AN IMPROVED GAS ENGINE
Year: 1885

page_text: I EDWARD GARDNER COLTON of the firm of Popplewell Colton & Co of Victoria
Chambers, Southampton Buildings in the county of Middlesex Fellow of the
Institute of Patent Agents do hereby declare the nature of an invention for
AN IMPROVED GAS ENGINE & communication to me from abroad by Henry Hartig,
Mechanic, of Staats Zeitung Building Tryon Row in the City, County and State of
New York, United States of America to be as follows:-
:-
This invention relates to a Gas engine in which the valve for supplying the
explosive gas and air mixture is located at the interior of the reciprocating piston
and oscillated by the piston rod whereby the construction of the Engine is
simplified and made very compact and specially adapted for running sewing
machines and the like and the invention consists of a cylinder having inlet ports
for the gas and air, an exhaust port for the products of combustion, and an ignition
port, a reciprocating piston having inlet and exhaust ports communicating with the
inlet and exhaust ports of the cylinder and a hollow extension having an ignition
port. An oscillating slide valve is located in a cavity at the interior of the piston
and connected by the piston rod to the driving shaft which turns in bearings of a
supporting standard.
The cylinder is supported in vertical or horizontal position on a suitable standard
and foundation plate. The cylinder is closed at one end and open at the opposite
end, through which a piston rod extends into the recessed outer end of a recipro-
cating piston, the piston rod being attached to an oscillating slide valve moving in
bearings in the interior of the piston. The driving shaft is supported in bearings
of the standard and provided at one end with a flywheel and having a crank at the
opposite end.
The cylinder is provided at the under side with gas and air admission ports and
at its top part with an exhaust port for the products of combustion.
The exhaust port is provided with a check valve that permits the escape of the
products of combustion but prevents the access of air. The gas inlet port is
connected with a gas supply pipe having a stop cock and gas-bag as customary in
gas engines, for regulating the supply of gas to the engine.

page_text: A downwardly extending gas pipe extends from the gas supply pipe to a
perforated ignition tube to which the gas for the ignition jet is supplied. A chimney
is attached to the cylinder vertically above the ignition jet for drawing the flame
in upward direction towards the ignition port which is located in the cylinder
above the ignition tube.
The piston is provided at one side with gas and air ports and at the opposite
side with an exhaust port which ports register at the proper time with the gas and
air inlet ports and the exhaust port of the cylinder.
The inner end of the piston is made in the shape of a cupshaped extension
which forms with the cylindrical head of the end plate of the cylinder a combustion
chamber for the air and gas mixture. The hollow end or extension of the piston
is provided with an ignition port that registers with the ignition port of the
cylinder. The latter ignition port is provided with the customary check valve
which closes the ignition port at the moment when the explosion takes place.
The combustion chamber communicates by a central port of the piston with the
inlet or exhaust-cavity of the slide-valve and with the inlet or exhaust ports of
the piston and cylinder according to the position of the piston and slide valve.
The slide valve is made of slightly tapering shape and fitted accurately into a.
corresponding cavity of the piston. The slide valve is held in position in the
piston by a spiral or other spring which is set into a socket of the slide valve and
retained by a plate that is supported by transverse lips of the piston.
When the piston arrives at the extreme ends of its stroke the slide valve shuts
off completely the communication between the combustion chamber of the cylinder
and the inlet and exhaust ports."
When the piston is moved by its flywheel away from the closed end of the
cylinder it turns the slide valve so as to establish communication between the
combustion chamber and the gas and air admission ports until the required quantity
of gas and air is sucked in.
At this point ignition ports of the cylinder and piston register with each other,
the ignition jet is sucked in and the explosion takes place. By the force of the
explosion, the piston is moved towards the opposite end of its stroke and the slide
valve turned by the flywheel and crank disk so as to establish communication
between the combustion chamber and the exhaust-ports of the piston and cylinder
for the escape of the products of combustion.
The flywheel moves the piston back to its first position when the same operation
is repeated the successive explosions of the gas and air mixtures and the momentuin
of the flywheel keeping up the regular motion of the driving shaft as customary
in gas engines of this class.
The advantages of my improved gas engine are, simplicity of construction, as
there are few working parts, compactness of construction as the slide valve is
located within the piston and easy and effective motion with but little wear of the
working parts.

page_text: An Improved Gas Engine.
I, EDWARD GARDNER COLTON, of the firm of Popplewell, Colton & Co., of
Victoria Chambers, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of
the Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
(a communication to me from abroad by Henry Hartig, Mechanic, of Staats Zeitung
Building, Tryon Row, in the City, County, and State of New York, United States
of America) 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 a gas engine in which the valve for supplying the
explosive gas and air mixture is located at the interior of the reciprocating pistón
and oscillated by the piston-rod, whereby the construction of the engine is
simplified and made very compact and specially adapted for running sewing
machines and similar machines; and the invention consists of a cylinder having
inlet-ports for the gas and air, an exhaust-port for the products of combustion, and
an ignition-port, a reciprocating piston, having inlet and exhaust ports communi-
cating with the inlet and exhaust ports of the cylinder, and a hollow extension,
having an ignition-port. An oscillating slide-valve is located in a cavity at the
interior of the piston, and connected by the piston-rod to the driving shaft which
turns in bearings of a supporting standard.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of my improved
gas engine.
Fig. 2 au end elevation.
Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical central sections of the same, shewing the piston at
different positions of its stroke.
Fig. 5 is a detail side view of the piston, and
Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section on line x-x, Fig. 3.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.
A in the drawings represents the cylinder of my improved gas engine; the
cylinder is supported in vertical or horizontal position on a suitable standard A'
and foundation plate A¹. The cylinder A is closed at one end and open at the
opposite end, through which a piston-rod B extends into the recessed outer end of
a reciprocating piston D, the piston-rod being attached to an oscillating slide-
valve C, moving in bearings in the interior of the piston D. The driving shaft E
is supported in bearings of the standard A³, and provided at one end with a fly-
wheel E', and a crank E' at the opposite end.
The cylinder A is provided at the under side with gas and air admission-
ports a, a, and at its top part with an exhaust-port a² for the products of com-
bustion. The exhaust port a' is provided with a check-valve a³, that permits the
escape of the products of combustion, but prevents the access of air. The gas
inlet-port a is connected with a gas-supply pipe b, having a stop-cock and gas-bag,
as customary in gas engines for regulating the supply of gas to the engine. A
downwardly-extending gas-pipe 61 extends from the gas-supply pipe b to a

page_text: perforated ignition tube b, to which the gas for the ignition-jet is supplied. A
chimney A³ is attached to the cylinder A vertically above the ignition-jet of the
tube b for drawing the flame in upward direction towards the ignition-port a³,
which is located in the cylinder A above the ignition-tube b².
The piston D is provided at one side with gas and, air ports d, d, and at the
opposite side with an exhaust-port d which ports register.at the proper time with
the gas and air inlet-ports a, a¹, and the exhaust-port a² of the cylinder A. The
inner end of the piston D is made in the shape of a cup-shaped extension D¹ which
forms with the cylindrical head of the end-plate A' of the cylinder A, a com-
bustion-chamber for the air and gas mixture. The hollow end or extension of
the piston D is provided with an ignition-port d³ (Fg. 5) that registers with the
ignition-port a³ of the cylinder A The ignition-port d³ is provided with the
customary check-valve which closes the ignition port at the moment when
the explosion takes place. The combustion-chamber communicates by a central
porte of the piston with the inlet or exhaust cavity of the slide-valve and with the
inlet or exhaust ports of the piston and cylinder, according to the position of
the piston and slide-valve.
:
The slide-valve C is made of slightly tapering shape and fitted accurately into
á corresponding cavity of the piston. The slide valve C is held in position in the
piston by a spiral or other spring e¹ which is set into a socket e² of the slide valve
and retained by a plate e³ that is supported by transverse lips e* of the piston, as
shewn in Figs. 5 and 6.
When the piston D. arrives at the extreme end of its stroke, the slide-valve C
shuts off completely the communication between the combustion-chamber of the
cylinder and the inlet and exhaust ports, as shewn in Fig. 3. When the piston is
moved by its fly-wheel away from the closed end of the cylinder, it turns the slide-
valve C so as to establish communication between the combustion-chamber and the
gas and air admission-ports until the required quantity of gas and air is sucked in.
At this point the ignition-ports of the cylinder and piston register with each other,
the ignition-jet is sucked in and the explosion takes place. By the force of the
explosion, the piston is moved towards the opposite end of its stroke and the slide-
valve turned. by the fly-wheel and crank-disc so as to establish communication
between the combustion-chamber and exhaust-ports of the piston and cylinder for
the escape of the products of combustion. The fly-wheel moves the piston back to
its first position, when the same operation is repeated, the successive explosions of
the gas and air mixtures and the momentum of the fly-wheel keeping up the
regular motion of the driving shaft, as customary in gas engines of this class.
The advantages of the improved gas engine are, simplicity of construction, as
there are few working parts, compactness of construction, as the slide-valve is
located within the piston, and easy and effective notion with but little wear of the
working parts.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I déclare that what
I claim is
1. The combination of a cylinder,, having the usual inlet exhaust and ignition
ports, a hollow reciprocating piston, having similar ports registering with the
ports of the cylinder, an oscillating slide-valve located at the interior of the
piston, and a piston-rod secured to the slide-valve and connected to the driving
shaft, substantially as set forth.
2. The combination of a cylinder, provided with gas and air inlet-ports, an
ignition-port and an exhaust-port, a hollow reciprocating piston, having gas and
air inlet-ports, an exhaust port and cup-shaped extension with an ignition-port, and

page_text: an oscillating slide valve located at the interior of the piston and connected by a
piston-rod with the driving shaft, substantially as set forth.
3. The combination of a cylinder having gas and air inlet-ports, an ignition-port
and an exhaust-port, a hollow reciprocating piston having an extension and ports
registering with the ports of the cylinder, an oscillating slide-valve turning in
bearings in the interior of the piston, a piston-rod secured to said slide-valve, and a
driving shaft, having a crank and fly-wheel, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 24th day of December 1885.