Improvements in and connected with Generators for Electrical Igniters in Gas or like Engines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr., 1898-Accepted, 14th May, 1898
Improvements in and connected with Generators for Electrical
Igniters in Gas or like Engines.
I, BENJAMIN MCINNERNEY, of No. 619, S. 16th Street, in the City of Omaha, County
f Douglas, and State of Nebraska, United States of America, Engineer, do hereby
leclare 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:
My invention has for its object to remedy certain defects in generators for electrical
gniters of gas engines, to which end I construct the generator for the igniting
current and arrange the same, as fully set forth hereinafter and as illustrated in the
accompanying drawings, in which-
Fig. 1 is a side view of a gas engine with my improvement,
Fig. 2, a plan of Fig. 1,
Fig. 3, a side view illustrating a modification,
Fig. 4, an enlarged view of the generator.
My invention is applicable to any form or construction of engine or apparatus
where an electric current is required at intervals, and where the engine itself must
operate the generator. In the drawings I have shown a gas engine having a
cylinder A, crank shaft 4, connecting rod, piston, electrical igniter of any suitable
kind, either with separated fixed electrodes, or with separable electrodes, or with a
continuous wire becoming incandescent under a current.
The engine preferably has also a circuit maker and breaker at any desired
point. One or both electrodes within the cylinder may be movable for this purpose,
but I have shown in Fig. 1 an inside circuit breaking igniter, consisting of an
electrode carried by a rock shaft and a fixed electrode, the rock shaft extending to
the outside of the cylinder and having an arın 2, and the electrodes both in circuit
with the generator coils hereinafter described.
The arm 2 is connected to be operated at proper intervals from any moving part
of the engine. The above described parts being all of any ordinary construction,
need not be described in detail.
The generator G for the igniter may be made in different ways, but in any case
consists of two parts, one occupying normally a fixed position-but adjustable-and
the other carried by any moving part of the engine (rotating, vibrating or
reciprocating) so that a current is generated and sent upon the circuit only as one
of these two parts passes in proximity to the other.
In the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 the generator consists of a permanent
horse-shoe magnet 6 and a series of U-shaped soft iron plates forming a laminated
core 7, about the forks of which is wound a wire constituting generating coils 8, 8 in
circuit with the igniter, and with the circuit breaker, when one is used.
One part,
as the part 6, of the generator is carried by the fly wheel 9, and is properly mounted
thereon, if required, by non-magnetic mountings, and secured thereto, while the
other part of the generator is connected with any suitable adjustable support which
will support it in such a position that the part 6 shall pass in proximity thereto on
the revolution of the wheel.

page_text: The adjustable support shown, consists of an arm 12, carrying one part of the
generator at one end, and pivoted at the other to a standard 13 extending upward
from a base 14, which may be bolted to the floor in such a position that the parts 7,8
of the generator shall be in a position for the part 6 to pass in such proximity thereto
as to generate a current in the coils.
The normal position of the parts is such that the two parts of the generator will
be in proximity, and a current generated, at the period when the piston is at the end
of its back stroke, or at whatever point it is thought most effective to explode the
charge in the working operation of the engine.
In starting the engine, however, it is not desirable to explode at the end of the
back stroke, but after the piston has passed forward to a certain extent. I therefore
provide means for moving the support 12 so as to shift the position of the adjustable
part of the generator to such an extent that the two parts will not co-act to produce
a current until the piston has left the head of the cylinder, and the extent to which
the adjustable part is shifted will determine the point of ignition. Any suitable
means of moving the adjustable part of the generator may be employed. As shown
in Figs. 1 and 2, an arm 15 extending from the arm 12 is connected by a rod 16 with
a treadle 17, so that the engineer stepping on the treadle can shift the adjustable
part of the generator prior to and during the turning of the fly wheel by hand, thus
insuring one point of explosion. After the engine has started, the foot is removed
from the treadle and the adjustable part of the generator moves back to its norinal
position, insuring the ignition of the charge at the normal point of explosion.
course, if desired, the adjustable part of the generator may be secured temporarily at
any desired intermediate point or shifted from time to time, and the extent to which
it is shifted may be regulated by any suitable adjustable stop device, as the set screw
18 passing through the treadle. When the engine is starting or running slow, a more
effective spark is secured by having the movable part pass in close proximity to the
adjustable part of the generator, but if the parts retained this close proximity at high
speeds, the spark will be too violent and might burn out the insulators, etc. I there-
fore carry the adjustable part further from the movable part of the generator in
restoring the parts to normal positions. One means of doing this is to so set the
supporting frame or post 13 that the arm 12 will swing in a plane slightly inclined to
the plane of the face of the fly wheel as indicated by dotted lines, Fig. 2.
Of
The movable part of the generator is not necessarily either the permanent magnet
or the core, for instance, both the wound core, and the permanent magnet may be
isolated magnetically-but connected together as shown in Fig. 3, in which the fly
wheel supports one part of the generator G and the other part is supported by a
carrier or support E.
This support may be connected with the frame or base or otherwise permanently
but adjustably supported, but preferably is an arm 13 connected with a yoke 19
turning freely on a sleeve projecting from the bearing of the crank shaft 4 and
limited in its movement by two set screws 20, 21, extending through the arms of a
bracket 23 connected to the frame, between which set screws extends from the yoke
an arm 24. The parts are so arranged that in either position, the support E will be
on one side or the other of a vertical line extending through the axis of the shaft 4
so that the support will remain in the position to which it is set.
When the fly wheel carries the magnets, and the support the wire wound core, the
weight of the part carried by the wheel, especially if the engine is small, may tend in
some cases to unbalance the wheel and the capacity of the generator is therefore
limited by the necessity of restricting the weight and size of the movable part of the
generator.
To avoid this, I connect both the permanent magnet 6 and the wire wound core 7
to the support E, so that they shall be isolated by non-magnetic material and I place
upon the fly wheel, keepers a a constituting part of the generator, and which when
opposite the poles of the magnet 6 and core 7 produce the requisite magnetic action
and cause the current to be generated in the coils, passing thence to the igniter of
any suitable character.

page_text: As thus arranged, the sizes and weights of these parts may be increased to any
desired extent to secure currents of any necessary potential without in any way
affecting the operation of the engine or demanding the movement of any material
weight, inasmuch as the weight of the keepers is but slight whatever may be the
size of the other parts.
When the engine is started, the support E is swung to one side so that the
charges are not ignited until the piston has moved away from the cylinder head,
but after the engine has begun moving, the support is swung over to the position
shown in full lines when the charges will be ignited at an earlier period of the
piston's movement.
I have discovered that in the rapid operation of the devices above described, the
current in the coils is generated before the two parts of the generator are brought
together; that is, before the magnet is brought above the core, and that a more
effective current is secured if the two parts are so set that one pole or part of the
moving part of the generator is in advance of the other in approaching the adjustable
portion. Thus the permanent magnet 6 is set on the fly-wheel so that the pole N
approaches the core ahead of the pole S.
It will of course be evident that other arrangements may be made for relatively
adjusting the two parts-for instance by providing devices for adjusting the part
which is carried by the fly-wheel or other moving part of the engine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim, is:
1. A generator for electrical igniters composed of two parts, one carried by a moving
part of the engine, and the other relatively stationary, and means for adjusting the
relation of one part to the other, substantially as described.
2. The combination with a gas engine and with the igniter thereof, with or
without a circuit breaker, of a two part generator provided with a core and
generator coils in circuit with the igniter, one of said parts connected to a
movable part of the engine, and the other having an adjustable support, substantially
as set forth.
3. The combination with a gas engine and its electrical igniter, of a two part
generator, one carried by a movable part of the engine, and the other by an adjustable
support, the same relatively arranged so that one portion of the movable part will
approach the adjustable part in advance of the other, substantially as set forth.
4. The combination of a gas engine, its electrical igniter, a two part generator, one
part carried by a moving part of the engine, and means for varying the relative
distance of the two parts at the time that one passes the other, substantially as set
forth.
5. An electrical generator for electrical igniters consisting of a permanent magnet
and a wire wound core arranged in proximity, an adjustable support therefor, and
keepers adapted for attachment to a movable part of the engine, substantially as
described.
6. The combination with a gas engine and with its electrical igniter, of a generator
consisting of a permanent inagnet and a wire wound core and keepers, an adjustable
support carrying the magnet and core, the keepers connected to a moving part of the
engine in position to travel in a path adjacent to the other parts of the generator,
substantially as described.
7. The combination with a gas engine, its electrical igniter, and circuit breaker, of
a generator consisting of a permanent magnet and a wire wound core, and keepers;
an adjustable support carrying the magnet and core, the keepers connected to a
moving part of the engine in position to travel in a path adjacent to the other parts
of the generator, substantially as described.
8. The combination with the fly wheel of a gas engine, of an adjustable support, a
permanent magnet and wire wound core connected with said support, and keepers
carried by the fly wheel, substantially as described.

page_text: 9. The combination with the shaft and fly wheel of a gas engine, of a yoke swing-
ing upon a bearing, arms extending from the yoke, a permanent magnet and core
carried by one of the arms, stop devices limiting the movement of the other
arm, and
keepers carried by the fly wheel, substantially as described.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
55, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent.