Patent ID: 7730873

Claim:
A throttle assembly in an engine comprising: at least one cylinder; a piston movably captivated within said cylinder and structured and disposed for sealed, reciprocating movement within said cylinder; a crankshaft; a crank disk linked to said crankshaft and rotatable to drivingly rotate said crankshaft; a connecting rod pivotally connected between said piston and said crank disk; an injector valve operable between a closed position and an open position to release a pressurized charge of steam into said cylinder to move said piston; a pushrod having a first end and a second end; a spring biased rocker arm operatively engaged with said pushrod and said injector valve; a cam ring movably carried on said crankshaft and including an outer circumferential face; a lobe bulging outwardly from said cam ring about a portion of said outer circumferential face of said cam ring and said lobe having a varying lobe profile; a follower operatively contacting said cam ring and said first end of said pushrod, said follower being structured and disposed to move relative to a pivot axis in response to contact with said lobe on said cam ring and to urge said pushrod against said injector valve to momentarily open said injector valve; said cam ring being structured and disposed to move axially along said crankshaft in response to changes in engine speed for moving said varying lobe profile relative to said follower in order to control duration of momentary opening of said injector valve and thereby duration of said release of the pressurized charge of steam into said cylinder; said cam ring being further structured and disposed to turn through a range of rotational movement relative to said crankshaft for changing the timing of said momentary opening of said injector valve and thereby changing the timing of said release of the pressurized charge of steam into said cylinder; a throttle control ring linked to said pushrod with said pushrod extending through said throttle control ring and said throttle control ring being rotatable to move the contact position of said first end of said pushrod against said follower relative to said pivot axis of said follower in order to control movement of said pushrod against said injector valve and thereby controlling an amount that said injector valve is momentarily opened and the amount of the pressurized charge of steam that is released into said cylinder; and a lever operatively linked to said throttle control ring for controlling rotatable movement of said throttle control ring, and said lever being operatively moveable to control the amount that said injector valve is momentarily opened, and thereby controlling speed of movement of said piston, said connecting rod and rotational speed of said crankshaft.