Improvements in the Valvular Arrangements of Petroleum and like Engines.
Year: 1896

page_text: Improvements in the Valvular Arrangements of Petroleum and
like Engines.
We, COUNT ALBERT DE DION and GEORGES BOUTON both of Puteaux
(Seine) in the Republic of France, Builders, do hereby declare the nature of our
invention to be as follows:-
The essential condition on which the regular or uniform operation of an
"explosive" engine depends is the constant fulfilment of those requirements
which, if complied with, will ensure the proper mixture of the combustible medium
with the medium that effects combustion. Particularly in the case of so-called
petroleum engines is it the fact, that, where lamp-petroleum and more especially
light petroleum "essence" is employed it is necessary that an arrangement should
be provided, for drawing out of the storage or supply reservoir the quantity of
hydrocarbon which is required for the explosions and the arrangement should be
such that the lighter essence or oil is not consumed first so as to render the
remaining part of the hydrocarbon supply still heavier than before, and less
capable, than are the lighter vapours of producing explosions. Many means have
hitherto been tried to attain this result and one of the most effective among them
is that which consists in drawing petroleum from the reservoir by means of a
"charging" piston or plunger, and if thus supplied, the petroleum will uniformly
retain its original properties as long as any of it is left in the reservoir and the
quality of volume of fluid forced by the piston or plunger remains unaltered, but
whilst in theory this method should fulfil all desirable conditions it does not really
do so in practice because the piston being fitted with a valve and provided with
packing around its rod, is liable to become irregular in its operation owing to the
disturbances to which those devices are apt to give rise.
The object of this invention is to draw petroleum from the reservoir is such a
manner that both its quantity and its quality remain uniform during the whole
time that it is not desired to vary the operation of the machine, whilst avoiding,
however, the employment of those accessory parts or devices whose action is apt
to prove unreliable.
The invention mainly consists in placing the petroleum reservoir after filling it,
and, creating the required pressure in its interior, in communication with a recess
or chamber provided in a valve body or slide, sliding in a valve casing to which
petroleum is supplied so that by the operation of the valve the charge of petroleum,
which is thus separated from the rest, is conveyed into the explosion chamber
through a suitable outlet from the valve chamber.
The petroleum inlet to the said valve casing opens into a groove extending in
the face of the casing to near the outlet opening in which there is a valve mounted
upon a rod and opening outwards but retained upon its seat by a spring gently
pressing on it.
The inlet aperture for petroleum is constantly connected with the petroleum
reservoir during the operation of the machine, a cock enabling it to be disconnected
therefrom while the machine is at rest, though such disconnection is not absolutely

page_text: necessary. The petroleum from the reservoir passes into the groove and enters
the recess in the slide valve, when the slide moves, but as this recess contains
confined air, the petroleum can only occupy part of such recess, the remaining part
of it retaining air at a pressure equal to that which has developed in the petroleum
reservoir.
As the capacity of the recess or chamber is constant, if the pressure be varied
in the reservoir, this will bring about a corresponding variation in the volume of
air confined in the recess, and thus the volume of petroleum which will be
introduced into this chamber will be the larger, the greater is the pressure in the
reservoir. But even though we were not to vary the pressure in the reservoir,
exactly the same volume of petroleum would, under identical conditions, be
introduced into the recess. The direction of motion of slide valve is then reversed,
and such slide valve assumes a position in which it separates the charge of fluid and
air under pressure, carries it to the outlet leading through the lift valve aforesaid
to the explosion chamber of the driving cylinder.
When the recess is flush with the edge of the outlet, the compressed air in the
said recess expands and forces the whole or part of the petroleum charge through
the outlet and down upon the lift valve which it surrounde.
The slide valve is so timed that this injection of petroleum on to the lift valve
takes place just when the "suction" stage in the motor cylinder commences; with
the result that, owing to the depression caused by the suction, the lift valve
descends and affords a passage for the petroleum.
At the same time air is supplied through a port, it being drawn in by the pump
action of the cylinder, and finally divides the petroleum; the tube, attached to the
said air supplying port, is heated by passing through the explosion chamber, and
so heats the air supply, preparatory to the explosion, such heating effect taking
place in the interval of time between two successive explosions.
During the whole of the suction stage, the air supplied to the motor cylinder
passes through the aforesaid recess so that such recess gets rid of all the fluid it
contained by the end of the suction period, it being entirely filled with air at the
pressure of the external atmosphere.
The explosion now takes place, and its immediate effect is, that the lift valve in
the outlet is closed and is retained closed by a spring.
As the slide valve continues its movement, another series of operations, identical
with those performed before, is gone through, and this will be the case over and
over again, so long as the pressure in the petroleum reservoir is not varied.
If such pressure, which we will suppose to be 4 atmospheres at first be doubled,
and if we assume that the capacity of the recess in the slide valve is twice as large
as that which was employed for the charge of petroleum that was consumed when
the pressure reduced the confined air to one half of its volume, then we shall have
air at 2 kilogrammes pressure in the recess, one third of its capacity being occupied
by air and two thirds by petroleum. Thus the charge of fluid will have been
augmented in the proportion of from to, or from to or in the proportion of .
If, on the other hand, we reduce the pressure in the reservoir by 1 to kilogramme,
the air confined will occupy of the recess above the petroleum the volume of
which will then be only ; and from to, or from to, the consumption of
petroleum will have diminished by . These variations of pressure in the
petroleum reservoir can be effected by means of a pump, or by hand, or in any
suitable way.
The same apparatus may be used for the distribution of combustible gas
contained in the reservoir of a gas engine.
Dated this 2nd day of May 1806
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
47 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Valvular Arrangements of Petroleum and
like Engines.
We, COUNT ALBERT DE DION, and GEORGES BOUTON, both of Puteaux,
(Seine), in the Republic of France, Engineers, 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 valve arrangements for petroleum and
like engines, and has for its object to enable petroleum and other combustible to
be withdrawn from a reservoir and fed into the engine cylinder in such a manner
that both its quantity and its quality or composition remain uniform during the
whole time that it is desired to keep the operation of the motor uniform, without
however, employing any accessory parts or devices whose action is apt to prove
unreliable.
The regular or uniform operation of an explosion engine depends on the proper
admixture of the combustible with the medium that supports combustion. There-
fore in the case of petroleum engines where ordinary or lamp petroleum or more
especially light petroleum is employed, it is necessary that an arrangement should
be provided for drawing out of the storage or supply reservoir successively the
proper quantity for each explosion, and the arrangement should be such that
the lighter part of the oil is not consumed first, so rendering the remaining part
heavier than before, and less capable of producing explosions. Many attempts
have heretofore been made to attain this result, one of the most effective consisting
in drawing the petroleum from the reservoir by means of a feed piston or plunger.
With such an arrangement the composition of the petroleum remains uniform as
long as there is any left in the reservoir, and the quality of the liquid forced out
by the piston or plunger also remains the same. But whilst in theory this
arrangement should fulfil all desirable conditions it does not really do so in
practice because the piston being fitted with a valve and provided with packing
around its rod, is liable to become irregular in its operation owing to the
disturbances to which those devices are apt to give rise.
Now according to our invention the petroleum is contained in the reservoir,
under pressure, and such reservoir is connected with a valve chest wherein works
a slide valve having a recess in its working face which serves to receive the
charges of petroleum and transfer them to the passage leading to the engine
cylinder.
In order that our said invention may be readily understood, we will proceed to
describe the same more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a slide valve arrangement for charging the
explosion chamber of a petroleum motor, and
Figure 2 is a transverse section thereof on the line a x Figure 1, the slide valve
being in a different position to that shown in the preceding figure.
A is the slide valve, and A' is the recess therein for carrying the successive
charges of petroleum. B is the chest or casing in which the said valve works and
C is the valve rod or spindle which works in a stuffing box D in the ordinary
manner and has its inner end supported in a guide or socket D'.
Integrally with the valve casing are cast two cylindrical projections E, F, each
provided with an external screw thread. Through the projection E is formed
a passage E' communicating at one end with the petroleum reservoir (not shewn in
the drawings) and at the other end with a longitudinal groove G in the slide face
of the valve casing B.

page_text: The projection F is also provided with a passage F which forms at one end one of
the valve ports, and is enlarged at the other end, where it is provided with a valve
seat for a suction valve fx which is mounted on the rod and held lightly up
against its sent by means of a spring f acting against a collar f on the said rod.
A cap or union F screwed on the projection F, serves to keep the seat in place
and is provided with a screw threaded projection or nipple Fs having a passage
whereby communication is established between the suction valve fx and the
explosion chamber of the motor.
F
1 (Figure 2) is another screw threaded projection in which is a passage I'
extending to the slide face, and forming a second admission port I therein. This
passage serves to admit the air necessary for the explosion and communicates
with an air inlet pipe traversing the explosion chamber, the supply of air for each
explosion being thus heated during the interval between successive explosions.
The passage E' in the projection E is constantly in communication with the
petroleum reservoir during the working of the engine such communication being
controlled by a suitable valve (not shewn) at the will of the driver. By reason
of the pressure within the reservoir, the petroleum passes through the passage E¹
into the space around the valve A and also into the longitudinal groove G..
The operation is as follows:-By a movement of the valve A to the left
(Figure 1) the recess A' is brought into communication with the longitudinal
groove G and the petroleum enters the said recess, but as the latter contains air
which is unable to escape, the petroleum can only occupy a portion of the interior
thereof depending on the extent to which it is able under the pressure within the
petroleum reservoir to compress the air in said recess.
The capacity of the recess being constant, if the pressure within the reservoir
remain constant, the recess, each time it is brought into communication with the
longitudinal groove G, will receive the same quantity of petroleum. If however
the pressure in the reservoir be increased, the volume of the air confined in the
recess E will be proportionately diminished, and vice versa, and consequently
a greater or a less quantity of petroleum will enter the recess.
When the recess has thus received a charge of petroleum, the valve is moved
back, that is to say to the right, and again occupies the position shown in Figure 1
the said recess being closed by the slide face, and the charge therein remaining
under the same pressure but being no longer in communication with the petroleum
reservoir. In the continued movement of the valve towards the right, it will
occupy the position shown in Figure 2 and the recess will then be opened to the
port or passage F.
In this last position of the slide valve, the compressed air within the recess A'
expands and the charge is free to flow into the passage F, and thence down into
the space surrounding the suction valve f*, the motion of the slide valve being so
regulated that this takes place at the beginning of the suction of the motor.
Consequently the suction valve is at the same moment depressed or opened and the
charge of petroleum allowed to pass. At the same time a stream of heated air
is sucked through the passage 'I', the receis A' and the passage F¹ into the
explosion chamber carrying the said charge with it and atomising the same. This
stream of air clears the recess from any residue of the petroleum charge and
leaves it occupied only by air at atmospheric pressure.
When the explosion takes place, its immediate effect is. to close the suction
valve and the foregoing operations are repeated, and continue regularly as long
as the pressure within the petroleum reservoir remains constant.
If the pressure in the reservoir be equal to one atmosphere, and the capacity of
the recess A be twice as great as the volume of the charge of petroleum, the air
confined in the recess will be reduced to one half its volume and the recess will be
half filled with petroleum, but if the pressure be equal to two atmospheres, the
volume of air will be reduced to one-third, and consequently only one-third of
the recess will be filled with air while two-thirds will be filled with petroleum.
We thus obtain an increase of one-sixth in the liquid charge. If on the contrary

page_text: we reduce the pressure to half an atmosphere the confined air will occupy
two-thirds of the recess and the charge of petroleum only one-third, the charge
being thus reduced to one-sixth. The variations in pressure in the petroleum
reservoir may be produced by any suitable means.
Similar means to those herein before described with reference to a petroleum
motor may be employed in the case of a gas engine for conducting the combustible
gas from the reservoir in which it is contained to the combustion chamber and
therein distributing the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. In an explosion engine the combination of a reservoir containing oil under
pressure, and of a valve provided with a recess or cavity, the air in which serves
to regulate the volume of the oil charge entering the said cavity from the oil
reservoir, substantially as described.
2. In an explosion engine, the construction and arrangement of a valve having
a recess for receiving and conveying uniform charges of oil or other combustible
to the engine cylinder, substantially as herein before described with reference to
the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th day of January 1897.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.