Improvements in Petroleum Engines.
Year: 1891

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Petroleum Engines.
I. DIRK WILLEM VAN RENNES, of Oudegracht G 59, Utrecht, in the Kingdom
of Holland, Manufacturer, 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 petroleum engines especially designed for use as motors
for road-carriages, velocipedes, tram-cars and the like.
Petroleum engines, as heretofore constructed and worked with common petroleum,
are mostly very complicated and troublesome in use as they generally have a
separate vaporizer for the petroleum or, if the vaporizer be dispensed with, and
the evaporation be effected by the heat of the products of combustion it is necessary
to superheat the petroleum, and this superheating has to be repeated every time the
engine is started after having been stopped even for a short time. Moreover
a petroleum feed-pump is required to give the exact supply of petroleum for each
piston stroke, as well as a large cooler or a cold-water pump for cooling the
cylinder, etc.
All these arrangements render the engines entirely unfit to be applied to small
vehicles, velocipedes and the like.
By my invention I dispense with all such arrangements, and provide an engine
which is extremely light, of simple construction and very easily managed and which
can be worked with petroleum of any specific gravity.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of a petroleum engine constructed
according to my invention and shewn connected to the small wheel of a tricycle :
Figure 2 is a front elevation, partly in section, of the same:
Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the air-inlet to the lamp for heating the
igniting device of the engine.
The cylinder A of the engine with valve-motion is firmly connected to two round
vertical rods B, B which bear at their lower ends on the axles of the small tricycle
wheel C.
On both sides of the wheel-axle are fixed in the same line, outside the rods B, B,
cranks D, D connected by crank-rods E to the hollow piston F, which is guided by
the rods B, 13 passing through holes in the piston-plate Goutside the cylinder.
On the wheel-axle is also arranged a pinion a, which, by means of a spur-wheel b,
cam c and rod d actuates the exhaust valve in a well known manner, thus allowing
the products of combustion to be expelled at the proper moment during an upward
stroke. The rod d is guided by a bracket on the rod B, which latter also
supports the spindle on which both the spur-wheel band cam c are arranged.
p
Immediately over the wheel C the rods B, B support a plate H on which a
hollow cylinder K, closed at the top, is fixed. This cylinder passes quite freely
into the hollow piston F and in the lowest position of the piston reaches up to its
top, so as to nearly fill it when in this position. The long piston F passes through
leather or other suitable packing into the cylinder A. The heat resulting from
the explosion and products of combustion remains only in the top of the cylinder, so
that the packing is not damaged by it. The hollow piston itself is sufficiently
cooled by the fresh cold air, which enters it at every upward stroke and is driven
out again at the downward stroke by the fixed hollow cylinder K, arranged as
described inside the hollow piston F, so that cooling by water is entirely dispensed
At the side of the cylinder A is placed a cylindrical box L, (Figure 1) on
the top of which the air and petroleum inlet-valve-box M is arranged. From this
box an open tube & extends downward nearly to the bottom of a wider tube l, the
with.

page_text: upper end of which communicates with the cylinder A and in the bottom of which
is screwed a narrow tube m, closed at its bottom end.
On the bottom of the cylindrical box La spirit lamp N is placed. This lamp is
fed from the reservoir O and serves to heat the tubular igniting device m, l, k. A
conical hood p is placed over the lamp to concentrate the heat of the flame towards
the tube m.
Atmospheric air for the lamp enters the cylindrical box L through
holes % in which vertical plates are placed to prevent the flame of the lamp from
being extinguished by strong air currents.
Figure 3 shows a plan of this arrangement.
Air enters the valve-box M through passages over the valve 1' (Figure 1),
whilst petroleum from a reservoir R placed on the top of the cylinder A flows
through a tube to the valve-seat and is in this manner thoroughly mixed up
with the air. The valve may be kept closed by a spring or by other known
means.
The tube t may be provided with a tap or cock to regulate the proper quantity of
petroleum, which flows at every downward stroke into the valve-box M. When
the wheel C is turned a mixture of air and petroleum is delivered by the valve P
into the cylinder. This mixture of petroleum and air is forced to pass through the
tubes and m and is highly heated by these tubes, as well as by the tube 1, through
which it enters the cylinder A in the condition of thoroughly mixed petroleum
vapour and air.
The mixture becomes ignited by the most highly heated tube during the
compression in the cylinder, the explosion takes place and the piston is forced
downwards, whilst the products of combustion are afterwards expelled at the proper
moment through the exhaust-valve e.
For small engines such as are herein described and shewn in the drawing a
governor for the inlet-valve is not required. For larger engines, however, the inlet
of the petroleum may be cut off by a governor as in ordinary gas engines, or the
exhaust-valve may be left open a little longer so as to prevent the petroleum and
air-inlet from opening.
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 petroleum engines especially designed for driving vehicles, tramcars and
the like, the combination of an air and petroleum inlet valve with an arrangement
of tubes through which the mixture of petroleum and air are caused to pass before
entering the cylinder and by which it is highly heated and ignited during the com-
pression in the cylinder, substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawing.
2. In petroleum engines, such as those referred to in the previous claiming
clause, the combination of a long hollow piston to which the driving or crank-rods
are connected, with a closed cylinder which enters and withdraws from the piston,
so that at every stroke cold air enters and is forced out of the piston, thereby
effecting a thorough cooling of the same, substantially as herein before described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
3. In combination with the heating device of the igniting tubes referred to in the
first claim the arrangement of vertical plates fixed in the air-holes of the device,
which plates, by reaching from the centre partly outside the cylindrical box, cause
an effective air current for the lamp, substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
4. The improved petroleum engine hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawing.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.