AN HYDRAULIC TRANSMISSION GEAR
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A Résumé of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
IOUIS RENAULT'S name appears I again in specification No. 237,211 ; this time in connection with the invention of an hydraulic gearing which takes the place of a clutch, and which can be made to act automatically or can be controlled so as to engage or disengage at will. When acting automatically the clutch can be set to engage when the driving shaft has been accelerated to a predetermined speed, but will not transmit power when the power unit is revolving below that speed. The invention is a very ingenious one, and we shall be glad to hear more of it later The left-hand view shows a section of the gear in which 1 is the driving shs.ft and 2 is the driven shaft. The chamber on the left is fitted with internal paddles and is keyed to the driving shaft. An impeller is keyed to the driven shaft. The right-hand view is a section taken through the centre of the impeller. It will be seen, in the righthand view, that the tips of the impeller blades just denthe internal paddles in the outer case.
We will now suppose that there was just sufficient fluid in the chamber to allow the outer easing to run round and take with it this fluid, without there being sufficient to allow the blades of the impeller to catch it as it runs round. This is the ease when the weights, which are in the larger chamber, are drawn towards the centre by means of the springs shown. As these weights gradually move outwards, through centrifugal force, they displace a certain amount of the fluid and cause it to flow through the openings into the chamber where the impeller is situated and consequently raise the level of the fluid until it engages the blades of the impeller and cause it to revolve with the outer easing. A further development is shown in which the weights can he controlled mechanically instead of by centrifugal force. Such a clutch as this should enable slipping to be indulged in to any extent, but, although the speed of the driven shaft may be reduced by such slipping, the torque would not be increased.
An Internal-combustion Engine
which Conserves Its Heat. M E. LE MESURIER, in specifica
tion No. 22f),896, describes at great length a means of introducing water into the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine and thereby increasing its thermal efficiency. Among other c36 claims made by this inventor for his system are the following :—Freedom from carbonization, greater silence, absence of knock and pre-ignition, the elimination of the water jacket and freedom from water-freezing troubles.
Ile goes on to say that water-cooled engines can have their water jackets filled with non-conducting materials (such as magnesia) and that the gills of air-cooled engines can be filled with similar material for the purpose of conserving the heat, which we now waste through the radiator. The principle of the invention is to prevent all cylinder radiation by lagging the cylinder with non-conducting material. Instead of surplus heat being absorbed externally by air, the surplus heat will be absorbed internally to some advantage by passing water in with the petrol mixture.
Such water will absorb heat from the interior of the engine and will be converted into steam. The engine will thus be kept at a workable temperature and steam will increase the normal compression of the engine, and greater economy will result. The steam is claimed to prevent knocking and preignition. There are several drawings in this specification, hut they are not very enlightening. Condensers are mentioned for the recovery of the water from the exhaust, and to prevent lime from depositing on the walls of the cylinder.
Improvements in the Bearings of Propeller Shafts.
TERI: Etablissements De Dion
Emiton, of France, in specification No. 227,804, describe a joint for the front end of a propeller tube which can not only admit of pivotal movement in all directions, but also of a certain amount of sliding movement in a horizontal direction, In those propeller tubes which terminate at their front end in a fork, it is not usual to allow for any sliding movement sideways. If the action of the springs is observed carefully it is evident that a great strain must be taken by the propeller tube, as the springs do not fulcrum from a point which coincides with the hinge from which the torque tube swings. This specification points out that the road wheels must have a certain amount of freedom relative to the chassis, and to provide for this seems to be the main object of this patent. At the front end of the torque tube is fixed a collar which has two long projecting trun nions, as shown. These trunnions are borne in a gimbal ring which is mounted in a pair of pivots supported from one of the cross-members of the frame. In the usual construction ef forked joints of this kind it is common practice to place the universal joint in the centre of the gimbal, but in this case two universal joints are mentioned, and are described as being placed in front of the gimbal ; one of these joints is shown on the left of the .eft-hand view.
We notice that balls are shown as forming one of the pivots of the gimbal. It is difficult, however, to realize that this can be a suitable form of pivot fcr such duty.
A Non-carbonizing Mixture.
A COMPOSITION for removing
carbon from the cylinders of engines is described in specification No. 217,606, .of J. F. Canning, of America. The primary solvent part of the composition consists of conl tar oils from which the tar acids have been substantially removed. Such coal tar oils are said to he particularly suitable for the solvent element of this composition, because they are very effective in eating into the carbon deposit by more or less direct solvent action on the oily binding elements of the deposit, and are readily combustible in the presence of the oxydizing agent so as to produce the burning off of the combustible parts of the deposit. The mixture of coal tar distillates and an oxydizing agent is introduced into the engine by mixing it with the petrol before it goes through the carburetter.
Burning in Electric Timing Discs.
A NOVEL construction of timing discs,
'in. which plates of metal are embedded in the face of a rotating disc for the purpose of distributing electric current for timing purposes, is shown in specification No. 237.790, by E. W. Turner, of America. The metal plates are described as being embedded in the disc by moulding them in, instead of machining recesses to receive them. The main point of the invention lies in the fact that the metal plates are surrounded on the sides where sparking is likely to take place, by a strip of laminated insulating material, which is not affected by sparking, and so prevents the deterioration and, breaking down of the main body of the disc.