Improvements in the Lighting Arrangements of Gas, Petroleum, and analogous Motive Power Engines
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 18th July, 1899-Accepted, 28th Oct., 1899
Improvements in the Lighting Arrangements of Gas, Petroleum, and
analogous Motive Power Engines,
We, VICTOR LELANDAIS, Engineer, and PAUL NAUHARDT, Merchant, both of
18, Boulevard Magenta, Paris, France, do hereby declare the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement:
-
In order to ignite the explosive mixture in gas, petroleum and other analogous
engines, by means of one or more electric spark or sparks, primary or secondary
batteries, or a small dynamo driven by the aid of suitable gear by the engine
have been used.
The defects of primary and secondary batteries are well known, and although
these defects may be remedied in fixed motors, they are particularly objection-
able in motor cars and the like.
As to the use of dynamos, they have the advantage of providing a more regular
ignition, but they consume much of the power of the engine, and although this
is not a matter of importance as regards large and fixed engines, the constant
consumption of power from smaller engines, such as those of auto-cars, auto-
tricycles and the like, is a very serious item. Moreover dynamos as well as elec-
tric batteries, such as dry batteries and accumulators, require a considerable
amount of space, and the weight is increased thereby, while at the same time
they have to be protected from outside influences. Furthermore, there is another
point worthy of consideration, and that is the fact that dynamos produce constant
currents, and hence in order to generate electric sparks at the desired moment,
a commutator or other apparatus for the production of induction or auxiliary
current has to be applied.
This invention has for its object to remedy all the defects above set forth, by
mounting on the motor shaft a kind of dynamo which is enclosed within the fly
wheel, and is thus protected from all outward influences, while at the same time
producing intermittent currents whenever these are required for the purpose of
igniting the explosive mixture. Thus the following advantages are secured:
1. Only a very small amount of power is required as the rotating part of the
dynamo increases the weight of the hollow fly wheel, there is no friction due
to belt gearing, a very small amount of power being required for the production
of the current during a very short time and following each revolution.
2. A safe ignition by means of a single conductor or wire, and a direct current
as well as:-
3. Simplicity of the installation which renders all gearing, current breaking
devices, induction. bobbins, commutators, multiplicity of currents and the like
entirely superfluous.
And in order that our said invention may be particularly, described and ascer-
tained, reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawings, in which similar
letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, and which drawings illustrate
the method of carrying the invention into practical effect as applied to a peroleum
engine for auto-cars.

page_text: Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through the fly wheel and the enclosed dynamo
on the line BB of Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line AA of Fig. 1.
A circular plate of aluminium d, fixed in any suitable manner to the engine
frame c, carries, in close proximity to its edge, the electro-magnets a a¹, the pole
pieces 66 of which are made of soft iron, and are arranged opposite the same.
The fly wheel shaft f of the engine passes through the plate d and carries two
bobbins cc fitted one opposite the other. The current produced is taken up by
the metal ring h, secured to and insulated from the plate d, and upon which bear
the brushes gg fixed to the bobbins. This metal ring his electrically connected
with a binding screw i whence a conductor or wire ; leads to the igniting device
arranged inside the cylinder.
The igniting device may be of the ordinary kind that is to say, it may consist
of two platinum points insulated one from the other, and in which the electric
spark scintillate across; or I may prefer to use a more advantageous device, that
is to say, a contact piece consisting of a fixed and a moveable part, the latter
being actuated by the motor with the aid of a cam, or the like, in such a manner
that at the moment, when the ignition of the explosive mixture should take
place, the contact between the two parts is broken and an electric spark is formed.
One of the parts of this contact piece, or one of the platinum points in the former
case is insulated from the periphery of the cylinder, while the other is electri-
cally connected to the cylinder, so that the current may return through the
metallic parts of the engine.
The fly wheel has the shape of a cylindrical shell, fixed by means of its hub
or boss upon the shaft f, and its edge bearing against the edge of the plate d in
such a manner that the whole of the dynamo is enclosed and protected from out-
ward injurious influences, without impeding the fly wheel in its rotation, and
without the production of any frictional resistance.
Compared to all contrivances hitherto proposed, the dynamo constructed accord-
ing to this invention consumed so little power that at starting two or three turns
imparted by hand to the fly wheel suffice to effect the ignition, which has not
hitherto been realized in practice.
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: -
An electric igniting device for gas, petroleum and other similar engines charac-
terised by the production of the electric current required for generating electric
sparks inside the cylinder by means of a dynamo which is entirely enclosed in
the cylindrical fly wheel, and by the generation of a direct igniting intermittent
current which is produced only at the required moment through the agency of a
plate fixed to the engine frame carrying two annular electro-magnets a a¹ in
front of which are arranged the armatures bb, two bobbins ce being placed
opposite one another mounted on the fly wheel shaft, so that the generation of
an electric current and the consumption of power therefor may be reduced to the
shortest possible in time and amount.
Dated 10th July J.
VICTOR LELANDAIS,
PAUL NAUHARDT,
By George Downing & Sons,
Chartered Patent Agents, 8, Quality Court, London, W.C.