Patent ID: 7322321

Claim:
An internal combustion engine comprising: a cylinder, a cylinder head, and a piston movable with reciprocating motion within the cylinder, the piston motion providing a succession of four strokes including an induction stroke, a compression stroke, a power stroke and an exhaust stroke, wherein a maximum spacing of the piston from the cylinder head defines a maximum volume of a combustion chamber of the engine, wherein the engine is a gasoline engine or a diesel engine; wherein the compression stroke serves to compress a quantity of gas within the combustion chamber in preparation for the power stroke, the compression-stroke gas being a mixture of air and fuel in the gasoline engine, or air without fuel in the diesel engine, the compression stroke providing a reduction in volume of the gas characterized by a compression ratio; the power stroke provides for an expansion in volume of a quantity of gas within the cylinder, characterized by an expansion ratio, the gas in the power stroke being a mixture of air, fuel, and products of combustion; the engine further comprises a return manifold, and a valve assembly operative to receive from the cylinder a portion of the quantity of the gas contained within the cylinder during the compression stroke and subsequently to discharge the cylinder gas into the return manifold; and wherein the valve assembly has a housing disposed within the cylinder head, and further comprises a holding tank with return valve and discharge valve located within the housing of the valve assembly, the return valve providing fluidic communication between the holding tank and the cylinder, and the discharge valve providing fluidic communication between the holding tank and the return manifold.