An operative internal combustion engine is transparent for demonstration of internal combustion engine principles. A transparent cylinder houses a noncontacting piston, a combustion chamber being sealed by means such as protruding annular teflon rings seated in an annular groove of the piston or a flexible flap formed integrally with the piston which is pressed firmly to the internal surface of the cylinder wall by pressure developed within the combustion chamber during operation of the engine. Other portions of the engine are transparent to enable their contained parts to be observed during operation. The engine also has an enlarged flywheel to permit operation of the engine at low, observable speeds. The invention burns low carbon fuels such as alcohol to keep the cylinder walls clean and operate without polluting the air.
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1. An operative internal combustion engine for displaying the operative relationship among elements thereof comprising,
piston means, means defining a cylinder wall surrounding the piston means made of transparent material so that operation of said engine may be visually observed during operation and means coacting with said piston and said cylinder wall for sealing the combustion chamber bounded by means including said cylinder wall and said piston, the latter means also comprising means for establishing a dry lubricating relationship with said cylinder wall as said piston reciprocates therein during engine operation, said engine being free from liquid lubrication inside said cylinder wall, said means for sealing said combustion chamber comprising at least one sealing ring made of resilient self-lubricating material having a low coefficient of friction attached to said piston means and sealing the region between said piston means and said cylinder wall, said engine including first means on said piston means for supporting said piston means to permit relative axial displacement with said cylinder wall and means cooperating with said first means and said piston means for radially spacing said piston from said cylinder wall in noncontracting relationship therewith, said piston means made of material which if allowed to contact the cylinder wall directly would damage said cylinder wall while said sealing ring and said means for radially spacing prevent damage to said cylinder wall.
2. An internal combustion engine in accordance with
3. Apparatus in accordance with
whereby increasing pressure inside the combustion chambers urges said flap toward said cylinder wall.
4. Apparatus in accordance with
flywheel means having a moment of inertia sufficiently high for slowing the operating rate of said engine to enable visual observation of the operation of the parts thereof.
5. Apparatus in accordance with
6. Apparatus in accordance with
7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 6 wherein said means defining a cylinder wall is coated with plastic material.
8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 6 and further comprising a transparent plastic tube surrounding said means defining a cylinder wall.
9. Apparatus in accordance with
a circumferential depression undercut about the region of said flap, the bottom circumference of said piston means defining a relatively inflexible portion at the bottom end thereof to seal the lower end of said piston means.
10. Apparatus in accordance with
a lower plate mounted on said means defining a cylinder wall in sealed relation thereto and formed with valve seats in the underside thereof, a pair of hollow transparent manifolds defining inlet and exhaust passages above said lower plate in registry with respective ones of said valve seats, an upper head plate above said manifolds, a pair of overhead valve means extending through said upper and lower plates and respective ones of said manifolds movable relative thereto for valving cooperation with respective ones of said valve seats and having valve stems projecting beyond said upper plate, and means biasing said valve means in a closed position.
11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 9 10 and further comprising flexible resilient gasket means disposed between said lower head plate and said means defining a cylinder wall for effecting a seal with limited flexure therebetween.
12. Apparatus in accordance with
a source of fuel characterized by combustion products substantially free of material that would coat said cylinder wall to reduce the transparency thereof, and means for supplying a mixture of said fuel and air to said combustion chamber.
13. A method of operating the internal combustion engine of
and then igniting said mixture to relatively displace said piston means and cylinder wall while the latter remains transparent.
14. Apparatus in accordance with
spring means inside said annular groove for urging said sealing ring against said cylinder wall.
15. Apparatus in accordance with
spring means inside each of said annular grooves for urging said sealing rings against said cylinder wall. 16. An operative internal combustion engine comprising, piston means, a crankshaft, a rigid piston rod interconnecting said piston means and said crankshaft, means defining a cylinder wall surrounding the piston means, and means coacting with said piston and said cylinder wall for sealing the combustion chamber bounded by means including said cylinder wall and said piston, the latter means also comprising means for establishing a dry lubricating relationship with said cylinder wall as said piston reciprocates therein during engine operation, said engine being free from liquid lubrication inside said cylinder wall, said means for sealing said combustion chamber comprising at least one resilient sealing ring coacting with dry lubricating material having a low coefficient of friction attached to said piston means and sealing the region between said piston means and said cylinder wall, said engine including first means on said piston means for supporting said piston means to permit relative axial displacement with said cylinder wall and means cooperating with said first means and said piston means for radially spacing said piston from said cylinder wall in noncontracting relationship therewith, said piston means made of material which if allowed to contact the cylinder wall directly would damage said cylinder wall while said sealing ring and said means for radially spacing prevent damage to said cylinder wall.
17. An internal combustion engine in accordance with claim 16 wherein said means for sealing also comprises said means for radially spacing. 18. Apparatus in accordance with claim 16 wherein said piston means is made of high temperature material and formed with an annular groove formed in its upper face near the periphery of said piston means to define a somewhat flexible circumferentially continuous flap which bears against said cylinder wall to seal the region between said piston means and said cylinder wall, whereby increasing pressure inside the combustion chambers urges said flap toward said cylinder wall. 19. Apparatus in accordance with claim 18 and further comprising, a circumferential depression undercut about the region of said flap, the bottom circumference of said piston means defining a relatively inflexible portion at the bottom end thereof to seal the lower end of said piston means. 20. Apparatus in accordance with claim 16 and further comprising, a source of fuel characterized by combustion products substantially free of material that would coat said cylinder wall, and means for supplying a mixture of said fuel and air to said combustion chamber. 21. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said engine operates by supplying to said combustion chamber a mixture of air and fuel characterized by combustion products substantially free of material that would coat said cylinder wall, and then igniting said mixture to relatively displace said piston means and cylinder wall. 22. Apparatus in accordance with claim 17 wherein said piston means is formed with an annular groove accommodating said sealing ring and further comprising, spring means inside said annular groove for urging said sealing ring against said cylinder wall. 23. Apparatus in accordance with claim 17 wherein said piston means is formed with first and second spaced annular grooves accommodating first and second pairs of said sealing rings and further comprising spring means inside each of said annular grooves for urging said sealing rings against said cylinder wall. |
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This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 407,228 filed Jan. 29, 1975 now abandoned which is a reissue application of U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,370 filed 9/3/1970. an additional feature, to prevent contact between piston and cylinder in case of ring wear or abnormal loading, two non-sealing brazed bumper rings above and below the sealing rings can be provided in respective annular grooves.
In conventional manner a wrist pin bearing 126 accommodates a wrist pin 127 through which connecting rod 32 is attached to the piston, wrist pin 127 being held in place by retaining ring 128 in a conventional manner.
An important feature of this aspect of the invention is that the piston rings 121 and 122 effect a good seal between the cylinder 123 and cylinder 22 while providing bearing surfaces along which the piston 34 rides. The seal is sufficient so that the combustion chamber above may develop adequate pressure to move piston 34 down after ignition while developing an adequate drop in pressure during the intake stroke to draw an adequate mixture into the combustion chamber. All these results are accomplished while avoiding the liquid lubrication used in conventional internal combustion engines, something that would be especially disadvantageous for the purposes of the invention because the fluid might well obscure or distort the desired view of the operating cycle.
There has been described a novel transparent engine that is especially advantageous in connection with teaching the principles of operation of an internal combustion engine. The relationship between ignition of the spark and piston and valve positions are readily observed. The action of the various valves, shafts, rods and cams are readily observable in relationship to one another to illustrate engine operation.
It is evident that those skilled in the art may now make numerous uses and modifications of and departures from the specific embodiments described herein without departing from the inventive concepts. For example, the invention could be used in engines such as diesels and two-cycle engines or with different valving in external combustion engines such as steam engines. Consequently, the invention is to be construed as embracing each and every novel feature and novel combination of features present in or possessed by the apparatus and techniques herein disclosed and limited solely by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Haldeman, Charles W., Basmajian, Vahan V.
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| Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
| Dec 05 1977 | Megatech Corporation | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / |
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