Patent ID: 7077079

Claim:
A cylinder block of an internal combustion engine, comprising: an upper deck portion on which a cylinder head is to be mounted; a lower deck portion from which a crank case extends downward; aligned cylinder walls each extending vertically between the upper and lower deck portions, the cylinder walls having cylinder bores defined therein respectively; jacket side walls respectively surrounding the cylinder walls so that a water jacket is defined between each jacket side wall and the corresponding cylinder wall; jacket bottom walls each extending between a vertically lowermost end of each jacket side wall and a vertically middle part of the corresponding cylinder wall, the jacket bottom walls being positioned above the lower deck portion; a front wall that constitutes an axial end wall of the cylinder block, the front wall being integral with a front part of the upper deck portion, a front part of the lower deck portion, a front one of the cylinder walls, a front one of the jacket side walls and a front one of the jacket bottom walls; and a reinforcing structure integrally formed on the front wall for reinforcing an entire construction of the cylinder block, the reinforcing structure being of a type that is raised from a major surface of the front wall; wherein the reinforcing structure comprises mutually crossing vertical and lateral ribs, the vertical rib extending between the upper deck portion and the lower deck portion, and the lateral rib forming a raised ridge of the front one of the jacket bottom walls.