Improvements in Gas Engine Valves.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Mar., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 9th Jan., 1895-Accepted, 9th Feb., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas Engine Valves.
I, PARIS EUGENE SINGER of 19 Kensington Court, London, Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is the improvement in the valves of compression
gas engines of any cycle. In carrying out my invention I line the space left in
the cylinder when the piston is at the top of the stroke, with a thin sheet of metal
exactly fitting it totally or in part and capable of being revolved. This metal
lining has one or more slots in it and as it revolves, these slots uncover the ports in
the cylinder wall and allow the gases to be admitted, ignited or expelled at the
proper moments to suit the cycle of the engine. It is not necessary that this
lining should revolve continuously in one direction but can be made to, oscillate
and in some cases to lift up and down. When it is found that this lining becomes
overheated, as in the case of large engines, I sometimes place it on the outside of.
the water jacket surrounding the compression chamber. When used in these
conditions it is convenient to construct the valve of a hollow plunger moving in a
supplementary cylinder fitted in the wall of the main cylinder casting so that the
plunger will come as near the inside face of the cylinder as is compatiable. with
strength. This plunger is pierced on either side with two series of holes capable
of corresponding with the cylinder port. All the holes from one side of the
plunger lead to one extremity whereas the holes on the opposite side lead to the
other extremity of the supplementary cylinder. If now we consider the gas
communicating to one extremity and the exhaust pipe to the other, it will be
seen that as the plunger rotates or moves in any set direction, the gas will be
admitted or expelled according to the set of holes presented to the working
cylinder. In engines where the ignition has to be timed, a supplementary passage
can be formed in this plunger.
These valves are equally suitable for gas engines worked by oil.
I PARIS EUGENE SINGER of 19 Kensington Court, London, 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 object of this invention is the improvement of the valves of compression gas
engines of any cycle.
The valves which I use for supplying the mixed gases to the engine, take the
form of a sleeve, or open ended cylinder, which serves as a lining for a valve
chamber, and has an axial motion to present its passage or passages to the ports of
the working cylinder.
This valve I sometimes modify by inserting a transverse partition therein, and
[Price 8d1

page_text: giving to it a reciprocating, as well as an axial motion, to bring the passages into
coincidence with the inlet and outlet port of the working cylinder.
The valve may be placed either in the compression chamber, or in a chamber
connecting by a port with the working cylinder. Or the sleeve valve may be
situate intermediate between two working cylinders, and in communication with
both cylinders.
In the accompanying drawing,
Fig. 1 is a partial longitudinal section of the cylinder of a gas engine
constructed according to my invention, to receive a rotary sleeve valve, the axle
of which is in line with the axis of the cylinder, and is intended to be driven by
gearing.
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view taken in the line 1-2 of Fig. 1, showing the
valve with one passage, and the cylinder with an inlet port, an ignition port, and
an exhaust port.
Fig. 3 is a similar sectional plan view showing a valve with two passages, and a
double set of ports in the cylinder.
Fig. 4 shows a portion of the gearing used for transmitting motion from the
crank shaft to the axle carrying the sleeve valve.
Fig. 5 is a sectional plan of the cylinder of the engine, formed with a
supplementary cylinder external thereof, for receiving the sleeve valve, which in
this case has a duplex motion, namely, axial and endwise.
Fig. 6 shows in longitudinal section the supplementary cylinder and valve of
Fig. 5 in communication with a pair of working cylinders.
Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate the gearing suitable for imparting the axial and endway
motions to the sleeve valve.
Fig. 9 shows more clearly the construction of the reciprocating rotary valve.
In Fig. 1, I have represented a cylinder A of the ordinary gas engine type, with
its piston B at the end of its stroke, and marking the limit of the compression
space 1.
At A, the cylinder is contracted in diameter, to form a gas chamber,
and it is lined with a metallic sleeve valve C. The top of this valve is serrated,
and fits loosely into corresponding teeth of a wheel or disc C' fixed to a spindle C²,
which passes through the cover of the cylinder, and receives rotary motion from
gear wheels, excentrics, or cams, or by mechanism from the crank shaft in any well
known manner. The sleeve valve C is formed with one or more passages c, made
to correspond, at a certain position of the crank, with one of the ports a a¹ a²,
formed in the contracted portion A' of the cylinder A (see Fig. 2).
As the crank rotates, the sleeve valve C rotates at such a speed that the
passage, c will travel round from one port to another, and visit them for the time
required to admit the supply of gases, fire them when compressed, and discharge
the exhaust. The sleeve valve, it will be understood, closes the ports for the time
they would interfere with the working of the engine by being open.
Fig. 2 shows the ports arranged for the sleeve valve, when rotated once for two
revolutions of the crank. Fig. 3 shows the arrangement of the ports to suit the
rotation of the valve, once for every four revolutions of the crank.
The valve spindle, see Fig. 1, carries a spur pinion, in gear with which is a spur
pinion mounted on a stud axle. This second spur pinion carries a spur pinion
shown in plan view at Fig. 4, which is so shaped, together with the pinion into
which it gears, as to transmit a differential rotary motion to the valve spindle C³.
D, Fig. 4, is the shaft to which the second differential pinion is keyed, and it
receives motion from the crank shaft in the ordinary way. This arrangement of
gearing ensures a sharp cut off.
The supplementary cylinder provided for the reception of the reciprocating
sleeve valve, is shown at E, Fig. 5, set externally of the jacketted cylinder A, and
it is itself jacketted.
The sleeve valve C, in this case, is formed with a central transverse
partition C¹, to which is fitted a rod C2 for imparting thereto both a reciprocating
and an axial motion.

page_text: The partition C¹ divides the valve into two parts, and passages are made on
either side of the partition, to open communication between the supplementary
cylinder and the working cylinder.
The cylinder E is formed at its opposite ends with ports, the one to admit the
mixed gases to be supplied to the working cylinder, and the other to discharge the
spent gases.
c is the passage in the valve for admitting the gases to the working cylinder,
and cl the passage for providing an exit for the spent gases.
These two passages are, by the reciprocating and axial motion of the sleeve
valve, brought alternately into coincidence with the port a* of the working
cylinder, thereby supplying the cylinder with the mixed gases, and exhausting the
cylinder of the spent gases.
Fitted to the sleeve valve, within the plane of rotation of the opening c¹, is a
closed nipple c (see Fig. 9), composed of fire-clay or other refractory material,
and projecting inwards so as to present no obstruction to the movements of the
valve. This nipple is designed to ignite the charge when compressed, and it is
heated at the starting of the engine by the insertion into the cylinder E, of a
Bunsen burner, and kept hot partly by the heat of the explosion in the engine, and
partly by the exhaust gases rushing between it and a screen C³, carried by the
valve rod C. The movements of the valve are so timed, that the nipple will be
presented to the port a* at the moment the compressed gas is ready for ignition,
and on the charge being fired, the nipple will suddenly be withdrawn from the
port, and the passage c¹ will in due course be brought into coincidence therewith,
for the delivery of the spent gases to the discharge port a².
An efficient means for effecting the combined movements of this plunger valve
are shown at Figs. 7 and 8, where D is a shaft which receives rotary motion from
the crank shaft, and transmits the same, through a mitre wheel d, to a mitre
wheel d', which slides on a feather on the rod or spindle C of the valve C. Fitted
to this spindle is a loose collar carrying a bowl, which takes into a grooved heart
cam fitted to the face of the mitre wheel d.
As, therefore, the shaft D is rotated, the spindle C³, and consequently the sleeve
valve C which it carries, will receive a compound endway and axial motion,
whereby the passage and firing nipple in the valve will be presented in their
proper order to the port a of the working cylinder; as above explained.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The application to gas engines, of a sleeve valve contained in a gas chamber,
for supplying, by its axial motion, mixed gases to the working cylinder, opening
a passage to fire the charge, and providing means of escape for the spent gases, as
described with reference to Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
2. The modification of the sleeve valve, as described with reference to Figs. 5, 6,
and 9, such valve receiving both an axial and a reciprocating motion, for
presenting its passages and firing nipple, in due sequence, to the working cylinder
port.
Dated this 9th day of January 1895.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.