Patent ID: 7013633

Claim:
An external combustion engine, comprising: an engine block having one or more cylinders, and a corresponding number of pistons arranged for reciprocating movement inside the cylinders; an engine crankshaft connected to each piston and supported for rotation about an axis of the crankshaft in response to a work stroke of each piston; a distributor housing mounted on the engine block, wherein the housing includes a base having one or more first ports that open into corresponding ones of the cylinders; a hollow cylindrical distributor having an axis and mounted in the distributor housing for rotational movement about said axis, one or more second ports are formed in the circumference of the distributor so that each second port registers with a corresponding first port in the base of the distributor housing at a determined angular position of the distributor; a combustor housing having a fuel inlet, a first air inlet, and a first gas outlet and forming a combustion chamber, wherein the combustor housing is joined to the distributor housing so that the combustion chamber opens into the interior of the distributor; a turbine plant having a gas inlet arranged in communication with the first gas outlet on the combustor housing, and an associated-output shaft; a compressor arranged to be driven by the output shaft of the turbine and having an air outlet coupled to the first air inlet on the combustor housing, for supplying air for fuel combustion in the combustion chamber; an igniter arranged to initiate combustion of air and fuel in the combustion chamber; and a timing mechanism constructed and arranged between the engine crankshaft and the distributor so that when the crankshaft is approximately at a position where a piston starts a work stroke in an associated cylinder, a second port in the distributor starts to coincide with a first port in the base of the distributor housing which opens into the cylinder, and hot gas charges under pressure from inside the distributor, through the coincident ports, and into the cylinder to power the work stroke of the piston.