Improvements in Piston Rings.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 27th May, 1898-Accepted, 13th Aug., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Piston Rings.
I, AUGUST BACKHAUS, Manager of Works, of Wolfswinkel, near Eberswalde,
in the Empire of Germany, 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:
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This invention for improvements in piston rings has for its object to provide an
automatically packed piston ring, and comprises a divided U-shaped hollowed out
ring formed of two semi-circular halves, the packing of which is effected and
guaranteed by very strong spring action.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a piston ring constructed according to this
invention and Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the same.
The piston consists of two quite similar semi-circular halves a and a¹ of U shaped
cross-section. The connection of the two halves is effected in the following manner:
In the hollow of the one half, and exactly corresponding with the curvature, an
accurately fitting metal block is inserted, which serves for the connection of the
other half. These metal blocks e and e¹ may either be fixed in one and the same
semicircular half or one may be riveted in the half a¹ and the other in the
half all.
For the packing and pressing apart of the piston, the curved blocks 6 and 6¹
are employed, the inner surfaces of these fitting the inner radius of the piston ring.
The management of the bent blocks bb is effected by the correspondingly intro-
duced guiding or conducting pins d, d¹, d¹ and in such a way that the points
of the blocks or wedges strike against the metal blocks eel and thereby expand the
piston ring or its halves in the dividing planes at e and e¹ as also in the clefts g
and g which ensure the elasticity of the piston rings in the points at right angles
to the dividing plane through e e¹.
In the accompanying drawing the position of the points of the blocks bb¹ is such
that the points do not strike against the pieces e and e¹ and thus cannot drive them
apart. This is owing to the piston ring being shown in the position in which it
is pushed into the cylinder, and in which position, owing to its construction, it can
be easily retained.
For this purpose, holes are bored in the central part of the U shape piston ring
halves, and through which holes four pins f f f f provided with handles or
rings are inserted. In the curved blocks likewise holes are bored which fit these
pins and by putting the pins through the holes of the piston ring halves and the
blocks, the previously compressed tension springs can be held in this position
whereby all action of the piston is discontinued and the piston can be fixed at its
smallest diameter. The introduction of the piston into the cylinder is effected in
this case without any trouble, and for the purposes of the packing it is only
necessary to withdraw the pins fff" and f", whereby the springs c and c¹ come
into action and drive the blocks bb etc. apart whereupon the points or heads of
the blocks lie against the metal pieces e e¹ and drive the piston ring halves asunder.