Patent ID: 8789499

Claim:
An internal combustion engine comprising: at least one cylinder comprising a proximal end and a distal end, each cylinder containing a first piston and a second piston arranged in opposite directions within the cylinder and on opposite sides of the center of the cylinder, and each cylinder comprising a wall defining an interior volume, wherein the first piston and the second piston are disposed within the cylinder such that the first piston is delayed in its movement back and forth through the cylinder as compared to the second piston, wherein each cylinder comprises at least one intake port on the proximal half of the cylinder and at least one exhaust port on the distal half of the cylinder, each port disposed as openings in the cylinder wall, wherein each of the pistons comprises two sets of rings, each of the sets of rings comprising at least one compression ring, wherein the two sets of rings are disposed on the pistons such that, when a piston is at its upper dead center, the two sets of rings in conjunction with the cylinder wall define a chamber that encompasses the intake or exhaust port(s), thus sealing and separating the port(s) from the combustion chamber and crankcase, wherein a surface of the piston heads of the first and second pistons create in combination with the cylinder wall a combustion chamber for ignition and burning of fuel; at least two crankshafts, a first crankshaft connected to the first piston at the proximal end of the cylinder, and a second crankshaft connected to the second piston at the distal end of the cylinder, wherein the delay of the first piston as compared to the second piston results from an offset of the angle of one crankshaft as compared to the other, the angle being defined by an angle of deflection from a line parallel to the long axis of the cylinder and being pre-set to a desired, unvarying, number of degrees; at least one device for causing ignition of fuel in the combustion chamber, the device being disposed on and through the cylinder wall at or near the upper dead center of travel within the cylinder for the first piston; and wherein each of the crankshafts completes a single revolution about its own axis per fuel ignition event.