Patent ID: 6895922

Claim:
A rotary engine, comprising: a housing including a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion includes an upper ring gear and the second portion includes a lower ring gear, and wherein the first and second portions provide a toroidal passageway having an interior opening when joined; a shaft centrally positioned through a center of the upper and lower ring gears; a plurality of main pistons positioned within the toroidal passageway, wherein each of the main pistons includes an elongated main piston key that extends from an inner face of the main piston; a plurality of main piston rods each including an upper and lower notch, wherein each of the main pistons are coupled to the shaft by one of the main piston rods; a plurality of following pistons positioned within the toroidal passageway and fixed with respect to each other, wherein each of the following pistons is fixed with respect to the other following pistons and each of the following pistons includes an upper and lower piston finger that extend from an inner face of the following piston and which are received in the upper and lower notches, respectively, of an associated one of the main pistons, and wherein one of the following pistons is positioned between each of the main pistons and works in conjunction with one of the main pistons; a plurality of following piston rods each including a keyway that receives the main piston key of an associated one of the main pistons, wherein each of the following pistons are movably mounted to the shaft by one of the following piston rods, and wherein the main piston key and the following piston fingers provide a seal and in conjunction with a portion of the first and second portions of the housing provide a combustion chamber for each associated piston pair; a following piston timing mechanism including an upper timing mount and a lower timing mount spaced apart and each coupled to the shaft, wherein each of the upper and lower timing mounts includes a plurality of spaced arms each of which has an associated timing gear movably coupled adjacent an end of each of the arms, wherein the gears associated with the upper timing mount are in engagement with the upper ring gear and the gears associated with the lower timing mount are in engagement with the lower ring gear; and a plurality of timing bars, wherein one of the timing bars is fixed between and offset from a center of each of the timing gears coupled to the upper and lower timing mounts, and wherein the timing bars engage the following piston rods to initiate compression in the combustion chambers.