IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO VALVES FOR GAS MOTOR ENGINES
Year: 1884

page_text: THOMAS MILLER WILLIAMSON JAMES MALAM and WILLIAM ALLERSTON IRELAND,
all of Southport in the county of Lancaster do hereby declare the nature of their
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO VALVES FOR GAS MOTOR ENGINES
to be as follows:-
The object of our invention is to secure the more economical working of gas
engines.
For this purpose we use a novel arrangement of valves for admitting the air and
gas to the combustion chamber or working cylinder of gas engines A valve of the
hollow piston form works up and down or to and fro in a cylindrical chamber.
The wall of this cylindrical chamber bas certain ports formed in it which open
into an annular passage leading to the combustion chamber or working cylinder.
Corresponding ports are formed round the circumference of the hollow piston valve.
The interior of the piston valve is always open to the air.
Within the hollow piston valve and concentric with it is placed the gas valve
which is of the mushroom form As the hollow piston valve passes to and fro or up
and down (according as it is placed vertically or horizontally) it opens the ports
and thus allows the air to be drawn in to the combustion chamber or working
cylinder and should the gas valve be opened at the same time a certain quantity
of gas will be drawn in along with the air.
We arrange this gas valve so that it may be so regulated as to open simul-
taneously with or so as not to open until a certain definate time after the ports
in the hollow piston valve commence to open. This is accomplished as follows:
The gas valve is opened by a lever actuated by a spring and controlled by a cam
on a revolving shaft. A bowl carried on a lever works against the cam and this
lever is connected to the lever for working the gas valve. At the proper moment
a recess in the cam is brought opposite to the bowl on the lever which thus being
free allows the spring to act and draw the lever so as to open the gas valve and
retain it open until the full part of the cam coming round acts upon the bowl and
forces back the lever thus allowing the gas valve to shut. This bowl is mounted
on a small sliding saddle so that its position may be adjusted to a nicety by means
ה.

page_text: of a screw It can thus be adjusted so as to open the gas valve sooner or later
relatively to the opening of the air ports and in this manner the engine may be set
to take in a certain quantity of air alone, before the mixed charge of gas and air
begins to enter thereby economising the gas The governors may be so arranged as
to act either on the lever which carries the bowl or on that which acts on the gas
valve in such a way that when the engine begins to run too quick a catch will be
caused to engage the lever and hold it back, thus preventing the gas valve being
opened.

page_text: THOMAS MILLER WILLIAMSON, JAMES MALAM and WILLIAM ALLERSTON IRELAND
all of Southport in the county of Lancaster do hereby declare the nature of their
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO VALVES FOR GAS MOTOR ENGINES
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of our invention is to secure the more economical working of gas
engines For this purpose we use a novel arrangement of valves for admitting the
air and gas to the combustion chamber or working cylinder of a gas engine.
A valve of the hollow piston form works up and down or to and fro in a cylindrical
chamber.
The wall of this cylindrical chamber has certain ports formed in it which open
into an annular passage leading to the combustion chamber or working cylinder.
Corresponding ports are formed round the circumference of the hollow piston
valve The interior of the piston valve is always open to the air.
Within the hollow piston valve and concentric with it is placed the gas valve
which is of the mushroom form As the hollow piston valve passes to and fro or
up and down (accordingly as it is placed vertically or horizontally) it opens the
ports and thus allows the air to be drawn into the combustion chamber or working
cylinder and should the gas valve be opened at the same time a certain quantity of
gas will be drawn in along with the air We arrange this gas valve so that it may
be so regulated as to open simultaneously with or so as not to open until a certain
definite time after the ports in the hollow piston valve commenco to open. This is
accomplished as follows The gas valve is opened by a lever actuated by a spring
and controlled by a cam on a revolving shaft. A bowl carried on a lever works
against the cam and this lever is connected to the lever for working the gas valve.
At the proper moment a recess in the cam is brought opposite to the bowl on the
lever which thus being free allows. the spring to act and draw the lever so as to
open the gas valve and retain it open until the full part of the cam coming round
acts upon the bowl and forces back the lever thus allowing the gas valve to shut
This bowl is mounted on a small sliding saddle so that its position may be adjusted
"to a nicety by means of a screw It can thus be adjusted so as to open the gas
valve sooner or later relatively to the opening of the air ports and in this manner
the engine may be set to take in a certain quantity of air alone before the mixed
charge of gas and air begins to enter thereby economising the gas. In this way
engines may be made to work very economically.
The governors may be so arranged as to act either on the lever which carries the
bowl or on that which acts on the gas valve in such a way that when the engine
begins to run too quick a catch will be caused to engage the lever and hold it back
thus preventing the gas valve being opened.
In the accompanying drawings is shewn an admission valve made in accordance
with our invention the valve being arranged to work vertically Fig 1 is a
vertical section through the centre of the piston valve & combustion chamber.
Fig 2 is an end view of the same shewing the levers by which the valves are
actuated and Figs 3 & 4 shew the improved admission valve as applied to a gas

page_text: engine constructed in accordance with the Specification of a patent granted to us
in the year 1883 and numbered 4816; Fig 3 being a plan and Fig 4 an end view of
such engine. In all, these drawings the same letters refer to the same parts
A, A is the piston valve working up and down in the cylindrical chamber B B.
The ports in this cylindrical chamber are shewn at CC opening into the annular
passage D D leading to the combustion chamber E. The corresponding ports in
the piston valve are shewn at F F The piston valve is shewn in the position it
occupies when the ports are fully open and the engine is drawing in a charge of
mixed gas and air. G is the gas valve the construction of which will be readily
understood from the drawing H is a flexible diaphragm of india rubber or other
suitable material so as to allow of the valve lifting The amount of lift allowed to
the valve may be controlled by the lock nuts II The necessary up and down
motion is imparted to the piston valve from the shaft K by means of the crank
pin L, connecting rod M and the lever N and links O. O. The shaft K also carries
the cam P having depressions Q Q formed on its edge so that when one of these
depressions comes round to the bowl R on the lever S the other leg S¹ of this lever.
is drawn up by the spring T thereby causing the gas valve to open. U is the screw
for adjusting the position of the bowl so as to cause the gas valve to open sooner
or later as may be required.
When the engine runs too fast a stop lever actuated by the governors takes
against the upright leg of the lever S and holds it back so as to prevent the gas
valve from being opened.
•
This stop lever is shewn at V Figs 3 & 4 At W Fig 3 is shewn the gearing by
which the shaft K is driven. As in this gas engine a charge of gas and air is
drawn in once in every revolution of the crank shaft and as the ports in the piston
valve open twice, for every revolution of the shaft K (once in the upward stroke
and once in the downward stroke) it is necessary to drive the shaft K at half the
speed of the crank shaft The gearing W is therefore arranged accordingly The
gas is admitted to the gas valve at X..
It is obvious that the improved admission valve may be arranged to work in a
horizontal position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim, is
The combination of the piston valve and mushroom valve together with the
manner of actuating them substantially as described and set forth in the drawings
or any mere modification-thereof.-