Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 30th May, 1895-Accepted, 6th July, 1895
H
We, ALEXANDER DIROM BELL, of 182 Great Clowes Street, Broughton, in
the City of Manchester, Engineer, and ARCHIBALD CLERK, of The Hollies,
Gravelly Hill, in the County of Warwick. Engineer, 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 :-
Our invention relates to that class of hydro-carbon motors in which the oil is
introduced in small quantities sufficient for one working stroke, vapourized, and
mixed with air and exploded in the cylinder of the engine to give the required
impulses; and its object is to provide a simple arrangement of vapourizer and valve
mechanism to produce the required impulses.
Our invention consists in an improved method of producing the oil vapour and
mixing the same with the required quantity of air and it comprises an improved
lamp with a special arrangement of valves and vapourizer to effect the same.
"
Our invention is specially applicable to engines of the type known as "Otto cycle,"
though it may also be applied to other cycles. In carrying our invention into
effect, as applied to an 'Otto cycle" engine the construction is as follows: -On
the cylinder cover of the engine two valves are placed these valves are ordinary
mitre seated non-return valves, opening inwards to the cylinder. One acts as an
exhaust valve and the other as an oil vapour and air valve. The exhaust valve is
opened at the proper moment by a cam on the side shaft in the manner usual with
gas engines. The oil vapour and air valve has two ports leading to it, one from
the atmosphere and the other communicating by means of a pipe with the bottom
of the vapourizer hereinafter described. The port leading to the atmosphere
terminates in a stop cock which is regulated by hand in a manner hereinafter
described. This oil vapour and air valve is usually opened by the atmosphere
automatically during the suction stroke of the engine, but it may also be operated
from the side shaft by a cam and lever in the usual manner. Inside the cylinder
and at the back of the compression space is fixed a coil of tube, of copper or other
suitable material, one end of this coil leads through the cylinder over to the top of
the vapourizer hereinafter described while the other end of the coil leads out
through the cylinder into the atmosphere.
The vapourizer herein before referred to consists of one short pipe placed within
another of larger diameter. The outer pipe has formed inside it a spiral thread,
the inner diameter of this thread fits the outer diameter of the smaller pipe, so that
when the smaller pipe is fixed in position, a spiral annulus is formed between the
two pipes. This vapourizer is placed preferably vertical, and at one side of the
engine cylinder, and the engine igniter tube is so arranged that it is covered by
the inner pipe of the vapourizer. The inner pipe is lined inside with asbestos, a
distance equal to the amount the ignition tube projects into the inner pipe. A
connecting pipe leads from the top of the vapourizer spiral annulus to one end of
the internal copper coil herein before referred to; and from the bottom of the spiral
annulus another connecting pipe leads to the oil vapour and air valve, also herein-
before referred to. On the top of the vapourizer and leading by a short connecting
pipe to the top of the spiral annulus is fixed a small hollow plug cock which acts
as a measuring tap to deliver the required quantity of oil into the vapourizer at the
proper moment. This hollow plug cock has one port cut in it, which communicates
alternately with a small oil reservoir above it and then with the short pipe leading

page_text: to the vapourizer spiral annalus. A small hole is drilled through the top of the
plug cock casing in such a position that when the plug cock is open to the reservoir,
this hole is shut by the cock but when the plug cock is open to the vapourizer this
hole is open to the cock and through into the atmosphere. To operate this cock
at the proper moment we preferably use a lever worked by a cam on the side shaft,
having on one end of the lever an ordinary gas engine hit and miss governor with
a swing knife edge. This knife edge operates the oil cock through the medium of
a short guide rod, connecting rod and lever hereinafter described.
The lamp for heating the ignition tube and vapourizer is placed centrally under-
neath the vapourizer and the flame from it strikes the ignition tube and passes
upwards through the inner tube of the vapourizer. The lamp is constructed as
follows: A suitable sight feed is arranged to drop any given quantity of oil in a
small spiral coil of copper or other material, this spiral coil is heated by a small
oil wick lamp called the auxiliary lamp. The hot oil passes from the coil into
layers of
gauze or asbestos at the top end of a tube and there meets a blast of air
driven up this tube by a small clockwork fan.
The operation of the hereinbefore described mechanism will be best understood
by reference to the accompanying sheet of drawings.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of our invention as applied to an "Otto cycle"
engine.
Figure 2 is an end elevation of the same.
Figure 3 is a sectional plan of the same.
Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical section through the lamp, vapourizer and oil
cock.
To start the engine the auxiliary burner a is lit. The sight feed a' which leads
to any suitable oil supply is turned on to give a few drops per minute. The clock-
work fan b situated at the bottom of the tube 6' is started and it causes a gentle
flow of a relatively large volume of air up the tube and through the interstices
of the wire gauze c.
The oil from the sight feed a¹ trickles through the coil c,
and falls hot into the gauze c, where it meets the up-coming flow of air, and is
vapourized. It is then lit at the top of the tube 6' and the drop sight feed a¹ is
regulated until a blue smokeless flame is produced. This flame playing on the
ignition tube d, and the interior portion of tube d', of the vapourizer e soon renders
the tube and vapourizer hot enough for a start.
When starting the stop cock e on the oil vapour and air valve chest must be
turned off. In small engines the start is made by turning the fly-wheel smartly
round by hand, when the sequence of operations taking place in the mechanism is as
follows: At the beginning of the engine piston suction outstroke the oil vapour
and air valve opens automatically. Air is thus sucked from the atmosphere,
first through the internal copper coil g, up the pipe gl connecting this coil with the
top of the vapourizer e into the spiral annulus h. Also at the beginning of the
suction stroke the cam h¹ on the side shaft i operates the lever and through
the mechanism of the swing knife edge lever j, guide rod j¹, connecting rod k, and
lever k¹, operates the plug 1, causing it to rotate a quarter turn and travel from the
port, leading to the reservoir m to the port m', leading to the top of the spiral
annulus . The small hole n drilled in the plug cock casing n', after this quarter
turn has taken place, communicates through from the oil space in the cock to the
atmosphere, and a small stream of air at high velocity is sucked in from the
atmosphere through this hole n, and mixing with the oil which is at that moment
being sucked into the spiral annulus h, causes the oil to break up or atomize as it
rushes into the spiral annulus h. The air coming from the copper coil g meets this
oil and air spray and passing downwards over the hot walls of the spiral annulus h,
passes out in the form of oil vapour and air, through the tube o connecting the
bottom of the spiral annulus with the oil vapour and air valve chest f; it then
passes underneath the valve fl into the cylinder of the engine. The direction of
the flow of the air from the atmosphere through the internal coil g into the
vapourizer spiral annulus h, where it mixes with oil vapour and finally through the

page_text: valve chest f into the cylinder is shown by dotted arrow lines. On the completion
of this suction out stroke, the valve fcloses, and the oil plug / has turned round to
the reservoir again. On the next in stroke of the engine piston the mixture is
compressed, and then ignited when full in by the hot ignition tube d. The next
out and in strokes of the engine piston are respectively impulse and exhaust as
usual in "Otto cycle" engines. When the engine has been running a few minutes
the internal copper coil g gets very hot and heats the air sucked through it, thus
causing more perfect vapourization of the oil spray it meets with in the spiral
annulus; the cock e is now turned on and regulated so as to allow a stream of cold
air to mix with the ingoing stream of hot oil and air vapour. By the regulating of
this cock the economical working of the engine is insured.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is;—
1. In a hydro-carbon motor, the use of an internal coil of copper or other metal,
exposed to the flame of the explosion as a means for heating part or whole of the
air used in the engine previous to its passage through the vapourizer.
2. In a hydro-carbon motor the use of a heating lamp having an auxiliary
wick lamp flame always burning, to heat the oil previous to its vapourization by a
current of air.
3. In a hydro-carbon motor the use of a heating lamp having the particular
arrangements and combination as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings at Figure 4.
4. In a hydro-carbon motor having an oil measuring device similar to the oil
plug and casing n³, the use of a small air port or hole n which opens to the
atmosphere at the moment of the oil being sucked into the vapourizer and assists
the oil in being broken up sprayed or atomized.
5. In a hydro-carbon motor with the Otto cycle, the particular arrangements
and combination of parts herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
sheet of drawings.
Dated thin 00th
M1002
ALEXR. D. BELL.
ARCHIBALD CLERK.