Patent ID: 7303380

Claim:
A rotary engine, comprising: a housing having spaced apart sidewalls and a peripheral wall, together forming a rotor chamber; a rotor in said rotor chamber, mounted for rotation about an axis that extends perpendicular to the sidewalls, said rotor having a periphery that includes at least one lobe, said lobe having an apex and apex seal slot in the apex; a corner seal socket in the rotor at each end of the apex seal slot; a corner seal in each corner seal socket, each corner seal having a generally cylindrical body that includes inner and outer sides and a generally cylindrical periphery; an apex seal slot formed in each corner seal, each apex seal slot having an arcuate inner end portion and sides that extend radially outwardly from the arcuate inner end portion to an outer end slot opening; an apex seal in the apex seal slot in the lobe of the rotor, said apex seal having opposite end portions that extend into the apex seal slots in the corner seals; wherein the generally cylindrical body has a geometrical center axis, and the arcuate inner end portions of the apex seal slot in the corner seal has a geometrical axis that is spaced from and parallel to the geometrical axis of the generally cylindrical body of the corner seal; wherein a distance between the geometrical axis of the generally cylindrical body of the corner seal and the geometrical axis of the arcuate inner end portion of the apex seal slot is larger than the radius of the arcuate inner end portion of the apex seal slot in the corner seal; and each corner seal having an outer face that includes a center recess surrounded by a sealing surface that contacts a sidewall of the housing at its end of the rotor, said sealing surface having a radial dimension that is less than the radial dimension of the corner seal.