into the air cylinders 66 by means of a
slide valve whose movement is regulated as desired by a lever system 10 which
allows forward and backward running under all expansions.
On the reservoirs 5 a valve is arranged for the purpose of regulating the
maximum air pressure in the said reservoir and to interrupt the electric ignition
in the spirit motor 1 in case the pressure in the reservoir attains a determined
tension which one can vary as desired.
In the body 11 of this valve there is a sprial spring 12 whose strength is
regulated to maintain the valve 13 on its seat whilst the maximum pressure is
not attained in the reservoir 5. The maximum pressure being attained the
valve 13 is lifted, the air escapes through a pipe 14 and moves an electro pneu-
matic commutator 15 (Figs. 1 and 2). The air then pushes a piston 16 against
the pressure of a spring 17 and suppresses the contact between the extremity
of a rod 18 and a stationary plate 19 which contact commands the igniting
current of the spirit motor 1.
The same is thus stopped and the compression in the reservoir 5 is suspended.
The air thus escaped from the reservoir 5 enters through the tube 20 into the
serpentine pipe 8 of the cooler and escapes then through the extremity of this
serpentine pipe.
A pressure gauge 21 placed before the driver indicates at each moment the
pressure in the reservoir 5, when the same goes down the spirit motor 1 and
the air compressor 2 are put into action again by the device described herein-
after; a milled roller 22 journalled in a supporting lever 23 constitutes the

page_text: extremity of a flexible transmission shaft 24 connected by its other end with the
motor axle 7 by bevelled gear 70 can by means of a pedal 25 and of a system
of levers and connections 26, 26 be pressed against a soft metal crown on the
fly wheel 41 of the motor 1 and so draw this fly wheel with it in order to put
the motor 1 into action
In order to facilitate the putting of the motor into action the pedal 25 in-
fluences at the same time a combination of levers and connections 27 which
prevent the suction valves 28 28 of the compressor 2 from falling back on their
seats which prevents the compression and consequently resistance from the
compressor.
When the pedal 25 is released after the ignition, the valves 28 recommence
their normal work and the compression is re-established.
The above described device for putting the motor 1 into motion at the will of
the driver can also easily be actuated automatically by means of a pneumatic
device (similar to the mechanism 11, 15) as the tension inside the reservoir 5
is reduced to a determined degree so that the re-starting of the motor 1 will be
automatic like the stopping of the ignition.
The resistance of the spring 12 contained in the valve body 11 can be modi-
fied by means of a screw 29 actuated by means of shafting 30 and a handle 31
travelling on a graduated slide which allows of varying the pressure in the
reservoir 5 as desired and to modify at the same time the work of the spirit
motor 1 and the air motor 6.
In consequence of the interpolation of the air motor between the spirit motor 1
and the load 7 the spirit motor can be entirely independent from the frame
supporting the body of the carriage and can be connected (as in the example
represented) with the other mechanism by tubes 33 and flexible cables. It can be
suspended by means of vertical springs 33 and lateral springs 32 arranged so as
to absorb all the jarrings of the motor.
A pedal brake may be arranged in the ordinary way to act on the circumfer-
ence of the differential box 34.
A rotary pump 35 actuated by the flexible shaft 24 mentioned before, assures
the circulation of the cooling water round the spirit motor 1, the air motor 6
and in the cooling pipes 9.
This pump drives back through the pipe 36 the warm water which circulates
round the cylinders of the spirit motor 1; the warm water enters the jacket of
the air motor 6 through the opening 37 (Fig. 1) circulates round the two cylin-
ders which are cooled by the expansion of the air, warms these cylinders and
flows off through the inferior opening 38 into the radiators 9 which are traversed
by the worms 8 wherein the cold air coming from the air cylinders circulates.
The circulating water, cooled entirely, passes through the pipe 40 to the
jackets of the spirit motor and the compressors, is there heated again cooling
the said cylinders and is drawn out again by the pump 35.
By circulation of the cooling surfaces of the radiators 99 and the worms 88
the water in circulation can be kept at a sufficiently low temperature to assure
the proper cooling of the spirit motor.
The use of compressed air as a medium between the power of the spirit motor
and the load to be overcome on the motor shaft 7 7 allows of obtaining a series
of speeds beginning from 0 to the maximum speed for which the motor is cal-
culated;
it allows moreover of reversing the car by a simple movement of
lever 10 and also of varying the reverse speed as desired. Moreover the air
cylinders constitute by the reversing of the pressure a most powerful brake
capable of arresting the carriage nearly instantaneously even at maximum
speeds.
This braking of the vehicle is accompanied by a gain of power since in the
cylinders of the air motor there is produced compressed air the expansion of
which in the cooling apparatus cools the circulation water without consuming
spirit as the motor is stopped.

page_text: This resistent labour in descents is effected by putting the lever 10 in the
backward running position; the air of the atmosphere is then drawn through the
exhaust escape tube, compressed, sent back to the reservoir 5 and from there
to the exhaust tube after lifting the safety valve.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the'same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
-
1. In an automotor vehicle driven by an explosion motor the arrangement
between this motor 1 and the axle 7 of the driving wheels of an air compres-
sor 2 worked by the said motor, an air accumulator 5 fed by this compressor
and connected with a compressed air machine 6 which drives the car for the
purpose of producing an easy starting of the vehicle, to give to the axle without
interpolation of devices for mechanical transmission varying degrees of speed
in both rotation directions and to produce an efficient cooling of the explosion
motor by the expansion of the compressed air produced and used on the vehicle.
2. A form of construction of the system of combined motors as specified in the
First Claim, wherein there is, arranged on the air reservoir 5-a safety valve 11
connected by means of a pneumatic disengaging device 15 to an electric commu-
tator 18, 19 governing the ignition of the explosion motor 1 so that when the
tension in the reservoir 5 surpasses a predetermined degree the escape through
the safety valve 11 produces a displacement of a piston 16 of the pneumatic
device and at the same time an interruption of the electric current of the com-
mutator 18 and 19.
3. In a safety valve as specified. in the Second Claim the arrangement of a
regulating screw 29 bearing against the regulator spring 12 of the valve and
connected by transmission gear 30 with a handle 31 so that displacements of the
screw 29 produced by the handle 31 effects a modification in the tension of the
regulator spring 12 thus enabling the working conditions of the two combined
motors 1 and 6 to be varied as desired.
4. A form of construction of the system of combined motors specified in the
First Claim wherein the putting in action of the explosion motor 1 is effected
by means of a transmission shaft 24, 22 governed by the compressed air motor 6
and adapted to be thrown into gear with the fly wheel 41 of the said motor 1
by means of a device 26 23 acting at the same time upon a lever system 27
which holds back from their seats the suction valves 28 of the air compressor 2
thus suppressing the resistance of the latter during the putting in action of the
explosion motor 1.
5. A form of construction of the system of combined motors specified in the
First Claim wherein the cooling water heated by the contact of the explosion
motor 1 and the air compressor 2 is sent by a pump 35 into the casing of the
air motor 6 and from there into a series of cooling pipes 9 traversed by worms 8
forming the escape pipe of the air motor 6 in order that the water may be re-
turned entirely cooled to the explosion motor.
1
1000
HERBERT HADDAN & Co.,
Agents to Applicants, 18, Buckingham Street, Strand, W.C.