Improvements in Gas and Oil Engines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Mar., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 18th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 17th Feb., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gas and Oil Engines.
I, HUGH MCPHAIL, of Manygates House, Wakefield, in the County of York,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
My invention relates to improvements in gas and oil engines, and has for its
object to so construct such engines that they shall be more efficient, compact,
work with little noise and vibration and require less space than is generally the
case at the present time.
An important feature of my invention consists in replacing the trunk piston or
the piston and connecting rod generally employed in gas and oil engines, by a
straight piston connected to a slotted plate, frame or head piece which recipro-
cates with the piston and may or may not be provided with guides.
A further important feature consists in so constructing the piston rod and its
connection to the crank shaft that they may, if required, be enclosed in a suitable
chamber containing a lubricant and communicating with the working cylinder.
The invention further relates to improvements in the lubrication of the piston
and other working parts of the engine.
According to one constructional form of my invention the open end of the
working cylinder in which the piston reciprocates, may be in direct communica-
tion with a chamber or casing which contains oil and through which a rotary
crank shaft passes.
The crank shaft has no break or breaks, as is usual, where the crank or cranks
are formed or attached, and in place of the usual rod I connect the crank pin to
the piston rod by means of a device consisting of a plate or frame sliding between
guides situated in the said chamber. This plate or frame has two slots or guides
intersecting each other at right angles midway of their length; in one of these
slots or guides slides a block surrounding the crank-pin of a crank on the rotary
shaft, and the other slot or guide slides upon a block mounted loosely upon the
rotary crankshaft, as the piston rod reciprocates; care being taken that the said
blocks be of sufficient length to bridge over the space at the point where the
said slots or guides intersect one another. When the plate or frame slides on
guides in the chamber referred to or on any other sliding arrangement, the
block on the rotary shaft can be omitted.
The slotted plate or frame is lubricated by the oil in the chamber or casing and,
as it reciprocates, agitates the lubricant causing it to splash into the open end
of the working cylinder and thus efficiently lubricate the piston.
Instead of using only one working cylinder and piston I may employ two,
similarly connected one to or at either end of the casing, chamber, or base and
having their piston rods_connected to opposite sides of a single slotted connect-
ing plate or frame. Or I may connect any required number of working cylinders
to a single casing or chamber or base carrying the necessary number of sliding
slotted plates or frames to connect the piston rods to the crank shaft; or any
number of chambers or guiding devices may be arranged on the rotary shaft as
may be convenient or required.

page_text: The necessary charges of working fluid may be admitted to the working cylin-
der or cylinders and exploded in any convenient manner.
By this means economy of space is effected and the engine may be readily
adapted to any position where it is required to work.
Dated this 18th day of March 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in Gas and Oil Engines.
I, HUGH MCPHAIL, of Manygates House, Wakefield, in the County of York,
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:-
My invention relates to improvements in gas and oil engines, and has for its
object to so construct such engines that they will be more efficient, and compact,
and work well with little noise and vibration and require less space than is gene-
rally the case at the present time.
An important feature of my invention consists in replacing the trunk piston,
or the piston and connecting rod generally employed in gas and oil engines, by
a straight or solid piston connected to a slotted plate, frame or head piece which
reciprocates with the piston and may or may not be provided with guides.
A further important feature consists in so constructing the piston rod and its
connection to the crank shaft that they may, if required, be enclosed in a suit-
able chamber containing a lubricant and communicating with the working
cylinder.
The invention further consists in improvements in the lubrication of the piston
and other working parts of the engine.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into
effect I will describe the same more fully with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:-
:-
Figure 1 is a partly sectional side elevation, and
Figure 2 is a partly sectional plan, of an engine constructed according to my
invention.
A is a closed chamber. B is a plate or frame which slides in a guide « in the
chamber A and is provided with slots or passages b, b. The passages b, b' inter-
sect each other at right angles midway of their length. D is a crank shaft which
passes through the slot or passage b¹ and is continuous from end to end that is to
sav. it is constructed without the usual break between the webs of the crank.
dd are the webs of the crank provided with weights did situated on the oppo-
site side of the crank shaft. The weights did are for the purpose of assisting in
overcoming dead centres. d is the crank pin. is a block which is mounted
loosely on the crank pin and is adapted to slide in the passage b of the plate B.
The block is of such length as to bridge over the point where the passages b b₁
intersect each other.
CC are the working cylinders which are provided with the usual water jackets
and with inlet ports for the air and explosive fluid, and exhaust ports. These
inlet and exhaust ports may be arranged in any convenient manner and controlled
by suitable means; for instance as shown in the drawings, by spring valves
operated by tappets carried by rotary shafts driven, by means of suitable s
from the orank shaft.
.
gear,

page_text: Each of the cylinders C is provided with a piston c connected rigidly to the
plate B by a rod o¹.
As the pistons reciprocate, they cause the plate or frame B to also reciprocate
and thereby, through the intervention of the sliding block d³, rotate the crank
shaft; the slot or passage 61 permitting the plate B to slide freely across the shaft 1
while the block reciprocates vertically in the slot or passage b as the crank
rotates. The block dis at the point of intersection of the passages bb' when
the shaft D is at one end of the passage b', and the shaft D is at the point of
intersection of the passages 6, 6 when the block d³ is at one end of the passage b.
The lower part of the chamber A may contain a bath of lubricant which will
serve to lubricate the plate or frame B and will also be splashed into the open
ends of the cvlinders C and thereby lubricate the latter.
The guide a might be omitted, in which case a sliding block of sufficient
length to bridge the space where the passages bb intersect, would be loosely
mounted on the shaft D and situated in the passage น.
It is obvious that instead of employing two working cylinders with their pistons
and piston rods as above described, only one such cylinder might be employed;
or that any required number of working cylinders and reciprocating plates or
frames B might be employed with one continuous crank shaft.
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
1 claim is:-
-
1. In an explosion engine, a reciprocating piston attached to a reciprocating
slotted plate or frame and thereby connected to a shaft for communicating
thereto a rotary motion from the reciprocating motion of the piston substantially
as and for the purpose specified:
2. In an explosion engine, a continuous crank shaft for communicating rotary
motion given thereto by a reciprocating slotted plate or frame moved by a reci-
procating piston substantially as and for the purpose specified.
3. In an explosion engine, a closed chamber in which reciprocates a slotted
plate or frame for connecting a piston with a shaft for communicating thereto
rotary motion from a reciprocating motion substantially as and for the purpose
specified.
4. In an explosion engine, a multiple of the arrangements set forth in the
above claims 1, 2, and 3, for the purpose of enabling an increased or decreased
power to be communicated to a continuous shaft, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
5. An explosion engine constructed, arranged and operating substantially as
described.
Dated this 18th day of December 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.