ANOTHER RICARDO PATENT.
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Résumé of Recently Published Patent Specifications.
With four-stroke engines employing super-charging, and particularly in respect of engines of the Diesel and semiDiesel type, difficulty is experienced on the one hand in effectively cooling the piston head and the exhaust fialves, and on the other in conveniently arranging to impart heat to the incoming super-charge of diluent -air. Specification No. 125,448, by that well-known inventor H. R. Ricardo, describes a, means of simultaneously meeting these different requirements. Various modifications in detail construction have reference in the specification, but the drawing which we reproduce and the following brief textual description, will together be sufficient to enunciate the principles involved. The piston, it will be noted, is of the trunk differential type, in which that annular portion as between ,the outside diameter and the trunk serves itIf a pump to induce and after. wards to compress the supercharge of air. To the left of the chamber in which this air is compressed will be noted a separate chamber in which are disposed vertically several tubes. That chamber contains cooling water. The cylinder, it will be noted, has an auxiliary exhaust port which is uncovered by the piston near the end of its exhaust stroke. This auxiliary port opens into a small passage which completely encircles the cylinder, and which opens at the one side into a narrow chamber disposed above the upper open endsof the water-cooled tubes to which we have already made reference.
The' method of operation is as follo-ws: On each upward stroke of the piston air is drawn in by ins under side in the usual manner through an automatic valve which may be noticed to the right of the chamber below the piston. This air is, of course, compressed by the piston as it descends, and when the piston reaches the bottom of the firing stroke; it opens the auxiliary exhaust ports, when some of the hot products of combustion escape and pass down the cooling tubes, driving some-of the fresh air before them. The gases which enter the tubes are -cooled,
C.52 • partly into the cooling tubes return to the cylinder, cooling the piston head and the exhaust valve in their passage. The chamber above the tubes, however, is not appreciably' cooled, and serves, there but those in the chamber above the tubes remain hot, and keep that passage hot while the piston ascends: So soon as the piston reaches the bottom of its firing fore, to heat the incoming charge of air.
A Method of inflating tyres by using products of combustion is the subject of No. 115,030, by E. E. Moles. A double arrangement of check valves allows small portions of gas to escape from the .engine cylinder:each explosion. This gas is caused, in its passage to a
.receiver, to bubble through lime water, time being cooled and purified so that the receiver ultimately becomes filled with nitrogen at a pressure only a little below the explosion pressure of the cylinder.
A Lifting Jack: •
The lifting jack described
in No. 117,458 by P. Jackline, is of the type which is hinged to the axle and is of sufficient length when lowered to the floor to lift the wheels clear of the ground when the vehicle is pushed forward' on to the hdl. The vehicle is lou,!ered in like manner..
Chain-track Design. •
The chain track construction embodied in ,No. 125,407 by R. F. Isilacae, is really a double track.. A rigid frame is secured to the chassis. Around ;Iiis is a chain of rollers linked together. About these' and supported throughout by the rollers, runs the chain track
No. 125,408, also by R. R. Ricardo, is a carburetter particularly adaptable for use with super-charging engines. It provides a siMple means for complying with the variable requirements of high-powered aircraft-engines.
The Sunbeam Co., in No. 126,425, describe a method of casting the cylinders of a V-type engine in Iaterally-disppsed pairs whilst retaining the usual arrangement of induction and exhaust valves.
G. J. Joulnart, in No. 125,463, describes an arrangement of hydrogen generating plant finfield use, which can conveniently be mounted upon and entirely operated from a motor vehicle and trailer, the arrangement securing compactness with accessibility to details.
No. 125,553, by F. B. Delm, is a method of constructing an axle case from a pressing.