Improvements in or relating to Valves for Explosion and other Fluid Pressure Engines and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Valves for Explosion and other Fluid
Pressure Engines and the like.
I, CHARLES M. JOHNSON, of 22 and 23, Laurence Pountney Lane, in the City
of London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in valves particularly those intended
for use in explosion engines, its object being to reduce friction and the number of
working parts of such devices, and to make provision for taking up wear of the
parts. According to this invention 1 provide the valve with ball or roller bear-
ings in such a way that the friction-producing pressure forces the valve or portion
thereof against the said balls or rollers. The valve constructed according to this
invention is conically seated and is so placed inside the cylinder that the pressure
within the cylinder tends to lift it from its seat. In order to provide against wear of
the parts, the valve being conical, I arrange an adjustable bearing by which as
the conical surface wears away the parts may be again brought into contact. One
construction of valve according to this invention will now be described by way of
example.
I arrange at the explosion end of and within a cylinder a rotating valve geared
in any desired way from the crank shaft of the engine, the outer surface of the
valve being conical. I make the internal surface of the cylinder at that part also
conical to fit the outer surface of the valve. The valve is internally. cylindrical in
form the end nearest the cylinder head being closed its spindle is made hollow
and passes through the cylinder head, and at its outer end bears with ball or
roller bearings against a transverse bar which extends across the end of the
cylinder. This transverse bar is held at each end to the cylinder by an adjustable
tie rod, by which means the pressure of the bar upon the valve spindle, and thus
of the valve upon the internal seating within the cylinder may be adjusted.
Firing may conveniently be effected through the hollow stem of the valve, the
inlet and exhaust passages being arranged conveniently one on either side of the
cylinder and communicating with the interior of the cylinder through a passage
or passages in the wall of the rotary valve. A gear wheel may be arranged upon
the hollow valve stem between the cylinder head and the transverse bar through
which gear wheel motion is transmitted in any desired manner from the crank
shaft.
T
10th 1 of 1000
BOULT & WADE.
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Valves for Explosion and other Fluid
Pressure Engines and the like.
I, CHARLES M. JOHNSON, of 22 and 23, Laurence Pountney Lane, in the City
of London, 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:―
This invention relates to improvements in valves, particularly those
intended for use in explosion engines, but also applicable to other
fluid pressure engines, its object being to reduce friction and the number of
working parts of such devices, and to make provision for taking up wear of the
parts. According to this invention 1 provide the valve with ball or roller bear-
ings in such a way that the friction-producing pressure forces the valve or a portion
thereof against the said balls or rollers. The valve constructed according to this
invention is cup shaped and conically seated and is so placed inside the cylinder
that the pressure within the cylinder tends to lift it from its seat. The valve
may be partly balanced by admitting the pressure to the back of the valve pre-
ferably through perforations in the bottom of the cup. In order to provide against
wear of the parts, the valve being conical I arrange an adjustable bearing, by which
as the conical surface wears away the parts may be again brought into contact.
Ports for the admission and exhaust of the motive fluid are provided in the wall
of the cup-shaped valve, preferably so as to balance one another as regards the side
pressure in the valve, which is provided with a stem, preferably tubular, extending
through the cylinder head. On the valve stem is secured a toothed gear, desirably
arranged so as to accommodate eccentricity or want of alignment between it and the
stem, and driven by intermediate gearing from the crank shaft.
One construction of valve as applied to an explosion engine will now be described
by way of example reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which
Figure 1 is a vertical section of an explosion engine,
Figure 2 a horizontal section through the valve on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, and
Figures 3, 4 and 5 show. details of the valve gearing and ball bearing.
Referring to Figure 1. A is a base or bed plate on which is mounted the
cylinder B, the trunk piston is shown at C. D is a cup valve placed within the
cylinder beneath the head B¹; the outer surface of the valve ]) is made conical, as
shown at D', and the cylinder is correspondingly bored out at that part to form
a seating for the valve. The valve stem D2, preferably tubular passes through a
central boss B2 in the head B', and a spur ring D³ is secured to the valve stem D³
by a device which will hereinafter be more particularly described, and is, together
with this device enclosed so as to exclude dirt within a casing formed by a flange 13³
on the cylinder head, and a cover E.
Provision may also be made in the cylinder head B₁ for water jacketting it by
means of water circulating through the spaces B.
The valve stem D is preferably tubular and its upper end may carry two contact
rings F, which may be arranged to make electrical contact with brushes, so as to
fire the charge within the cylinder by means of the wires connected with them.
The device by which the spur ring 13 is attached to and drives the valve stem
comprises the parts shown in detail in Figures 3, 4 and 5. The spur ring D³ is
attached to a disc or wheel G by means of bolts G¹ passing through slots G² in
the wheel. The wheel G has a central hollow boss G rotatably carried by the

page_text: boss 13 of the cylinder head. Other bolts G³ serve to drive a disc H, the bolts G³
engaging slots H¹ in the periphery of the disc H so as to allow the latter to
move along the line connecting the centres of the bolts G relatively to the wheel G,
but not allowing it to move in a direction at right angles to this. Other slots H³
in the said disc engage the downwardly extending portions K¹ of a double arm K.
The arm K has a central hollow boss K², and is secured to the valve stem D2 by
a set screw K³ or by other convenient devices. To avoid the possibility of the
portions of the arm K engaging with the disc or wheel G, farge slots G³ are
formed therein below the slots H2 so as to allow the portions K' to have a certain
amount of play therein, even in the event of their projecting sufficiently low to
enter the slots G. This device enables the valve to be driven by means of the
spur ring D³ even provided the valve stem D² should not be exactly central within
the ring and serves broadly to allow of certain errors in the adjustment of the
ring Din regard of the valve stem 12 without causing any side stresses upon the
valve stem, or conical valve D.
The valve I) is driven from the crank shaft L by means of toothed gearing LM,
M being a toothed wheel mounted upon a vertical shaft M, which drives the valve
by means of a toothed wheel on its upper end (not shown in the figures) engaging
the spur ring 13, a slot being made in the flange 133 for this purpose.
The slotted holes G2 in the wheel G permit of a fine adjustment of the ring D³
relatively to the wheel G and thus afford a means of adjusting the position of the
valve ports D relatively to the position of the cranks when the adjustment of one
tooth of the spur gearing at the top or bottom of the shaft M would be too coarse.
The ports of the valve 1 are so arranged (as shown in Figure 2) that the
effect of the fluid pressure on the sides of the valve is maintained in balance. In
the example illustrated the valve is provided with two ports only, but more ports
may be used if it is desired to rotate the valve at a slower speed, care being taken
to arrange them symmetrically around the circumference so as to maintain the
balance aforesaid. The upper surface of the valve, that is the bottom D³ of the
cup may be solid, in which case the whole of the pressure inside the cylinder is
exerted in an upward or axial direction relative to the valve, tending to force the
latter off its seat or the bottom D of the valve may be perforated so as to allow
pressure to find access to both sides of the bottom D5 of the valve, that is to
the space between the upper surface of the cup bottom D5 and the cylinder head B¹.
These perforations may conveniently be so enlarged as to leave only radial arms
connecting the circumference of the valve with the valve stem; thus constructed
the valve is balanced with the exception of the pressure on the area of the valve
stem.
In either case this upward pressure is taken by a ball or roller bearing, which
may be conveniently arranged as shown in Figure 1. Formed integral with, or
affixed to the boss K2 is an annular flange, K+, coned on its upper side, at K³, to
form one wall of a ball race, the other wall being formed in the cover E as
shown at E
In order to permit of taking up wear either of the ball bearing or of the
conical seating surfaces of the valve, the cover E is secured to the flange 13 of
the cylinder head by bolts E2 locking nuts E³, a spring or compressible washer E³,
of any convenient description being placed between them.
Although this invention has been described and illustrated as applied to an
explosion engine, it may obviously be equally conveniently applied to a steam, or
other motive power engine. Many of the details of the construction illustrated in
the accompanying drawings may obviously be varied without departing from the
spirit of this invention. For example this invention is not limited to the arrange-
ment of slotted discs by which the motion of rotation is imparted to the valve at
one end of the cylinder alone. Nor is it limited to an electrical ignition of the
explosive charge or ignition through the stem. but ignition may be effected elec-
trically or otherwise through the valve ports if preferred.

page_text: 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 a motive power enginé a conical rotary valve such as D inside the
cylinder.
2. In a motive power engine the employment of a conical rotary valve such
as 1) inside the cylinder so arranged that the pressure has access substantially as
described to both sides for the purpose of balancing.
3. In a motive power engine a conical rotary valve such as D inside the
cylinder and having a ball or roller bearing to take the axial pressure.
4. In a motive power engine a conical rotary valve such as 1) inside the
cylinder balanced axially except as regards the area of the stem, and with a ball
or roller bearing to take the unbalanced axial pressure.
5. In a motive power engine a conical rotary valve such as D inside the cylinder
with a ball or roller bearing to take the axial pressure and with the ports therein
symmetrically disposed circumferentially so as to enable the valve to be balanced
with regard to internal radial pressure.
6. In a motive power engine a conically seated rotary valve such as D inside the
cylinder with a ball or roller bearing adjustable to take up wear of the conical
surfaces or of the bearing.
7. In a motive power engine the combination with a conical rotary valve such
as D of gearing which will accommodate eccentricity or want of alignment of the
axis of rotation of the driving part such as the spur ring D3 with the driven
part such as the valve stem D².
8. In a motive power engine the combination of a conical rotary valve such as 1)
slotted discs such as G H and arm K of gearing driven from the crank shaft all
arranged and operating substantially as described.
9. The complete valve substantially as described or illustrated in the accompany-
ing drawings.
Dated this 16th day of January 1899