Year: 1888

page_text: This Specification was, upon the 24th day of October 1889, Amended under
Sections 18 to 21 of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883.
I, WILHELM VON OECHELIAEUSER, of Dessau, in the Empire of Germany,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
In the gas engines or motors heretofore known in which the work accumulated in
the gaseous fuel is directly utilized the combustion is effected by igniting a mixture
of combustible gas and air previously obtained in the cylinder or a chamber directly
connected with the same.
The inflammability of the final mixture here depends upon the proportion of the
combustible gas to that of oxygen thus, for instance, for ordinary illuminating gas
having a lighting power of about sixteen candles, only those mixtures of gas and
atmospheric air-apart from indifferent gases-are inflammable which contain about
one volume of gas and from four to fourteen volumes of air, so that for example a
mixture, which contains one volume of gas and only three volumes of air is just as
little inflammable as one that is composed of one volume of gas and fifteen volumes of
air. As, moreover, the ignition of the charge in the cylinder must be effected with a
certain amount of rapidity, and the mixtures approximating the said limits burn too
slowly, the mixing proportions practically adapted for gas engines or motors are still
less than those above given.
In the above mentioned example for illuminating gas of a lighting power equal to
sixteen candles the mixtures are between one volume of gas and about five to twelve
volumes of air according to a pressure of from four to seven atmospheres, without any
previous compression of the mixture. For this reason it has hitherto always been
necessary to keep within these limits in the mixtures of combustible gases and air
used in gas engines or motors; for the same reason comparatively high pressures and
high temperatures are required for working, and the motion of the engines can be
regulated only within narrow limits.
According to the present method any desired quantity of gaseous fuel may be
rapidly ignited and burnt within a separate room, i.e. the combustion chamber of a
gas engine or motor as far as there is a sufficiency of air,

page_text: For this purpose the method heretofore employed of igniting the mixture of
combustible gas and air only after the whole charge of fuel has been admitted into the
combustion chamber has been entirely abandoned. The combustible gas is ignited
during the mechanically effected mixing of the same with air, for example during the
introduction of combustible gas into the chamber which has been previously filled with
air or with a mixture of air and indifferent gases. The said ignition is effected by
means of an igniting device which is in action from the commencement of the
entrance of the combustible gas, or which comes into action while the mixing is
taking place between the commencement and the termination of the entrance of
the gas.
In this manner it is possible to ignite and to burn comparatively small quantities of
combustible gas sooner than, according to the method heretofore adopted, they would
be so far rarefied by spreading in the combustion chamber that they would become
uninflammable that is to say, before, for instance, the mixture could contain for one
volume of illuminating gas more than fourteen volumes of air; and also comparatively
large quantities of combustible gas can be caused to ignite before the said combustible
gas has so super saturated the air that the mixture becomes uninflammable that is to
say before it would for example contain, for one volume of illuminating gas, less than
four volumes of air.
The trials made with this method of combustion have for instance demonstrated that
quantities of combustible gas which with the quantity of air available for the
combustion would constitute a final mixture of one volume of illuminating gas and a
hundred volumes of air, or a final mixture of 1 volume of gas and 11 volume of air
can still be safely and rapidly ignited and burnt so far as there is sufficient air. In
this manner final pressures of from 0'1 atmosphere to 14 atmospheres can be rapidly
attained without previous compression of the air of combustion.
In order that the combustion and the production of pressure shall take place rapidly,
that is to say, for example in from one-hundredth to one-twenty fifth of a second for a
working stroke with a duration of about one fifth of a second-corresponding to one
"hundred and fifty revolutions in a minute, the combustible gas is preferably introduced
with overpressure. Moreover, in order that the ignition shall be effected without fail
and without danger of its being continued backwards to the compression chamber for
the combustible gas against which, according to recent investigations, even the finest
sieves or gauze do not afford protection the entering combustible must not in any case
be ignitible or have admixed so much air or other gases that it would be inflammable
before its entrance.
The ignition in the cylinder of the motor or in the combustion chamber set in
communication therewith is effected by a special igniting device arranged within the
reach of the entering combustible gas and which causes the combustion by means of
jucandescent bodies or electric sparks or by flames. As the mixture of air contained
in the combustion chamber before the admission of the combustible gas is not to be
ignitible or combustible, the igniting device can be permanently active, (that is to
say) the incandescent body can glow continually, the sparks can leap over uninter-
ruptedly or the flame can always burn. However, the igniting device may if desired
operate intermittently but it must then be in action at the commencement of the
entrance of the combustible gas, or be set in action during the time between the
beginning and the termination of the entrance thereof.
In carrying my invention into practice the combustible gats under
pressure is
introduced through an admission valve arranged when closed to bear upon a suitable
seating in the cylinder cover and which opens at the proper moment to allow a certain
quantity of the said gas to pass rapidly into the combustion chamber from a supply
pipe or chamber. The combustible gas has for this purpose been previously com-
pressed by means of a pump. An over pressure of from about 05 of an atmosphere
that is to say a pressure by one half greater than the pressure of the air in the
cylinder is, in order to allow the gas to pass rapidly enough into the air contained in
the combustion chamber, aud to be there ignited with certainty and regularity.
For the proper distribution of the combustible gas I sometimes arrange the

page_text: admission opening in the form of a perforated diaphragm or in the form of a tube
provided with perforations. This perforated tube or diaphragm may however be
entirely dispensed with or when it is desired to let the combustible gas enter the
combustion chamber in the form of a single jet the said tube or diaphragm may be
replaced by a plate having an opening at its centre for that purpose. These admission
devices afford in every case, material protection to the admission valve against the
radiating heat, and according to the size and number of the openings, also against the
initial pressure of the explosion.
In lieu of the admission valve above described a cock, or a slide valve may be
employed which may for instance be arranged laterally on the outside of the cylinder
and communicating by means of a suitable port or passage with the interior thereof.
The ignition of the combustible gas is effected by a platinum wire rendered incan-
descent by means of an electric current, and which may be of various shapes and be
variously arranged relatively to the admission opening.
When the ignition is effected by an electric spark the platinum points are arranged
in a convenient position relatively to the admission opening so that the said sparks
may pass from the said wire to the metal of the diaphragm plates or the walls of the
combustion chamber.
For igniting by means of a flame, a slide, valve, or any other arrangement by which
a permanent or intermittent flame can be produced, "may be used. it being only
necessary that the flame shall ignite within reach of the combustible mixture produced,
either at the very commencement of the entrance of combustible gas, or during the
time between the commencement and termination of the entrance thereof.
This holds good also for any other igniting devices to be used. A repetition of
the explosion in the compression chamber, of the combustible gas during its entrance
in the combustion chamber is not to be feared even when the ignition takes place
immediately at the admission opening without any protecting device for a primary
condition of the whole method is that the entering combustible gas or the mixture of
combustible gas is not inflammable by itself.
The point at which the ignition is to take place may be chosen at will. According
to the position of the igniting point relatively to the entrance opening, an ignition
will occur or it will occur more or less rapidly, the initial pressure will be higher or
lower, or more or less after combustion takes place. In general longer distances are
preferable for the combustion of large quantities of combustible gas and shorter
distances for smaller quantities so that by a suitable arrangement of the igniting point
a material influence is obtained over the limits of temperature and pressure of the
combustion within which the motor is to be worked, for example if the motor
be worked mainly by high pressure or mainly by low pressure, with or without after
combustion, or the like.
A material requirement of all the igniting devices however is that they can ignite
at any temperature of the combustion chamber and its walls. Therefore igniting
bodies which during the operation are only kept incandescent by the temperature of
the combustion or by a compression preceding the combustion in the combustion
chamber are excluded as igniting devices in the sense of the new. method, as otherwise
apart from the uncertainty and irregularity of such an ignition.the material advantages
of the process could not be attained of doing work with such small quantities of
combustible gas temperatures and pressures which could not keep the igniting bodies
incandescent after the expansion and the blowing out of the products of combustion,
and moreover of rendering the method of combustion applicable also to motors without
the previous compression of the air of combustion.
The combustion chamber can be provided either with or without water or air
cooling jacket. Moreover the combustion chamber can also be surrounded with
a non-conductor of heat so that its walls can remain incandescent according to the
mode of operation of the engine or motor.
The space between the perforated diaphragm and the admission opening for the
combustible gas to be introduced is to be kept as small as possible. Accordingly if
possible, on the closing part itself or else on the walls of the admission openings

page_text: filling pieces can be arranged in a suitable manner. By reducing this space the
inconvenience is obviated, that, during the period of expansion and explosion of the
burut gases considerable quantities of unburnt gas flow after and burn uneconomically
or too late and that on the other hand burnt gases collect in the said space which
render the ignition uncertain and unequal in the next working stroke.
The present method is also capable of a direct reversion inasmuch as with the same
arrangements, air or a mixture of air, not combustible in itself, can be forced by means
of pressure exerted thereon and with any desired distribution, into the combustion
chamber which contains combustible gas or a mixture of gas that does not burn of
itself, and in which the ignition is effected by means of an ignition device which
is within the reach of the nascent combustible mixture and is in action from the
beginning of the mixing or comes into action during the time between the commence-
ment and termination of the entrance of air.
Finally the method of combustion can be carried out in the same manuer if on the
one hand a combustible gas or a mixture of combustible gas and air which is not
inflammable by itself and on the other hand air or a mixture of air which is not
combustible by itself pass simultaneously but separately into the combustion chamber
of a motor and are ignited during the mixing, either when the entrance begins, or
during the time between the commencement and termination of the entrance.
The method is applicable to motors of the most varying constructions, with or
without compression and the ignition and combustion can occur at any point of the
stroke of the piston, where the mixing of the combustible gas, not inflammable
by itself, with air is performed.
Date this 27th day of Fahrvovv 1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co..
.45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant,

page_text: I, WILHELM VON OECHELILAEUSER, of Dessau, in the Empire of Germany, Engineer,
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 gas engines and is illustrated in the accompanying drawing
the figures of which are hereinafter referred to the said drawing showing by way of
example several modes of carrying out the method of combustion, with suitable
igniting devices.
The devices for admitting air and the combustible gas and for
letting out the products of combustion are not shown as the said devices are optional.
Nor are the mechanisms for controlling the part for admitting the gaseous vapours or
cloudy combustible represented, as these devices too may be different according to the
construction of the engine. The devices for forcing in or admitting the combustible
gras must however all fulfil the one principal condition of effecting the entrance of
the whole of the said combustible gas to be used for one working stroke with sɩfch
rapidity that the said entrance takes place instantaneously with one check as it were,
the combustion space behind the working piston remaining nearly, constant during
the entrance of the combustible gas whatever position or velocity the piston may have
attained at this moment.
Instead of a gradual forcing in or admission and a slow combustion at a varying
volume behind the working piston, a rapid admission and development of heat at
nearly constant volume of the combustion, space is effected with this method.
According to the latter for a working stroke with a duration of about one fifth of
a second the highest pressure can be reached in from one hundredth to one twenty
fifth of a second, that is to say with the samel or greater velocity than in the Otto-
Engine and similar constructions. And meanwhile with the gradual and prolonged
admission of combustible gas in presence of an igniting device and with the gradual
development of heat no higher pressures can be obtained than the pressure, with
which the compressed combustible gas enters the combustion chamber, as otherwise
a prolonged admission of gas would not be possible according to the improved new
method, pressures at nearly constant volume can be reached, which are far higher
than the previous compression of gas that is to say; with-an-over with a pressure of
gas of 35 atmospheres and a previous compression of air of 3 atmospheres by
combustion after the new method. pressures can be attained up to 10 atmospheres
and more meanwhile with a gradual admission and slow development of heat no
higher pressures could be reached behind the working piston than 3 up to 5 atmospheres
otherwise a prolonged admission with 35 atmospheres overpressure of gas after the
former method would not be have been possible,

page_text: Therefore in practice the improved method, in whatever way constructed, is easily
recognised, first by the admission of gas within reach of an igniting device being
finished before the highest pressure of combustion is developed. Secondly by the
possibility of the pressure of combustion becoming higher than the previous com-
pression of the air and gas.
In the drawing A represents the engine cylinder, D the cylinder cover, K the piston,
V the combustion space, L the air admission opening and P the outlet opening for
the products of combustion.
In carrying my invention into practice the combustible gas under pressure is intro-
duced through an admission valve o figures 1 to 5 arranged when closed to bear upon
a suitable seating in the cylinder cover D and which opens at the proper moment to
allow a certain quantity of the said gas to pass rapidly as before described into the
combustion chamber from a supply pipe or chamber R. The combustible gas has for
this purpose been previously compressed by means of a pump.
For the proper distribution of the combustible gas I sometimes arrange the admission
opening in the form of a perforated diaphragm S Figure 1, or in the form of a
tube S Figures 4, 6 and 6 provided with perforations. This perforated tube or
diaphragm may however be entirely dispensed with as in Figure 3 or when it is
desired to let the combustible gas enter the combustion chamber V in the form of a
single jet the said tube or diaphragm may be replaced by a plate S2 Figure 5 having
an opening at its centre for that purpose. These admission devices S, S and pipe S¹
afford in every case, material protection to the admission valve against the radiating
heat, and according to the size and number of the openings, also against the initial
pressure of the explosion.
In lieu of the admission valve above described a cock, or slide valve may be
employed which may for instance be arranged laterally on the outside of the
cylinder and communicating by means of a suitable port or passage with the interior
thereof.
The ignition of the combustible gas is effected according to Figures 1 and 2
by a platinum wire rendered incandescent by means of an electric current, and
which may be of various shapes and be variously arranged relatively to the admission
opening.
The wire 1. 1. shown in Figure 1 is for instance placed at a very slight distance
from the perforated diaphragm S and approximately parallel with the same, whereas
the wire 2, is placed somewhat further away from S. and the wire 3, 3, is bent or
made shape. The wire 4, 4 Figure 2 surrounds the hemispherical diaphragm S
upon half its periphery, and is placed parallel with the cylinder bottom. The wire 5, 5
Figure 2 is approximately parallel with the diaphragm S.
Only one of these wires need of course be used, several wires of similar or dis-
similar shape and arrangement can however be employed.
Figures 3 to 6 and 6* show an electric spark igniting device and the numbers 6, 10,
13, 15, give various examples of the arrangement of the platinum points relatively
to the admission opening. In the same figures the numbers 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 14
indicate in dotted lines other arrangements of these platinum points from which the
sparks may pass from the said platinum points to the metal of the diaphragm plates or
the walls of the combustion chamber.
A repetition of the explosion of the combustible gas backwards in the compression
chamber R of the gas pump during the entrance of the gas in the combustion chamber
of the motor is not to be feared even when the ignition takes place immediately at
the admission opening without any protecting device as represented at 6 Figure »
for a primary condition of the whole method is that the entering combustible gas
or the mixture of combustible gas is not inflammable by itself.
The point at which the ignition is to take place may be chosen at will. In
general longer distances are preferable for the combustion of large quantities of
combustible gas, and shorter distances for smaller quantities so that by a suitable

page_text: arrangement of the igniting point a material influence is obtained over the limits
of temperature and pressure of the combustion within which the motor is to be
worked, for example if the motor be worked mainly by high pressure or mainly
by low pressure.
A material requirement of all the igniting devices however is that they work
continuously without interruption, inside-of-the-combustion-chamber, within-rench
of the entering gas-and-ean ignite ignite within reach of the momentarily entering gas
and at any temperature of the combustion chamber and its walls. Therefore igniting
devices with flames and slides are excluded us allowing the ignition only at one
moment and position-of-the-working stroke and not giving certainty enough--that
this moment is coincident with-the--moment of the admission-of-gus. Likewise
igniting-bodies, which can be applied which are working continuously without inter-
ruption inside of the combustion chamber meanwhile such igniting bodies are excluded
which during the operation are only kept incandescent by the temperature of the
combustion or by a compression preceding the combustion in the combustion chamber
are-also-excluded as igniting devices in the sense of the new method; as otherwise
apart from the uncertainty and irregularity of such an ignition the material advantages
of the process could not be attained of doing work with such small quantities of
combustible mixtures, temperatures and pressures which could not keep the igniting
bodies incandescent after the expansion and after the blowing out of the products of
combustion, and moreover of rendering the method of combustion applicable also to
motors without the previous compression of the air.
The combustion chamber can be provided either with or without means for cooling
by water or air. Figures 3, 4 6 and 6 show for instance a cylinder that is provided
with the cooling jacket M.
Moreover the combustion chamber can also be surrounded with a non-conductor of
heat so that its walls can remain incandescent according to the mode of operation
of the engine or motor.
The space between the perforated diaphragm and the admission opening for the
combustible gas to be introduced is to be kept as small as possible. Accordingly, if
possible on the closing part itself or else on the walls of the admission openings, filling
pieces Figures 1 and 2 can be arranged in a suitable manner. By reducing this
space the inconvenience is obviated, that, during the period of expansion and expulsion
of the burut gases considerable quantities of unburnt gas flow after and burn
uneconomically or too late, and that on the other hand burit gases collect in the said
space, which render the ignition uncertain and unequal in the next working stroke.
The method is applicable to motors of the most varying constructions, to motors withi
or without compression of the air before ignition and the ignition and combustion can
occur at any point of the stroke of the piston, where the conditions of the method are
fulfilled.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
clainu is
The process of rapidly burning gaseous vapourous or cloudy combustibles with air
within the combustion chamber of a motor, and directly driving its piston by the
pressure rapidly produced in this combustion, characterized by the fact that the follow-
ing conditions are fulfilled together: First that the combustion is effected in the
cylinder itself or in a combustion space set in immediate and uninterrupted connection
with the cylinder, the atmosphere being excluded during the combustion. Second,
that the combustible gas designed for the combustion or the combustible mixture does
not contain so much air or other gases or vapours admixed that the combustible or its
mixture can be ignited by itself before its entrance to the working space, whilst the air,
or the mixture of air, serving for the ignition, complete combustion, and reception of heat,
does not contain so much gas or vapours before its entrance into the cylinder or
combustion space as will render the mixture of air ignitible by itself without
further combustible. Third, that the charge of the cylinder or combustion space with

page_text: the air and combustible above mentioned for every stroke is effected afresh in such
a manner that every time the air serving for the ignition, complete combustion,
and reception of heat, is introduced first and then the combustible, namely the
latter under pressure and with such rapidity that the enforcement of the whole
mass of combustible designed for one working stroke takes place momentarily with
almost a constant capacity of the space behind the working piston at every desired
position and velocity of the latter, so that the admission is finished before the highest
pressure of combustion is reached. Fourth, that the ignition is effected by means of a
special igniting device which is working continuously inside of the combustion
chamber, within reach of the entering combustible ignites within reach of the
momentarily entering combustible and is capable of igniting at any the charge whatever
may be the temperature of or within the combustion space chamber.
Dated this fith day of November 1888.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: WILHELM VON OECHELHAEUSER, of Dessau, in the Empire of Germany,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
In the gas engines or motors heretofore known in which the work accumulated in
the gaseous fuel is directly utilized the combustion is effected by igniting a mixture
of combustible gas and air previously obtained in the cylinder or a chamber directly
connected with the same.
The inflammability of the final mixture here depends upon the proportion of the
combustible gas to that of oxygen thus, for instance, for ordinary illuminating gas
having a lighting power of about sixteen candles, only those mixtures of gas and
atmospheric air-apart from indifferent gases-are inflammable which contain about
one volume of gas and from four to fourteen volumes of air, so that for example a
mixture which contains one volume of gas and only three volumes of air is just as
little inflammable as one that is composed of one volume of gas and fifteen volumes of
air. As, moreover,
the ignition of the charge in the cylinder must be effected with a
certain amount of rapidity, and the mixtures approximating the said limits burn too
slowly, the mixing proportions practically adapted for gas engines or motors are still
less than those above given..
In the above mentioned example for illuminating gas of a lighting power equal to
sixteen candles the mixtures are between one volume of gas and about five to twelve
volumes of air according to a pressure of from four to seven atmospheres, without any
previous compression of the mixture. For this reason it has hitherto always been
necessary to keep within these limits in the mixtures of combustible gases and air
used in gas engines or motors; for the same reason comparatively high pressures and
high temperatures are required for working, and the motion of the engines can be
regulated only within narrow limits.
According to the present method any desired quantity of gaseous fuel may be
rapidly ignited and burnt within a separate room, i.e. the combustion chamber of a
gas engine or motor as far as there is a sufficiency of air.

page_text: For this purpose the method heretofore employed of igniting the mixture of
combustible gas and air only after the whole charge of fuel has been admitted into the
combustion chamber has been entirely abandoned. The combustible gas is ignited
during the mechanically effected mixing of the same with air, for example during the
introduction of combustible gas into the chamber which has been previously filled with
air or with a mixture of air and indifferent gases. The said ignition is effected by
means of an igniting device which is in action from the commencement of the
entrance of the combustible gas, or which comes into action while the mixing is
taking place between the commencement and the termination of the entrance of
the gas.
In this manner it is possible to ignite and to burn comparatively small quantities of
combustible gas sooner than, according to the method heretofore adopted, they would
be so far rarefied by spreading in the combustion chamber that they would become
uninflammable that is to say before, for instance, the mixture could contain for one
volume of illuminating gas more than fourteen volumes of air; and also comparatively
large quantities of combustible gas can be caused to ignite before the said combustible
gas has so super saturated the air that the mixture becomes uninflammable that is to
say before it would for example contain, for one volume of illuminating gas, less than
four volumes of air.
The trials made with this method of combustion have for instance demonstrated that
quantities of combustible gas which with the quantity of air available for the
combustion would constitute a final mixture of one volume of illuminating gas and a
hundred volumes of air, or a final mixture of 1 volume of gas and 1.1 volume of air
can still be safely and rapidly ignited and burnt so far as there is sufficient air. In
this manner final pressures of from 0.1 atmosphere to 14 atmospheres can be rapidly
attained without previous compression of the air of combustion.
In order that the combustion and the production of pressure shall take place rapidly,
that is to say, for example in from one-hundredth to one-twenty fifth of a second for a
working stroke with a duration of about one fifth of a second-corresponding to one
hundred and fifty revolutions in a minute, the combustible gas is preferably introduced
with overpressure. Moreover, in order that the ignition shall be effected without fail
and without danger of its being continued hackwards to the compression chamber for
the combustible gas against which, according to recent investigations, even the finest
sieves or gauze do not afford protection the entering combustible must not in any case
be ignitible or have admixed so much air or other gases that it would be inflammable
before its entrance.
The ignition in the cylinder of the motor or in the combustion chamber set in
communication therewith is effected by a special igniting device arranged within the
reach of the entering combustible gas and which causes the combustion by means of
incandescent bodies or electric sparks or by flames. As the mixture of air contained
in the combustion chamber before the admission of the combustible gas is not to be
ignitible or combustible, the igniting device can be permanently active, (that is to
say) the incandescent body can glow continually, the sparks can leap over uninter-
ruptedly or the flame can always burn. However, the igniting device may if desired
operate intermittently but it must then be in action at the commencement of the
entrance of the combustible gas, or be set in action during the time between the
beginning and the termination of the entrance thereof.
In carrying my invention into practice the combustible gas under pressure is
introduced through an admission valve arranged when closed to bear upon a suitable
seating in the cylinder cover and which opens at the proper moment to allow a certain
quantity of the said gas to pass rapidly into the combustion chamber from a supply
pipe or chamber. The combustible gas has for this purpose been previously com-
pressed by means of a pump. An over pressure of from about 0.5 of an atmosphere
that is to say a pressure by one half greater than the pressure of the air in the
cylinder is, in order to allow the gas to pass rapidly enough into the air contained in
the combustion chamber, and to be there ignited with certainty and regularity.
For the proper distribution of the combustible gas I sometimes arrange the

page_text: admission opening in the form of a perforated diaphragm or in the form of a tube
provided with perforations. This perforated tube or diaphragm may however be
entirely dispensed with or when it is desired to let the combustible gas enter the
combustion chamber in the form of a single jet the said tube or diaphragm may be
replaced by a plate having an opening at its centre for that purpose. These admission
devices afford in every case, material protection to the admission valve against the
radiating heat, and according to the size and number of the openings, also against the
initial pressure of the explosion.
In lieu of the admission valve above described a cock, or a slide valve may be
employed which may for instance be arranged laterally on the outside of the cylinder
and communicating by means of a suitable port or passage with the interior thereof.
The ignition of the combustible gas is effected by a platinum wire rendered incan-
descent by means of an electric current, and which may be of various shapes and be
variously arranged relatively to the admission opening.
When the ignition is effected by an electric spark the platinum points are arranged
in a convenient position relatively to the admission opening so that the said sparks
may pass from the said wire to the metal of the diaphragm plates or the walls of the
combustion chamber.
For igniting by means of a flame, a slide, valve, or any other arrangement by which
a permanent or intermittent flame can be produced, may be used, it being only
necessary that the flame shall ignite within reach of the combustible mixture produced,
either at the very commencement of the entrance of combustible gas, or during the
time between the commencement and termination of the entrance thereof.
This holds good also for any other igniting devices to be used. A repetition of
the explosion in the compression chamber, of the combustible gas during its entrance
in the combustion chamber is not to be feared even when the ignition takes place
immediately at the admission opening without any protecting device for a primary
condition of the whole method is that the entering combustible gas or the mixture of
combustible gas is not inflammable by itself.
The point at which the ignition is to take place may be chosen at will. According
to the position of the igniting point relatively to the entrance opening, an ignition
will occur or it will occur more or less rapidly, the initial pressure will be higher or
lower, or more or less after combustion takes place. In general longer distances are
preferable for the combustion of large quantities of combustible gas and shorter
distances for smaller quantities so that by a suitable arrangement of the igniting point
a material influence is obtained over the limits of temperature and pressure of the
combustion within which the motor is to be worked, for example if the motor
be worked mainly by high pressure or mainly by low pressure, with or without after
combustion, or the like.
A material requirement of all the igniting dovices however is that they can ignite
at any temperature of the combustion chamber and its walls. Therefore igniting
bodies which during the operation are only kept incandescent by the temperature of
the combustion or by a compression proceding the combustion in the combustion
chamber are excluded as igniting devices in the sense of the new method, as otherwise
apart from the uncertainty and irregularity of such an ignition, the material advantages
of the process could not be attained of doing work with such small quantities of
combustible gas temperatures and pressures which could not keep the igniting bodies
incandescent after the expansion and the blowing out of the products of combustion,
and moreover of rendering the method of combustion applicable also to motors without
the previous compression of the air of combustion.
The combustion chamber can be provided either with or without water or air
cooling jacket. Moreover the combustion chamber can also be surrounded with
a non-conductor of heat so that its walls can remain incandescent according to the
mode of operation of the engine or motor.
The space between the perforated diaphragin and the admission opening for the
combustible gas to be introduced is to be kept as small as possible. Accordingly if
possible, on the closing part itself or else on the walls of the admission openings

page_text: filling pieces can be arranged in a suitable manner. By reducing this space the
inconvenience is obviated, that, during the period of expansion and explosion of the
burnt gases considerable quantities of unburnt gas flow after and burn uneconomically
or too late and that on the other hand burnt gases collect in the said space which
render the ignition uncertain and unequal in the next working stroke.
The present method is also capable of a direct reversion inasmuch as with the same
arrangements, air or a mixture of air, not combustible in itself, can be forced by means
of pressure exerted thereon and with any desired distribution, into the combustion
chamber which contains combustible gas or a mixture of gas that does not burn of
itself, and in which the ignition is effected by means of an ignition device which
is within the reach of the nascent combustible mixture and is in action from the
beginning of the mixing or comes into action during the time between the commence-
ment and the termination of the entrance of air.
Finally the method of combustion can be carried out in the same manner if on the
one hand a combustible gas or a mixture of combustible gas and air which is not
inflammable by itself and on the other hand air or a mixture of air which is not
combustible by itself pass simultaneously but separately into the combustion chamber
of a motor and are ignited during the mixing, either when the entrance begins, or
during the time between the commencement and termination of the entrance.
The method is applicable to motors of the most varying constructions, with or
without compression and the ignition and combustion can occur at any point of the
stroke of the piston, where the mixing of the combustible gas, not inflammable
by itself, with air is performed.
Date: 07h
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: I, WILHELM VON OECHELHAEUSER, of Dessau, in the Empire of Germany, Engineer,
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 gas engines and is illustrated in the accompanying drawing
the figures of which are hereinafter referred to the said drawing showing by way of
example several modes of carrying out the method of combustion, with suitable
igniting devices. The devices for admitting air and the combustible gas and for
letting out the products of combustion are not shown as the said devices are optional.
Nor are the mechanisms for controlling the part for admitting the gaseous vapours or
cloudy combustible represented, as these devices too may be different according to the
construction of the engine. The devices for forcing in or admitting the combustible
gas must however all fulfil the one principal condition of effecting the entrance of
the whole of the said combustible gas to be used for one working stroke with such
rapidity that the said entrance takes place instantaneously with one check as it were,
the combustion space behind the working piston remaining nearly constant during
the entrance of the combustible gas whatever position or velocity the piston may have
attained at this moment.
Instead of a gradual forcing in or admission and a slow combustion at a varying
volume behind the working piston, a rapid admission and development of heat at
nearly constant volume of the combustion space is effected with this method.
According to the latter for a working stroke with a duration of about one fifth of
a second the highest pressure can be reached in from one hundredth to one twenty
fifth of a second, that is to say with the same or greater velocity than in the Otto-
Engine and similar constructions. And meanwhile with the gradual and prolonged
admission of combustible gas and with the gradual development of heat no higher
pressures can be obtained than the pressure, with which the compressed combustible
gas enters the combustion chamber, as otherwise a prolonged admission of gas would
not be possible according to the improved method, pressures at nearly constant volum
can be reached, which are far higher than the previous compression of gas that is to
say; with an over pressure of gas of 3 atmospheres by combustion after the new
method, pressures can be attained up to 10 atmospheres and more meanwhile with a
gradual admission and slow development of heat no higher pressures could be reached
behind the working piston than 3 atmospheres otherwise a prolonged admission with
3 atmospheres overpressure would not be possible.
Therefore in practice the improved method, in whatever way constructed, is easily
recognised, first by the admission of gas being finished before the highest pressure of

page_text: combustion is developed. Secondly by the possibility of the pressure of combustion
becoming higher than the previous compression of the gas.
In the drawing A represents the engine cylinder, D the cylinder cover, K the piston,
V the combustion space, L the air admission opening and P the outlet opening for
the products of combustion.
In carrying my invention into practice the combustible gas under pressure is intro-
duced through an admission valve o figures 1 to 5 arranged when closed to hear upon
a suitable seating in the cylinder cover D and which opens at the proper moment to
allow a certain quantity of the said gas to pass rapidly as before described into the
combustion chamber from a supply pipe or chamber R. The combustible gas has for
this purpose been previously compressed by means of a pump.
For the proper distribution of the combustible gas 1 sometimes arrange the admission
opening in the form of a perforated diaphragm S Figure 1, or in the form of a
tube S Figures 4, 6 and 6° provided with perforations. This perforated tube or
diaphragm may however be entirely dispensed with as in Figure 3 or when it is
desired to let the combustible gas enter the combustion chamber V in the form of a
single jet the said tube or diaphragm may be replaced by a plate S Figure 5 having
an opening at its centre for that purpose. These admission devices S, S and pipe Si
afford in every case, material protection to the admission valve against the radiating
heat, and according to the size and number of the openings, also against the initial
pressure of the explosion.
In lieu of the admission valve above described a cock, or slide, valve may be
employed which may for instance be arranged laterally on the outside of the
cylinder and communicating by means of a suitable port or passage with the interior
thereof.
The ignition of the combustible gas is effected according to Figures 1 and 2
by a platinum wire rendered incandescent by means of an electric current, and
which may be of various shapes and be variously arranged relatively to the admission
opening.
The wire 1, 1, shown in Figure 1 is for instance placed at a very slight distance
from the perforated diaphragm S and approximately parallel with the same, whereas
the wire 2, 2 is placed somewhat further away from S, and the wire 3, 3, is bent or
made shape. The wire 4, 4 Figure 2 surrounds the hemispherical diaphragm S
upon half its periphery, and is placed parallel with the cylinder bottom. The wire 5, 5
Figure 2 is approximately parallel with the diaphragm S.
Only one of these wires need of course be used, several wires of similar or dis-
similar shape and arrangement can however be employed.
Figures 3 to 6 and 6 show an electric spark igniting device and the numbers 6, 10,
13, 15 give various examples of the arrangement of the platinum points relatively
to the admission opening. In the same figures the numbers 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 14
indicate in dotted lines other arrangements of these platinum points from which the
sparks may pass from the said platinum points to the metal of the diaphragm plates or
the walls of the combustion chamber.
A repetition of the explosion of the combustible gas backwards in the compression
chamber R of the gas pump during the entrance of the gas in the combustion chamber
of the motor is not to be feared even when the ignition takes place immediately at
the admission opening without any protecting device as represented at 6 Figure 3
for a primary condition of the whole method is that the entering combustible gas
or the mixture of combustible gas is not inflammable by itself.
The point at which the ignition is to take place may be chosen at will. In
general longer distances are preferable for the combustion of large quantities of
combustible gas, and shorter distances for smaller quantities so that by a suitable
arrangement of the igniting point a material influence is obtained over the limits
of temperature and pressure of the combustion within which the motor is to be
worked, for example if the motor be worked mainly by high pressure or mainly
by low pressure.

page_text: A material requirement of all the igniting devices however is that they work
continuously without interruption, inside of the combustion chamber, within reach
of the entering gas and can ignite at any temperature of the combustion chamber
and its walls. Therefore igniting devices with flames and slides are excluded as
allowing the ignition only at one moment and position of the working stroke and
not giving certainty enough that this moment is coincident with the moment of
the admission of gas. Likewise igniting bodies, which during the operation are
only kept incandescent by the temperature of the combustion or by a compression
preceding the combustion in the combustion chamber are also excluded as igniting
devices in the sense of the new method, as otherwise apart from the uncertainty
and irregularity of such an ignition the material advantages of the process could
not be attained of doing work with such small quantities of combustible mixtures,
temperatures and pressures which could not keep the igniting bodies incandescent
after the expansion and after the blowing out of the products of combustion, and
moreover of rendering the method of combustion applicable also to motors without
the previous compression of the air.
The combustion chamber can be provided either with or without means for cooling
by water or air. Figures 3, 46 and 6" show for instance a cylinder that is provided
with the cooling jacket M.
Moreover the combustion chamber can also be surrounded with a non-conductor of
heat so that its walls can remain incandescent according to the mode of operation
of the engine or motor.
The space between the perforated diaphragm and the admission opening for the
combustible gas to be introduced is to be kept as small as possible. Accordingly, if
possible, on the closing part itself or else on the walls of the admission openings, filling
pieces e Figures 1 and 2 can be arranged in a suitable manner. By reducing this
space the inconvenience is obviated, that, during the period of expansion and expulsion
of the burnt gases considerable quantities of unburnt gas flow after and burn
uneconomically or too late, and that on the other hand burnt gases collect in the said
space, which render the ignition uncertain and unequal in the next working stroke.
The method is applicable to motors of the most varying constructions, to motors with
or without compression of the air before ignition and the ignition and combustion can
occur at any point of the stroke of the piston, where the conditions of the method are
fulfilled.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
The process of rapidly burning gaseous vapourous or cloudy combustibles with air
within the combustion chamber of a motor, and directly driving its piston by the
pressure rapidly produced in this combustion, characterized by the fact that the follow-
ing conditions are fulfilled together: First that the combustion is effected in the
cylinder itself or in a combustion space set in immediate and uninterrupted connection
with the cylinder, the atmosphere being excluded during the combustion. Second,
that the combustible gas designed for the combustion or the combustible mixture does
not contain so much air or other gases or vapours admixed that the combustible or its
mixture can be ignited by itself before its entrance to the working space, whilst the air,
or the mixture of air, serving for the ignition, complete combustion, and reception of heat,
does not contain so much gas or vapours before its entrance into the cylinder or
combustion space as will render the mixture of air ignitible by itself without
further combustible. Third, that the charge of the cylinder or combustion space with
the air and combustible above mentioned for every stroke is effected afresh in such
a manner that every time the air serving for the ignition, complete combustion,
and reception of heat, is introduced first and then the combustible, namely the
latter under pressure and with such rapidity that the enforcement of the whole
mass of combustible designed for one working stroke takes place momentarily with

page_text: almost a constant capacity of the space behind the working piston at every desired
position and velocity of the latter, so that the admission is finished before the highest
pressure of combustion is reached. Fourth, that the ignition is effected by means of a
special igniting device which is working continuously inside of the combustion chamber,
within reach of the entering combustible and is capable of igniting at any temperature
of the combustion space.