Internal combustion engines

Claim 1

In an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft casing and a pair of piston cylinders mounted thereon in V-shaped spatial arrangement with respect to each other, the upper ends of said cylinders having cylinder heads mounted thereon, said heads containing valves, rocker arms for operating said valves, and a camshaft for operating said arms, said casing having a crankshaft mounted therein and pistons in said cylinders connected to said crankshaft by connecting rods, said cylinders and their named parts being duplicates of each other and being positioned one behind the other but in 180* rotated relationship with respect to each other relative the lengthwise axes of the cylinders whereby the corresponding ends of said camshafts are driven off opposite ends of said crankshaft, one of said camshafts being driven off one end of said crankshaft by a sprocket wheel mounted on said crankshaft one end and a chain extending therefrom to another sprocket wheel mounted on a reduced speed shaft and another sprocket wheel mounted on said reduced speed shaft connected by another chain to another sprocket wheel mounted on said one camshaft along one side of said engine, and the other of said camshafts being driven off the other end of said crankshaft by a gear mounted on said crankshaft other end and another gear which is engaged therewith and mounted on another reduced speed shaft and a sprocket wheel on said another reduced speed shaft connected by a chain to a sprocket wheel mounted on said other camshaft along the opposite side of said engine, whereby the crankshaft to camshaft speed reduction and drive means for one of said cylinders is positioned along one side of said engine and the crankshaft to camshaft speed reduction and drive means for the other of said cylinders is positioned along the opposite side of said engine.