Supercharged engines

Claim 2

In a supercharged engine, a block having a plurality of cylinders, a plurality of pistons movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the pistons, the pistons having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the pistons, supply means including supercharging means for supplying a fuelair mixture under pressure to the reservoir, a plurality of short intake passages connecting the reservoir to the cylinders, a plurality of intake valve means for connecting the passages to the cylinders, a plurality of manually controlled throttle means in the passages positioned close to the intake valves for controlling the flow from the reservoir to the cylinders, the supply means including carburetor means supplying the fuelair mixture and control means for keeping the proportions of fuel and air supplied by the carburetor means substantially constant.

Claim 3

The supercharged engine of claim 1 including a crankcase and wherein the supply means includes first valving connecting the carburetor means to the crankcase and second valving connecting the crankcase to the reservoir.

Claim 4

The supercharged engine of claim 2 wherein the first and second valvings comprise check valves.

Claim 5

The supercharged engine of claim 2 including pump means for pumping supercharged fuel-air mixture from the crankcase into the reservoir.

Claim 6

The supercharged engine of claim 1 including an inlet to the reservoir directed toward the throttle means.

Claim 7

The supercharged engine of claim 5 wherein the reservoir has a curved surface tangential with the inlet and the throttle means.

Claim 8

The supercharged engine of claim 1 wherein the carburetor means includes an adjustable venturi, and means responsive to pressure in the venturi for adjusting the venturi.

Claim 9

The supercharged engine of claim 1 wherein the carburetor means includes adjustable needle valve means for controlling fuel flow, and means responsive to pressure in the throat of the carburetor means for adjusting the needle valve means.

Claim 10

The supercharged engine of claim 1 including a crankcase having an inlet opening and an outlet opening to the reservoir, and a valve insert including a valve body having ports and mounted in one of the openings and a plurality of reed valve members mounted on the valve body in normal positions closing the ports and movable by pressure to positions opening the ports.

Claim 11

The supercharged engine of claim 9 wherein the body is flanged and tapered with the flange fitting into a counterbored portion of said one of the openings.

Claim 12

The supercharged engine of claim 1 wherein the reservoir is mounted on the block and has fins for cooling the supercharged fuel-air mixture.

Claim 13

The supercharged engine of claim 1 including linkage means interlocking the manually controlled throttle means and the control means.

Claim 14

In a supercharged engine, a block having cylinders, pistons movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the pistons, the pistons having a predetermined displacement volume when a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the pistons, supply means including carburetor means and supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under presSure to the reservoir, and intake valve means for connecting the reservoir to the cylinders, the intake valve means including normally timed intake valves and radically timed intake valves.

Claim 15

In a supercharged engine, a block having cylinders, pistons movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the pistons, the pistons having a predetermined displacement volume when a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the pistons, supply means including carburetor means and supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under presSure to the reservoir, and intake valve means for connecting the reservoir to the cylinders, the intake valve means including normally timed intake valves and radically timed intake valves.

Claim 16

The supercharged engine of claim 13 including valve means for permitting flow to the radically timed valves only at speeds greater than a predetermined speed.

Claim 17

The supercharged engine of claim 13 wherein the radically cammed valves comprises valve ports and valve members adapted to open and close the ports, the valve means including manifold passages leading to the valve ports and gate valves adapted to close the passages at a speed up to said predetermined speed.

Claim 18

In a supercharged engine, a block having cylinder means, piston means movable in the cylinder means, crankshaft means driven by the pistons means, the piston means having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the piston means, supply means including crankcase supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, intake valve means for connecting the reservoir to the cylinder means, an oil sump portion having oil therein exposed to the pressure of the fuel-air mixture in the reservoir, and oil passage means leading from the oil sump portion to moving parts of the engine.

Claim 19

In a supercharged engine, a block having cylinder means, piston means movable in the cylinder means, crankshaft means driven by the pistons means, the piston means having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the piston means, supply means including crankcase supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, intake valve means for connecting the reservoir to the cylinder means, an oil sump portion having oil therein exposed to the pressure of the fuel-air mixture in the reservoir, and oil passage means leading from the oil sump portion to moving parts of the engine.

Claim 20

The supercharged engine of claim 16 including a camshaft housing, the oil passage means including a line from the sump portion to the camshaft housing and nozzle means connected to the line.

Claim 21

The supercharged engine of claim 17 including a second sump portion in the camshaft housing, a crankcase, and a second line leading from the second sump portion to the crankcase.

Claim 22

The supercharged engine of claim 18 including second nozzles connected to the second line and directed upwardly into the cylinder means.

Claim 23

In a supercharged engine, a block having cylinders, piston means movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the piston means, the piston means having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the piston means, supply means including carburetor means and supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, intake valve means for connecting the reservoir to the cylinder means, a crankcase, unidirectional valve means connecting the carburetor means to the crankcase, and second stage supercharging means in series with the crankcase, to reservoir and the intake valve means.

Claim 24

In a supercharged engine, a block having cylinders, piston means movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the piston means, the piston means having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the piston means, supply means including carburetor means and supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, intake valve means for connecting the reservoir to the cylinder means, a crankcase, unidirectional valve means connecting the carburetor means to the crankcase, and second stage supercharging means in series with the crankcase, to reservoir and the intake valve means.

Claim 25

The supercharged engine of claim 20 wherein the second stage supercharging means comprises a vane pump driven by the engine at a speed proportional to the speed of the crankshaft.

Claim 26

In a supercharged engine, a block having a plurality of cylinders, a plurality of pistons movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the pistons, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the pistons, supply means including supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, a plurality of short intake passages connecting the cylinders individually to the reservoir, a plurality of intake valves for connecting the intake passages to the cylinders, and a plurality of manually controlled interlocked throttles in the intake passages close to the valves for controlling flows of the fuel-air mixture individually in the passages.

Claim 27

In a supercharged engine, a block having a plurality of cylinders, a plurality of pistons movable in the cylinders, crankshaft means driven by the pistons, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the pistons, supply means including supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, a plurality of short intake passages connecting the cylinders individually to the reservoir, a plurality of intake valves for connecting the intake passages to the cylinders, and a plurality of manually controlled interlocked throttles in the intake passages close to the valves for controlling flows of the fuel-air mixture individually in the passages.

Claim 28

The supercharged engine of claim 22 including a crankcase, a carburetor, first check valve means permitting flow from the carburetor to the crankcase, second check valve means permitting flow from the crankcase to the reservoir, and control means for adjusting the carburetor to keep the fuel-air mixture substantialLy constant over a wide range of air flow through the carburetor.

Claim 29

The supercharged engine of claim 23 wherein the control means comprises throttle means in the carburetor and mechanical linkage means interconnecting the throttles and the throttle means.

Claim 30

The supercharged engine of claim 23 wherein the control means comprises means responsive to rate of flow of air through the carburetor for adjusting the fuel flow.

Claim 31

In a four-stroke cycle supercharged engine, a block having cylinder means, piston means movable in the cylinder means, crankshaft means driven by the piston means, the piston means having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the piston means, a crankcase, supply means including crankcase supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, short intake passage means connecting the reservoir to the cylinder means, intake valve means for connecting the passage means to the cylinder means, manually controlled throttle means in the passage means positioned close to the intake valve means for controlling the flow from the reservoir to the cylinder means, the supply means including carburetor means supplying the fuel-air mixture to the crankcase and keeping the proportions of fuel and air supplied substantially constant, first check valve means permitting flow from the carburetor means to the crankcase, and second check valve means permitting flow from the crankcase to the reservoir.

Claim 32

In a four-stroke cycle supercharged engine, a block having cylinder means, piston means movable in the cylinder means, crankshaft means driven by the piston means, the piston means having a predetermined displacement volume when reciprocated, a reservoir having a volume at least several times as great as said displacement volume of the piston means, a crankcase, supply means including crankcase supercharging means for supplying a fuel-air mixture under pressure to the reservoir, short intake passage means connecting the reservoir to the cylinder means, intake valve means for connecting the passage means to the cylinder means, manually controlled throttle means in the passage means positioned close to the intake valve means for controlling the flow from the reservoir to the cylinder means, the supply means including carburetor means supplying the fuel-air mixture to the crankcase and keeping the proportions of fuel and air supplied substantially constant, first check valve means permitting flow from the carburetor means to the crankcase, and second check valve means permitting flow from the crankcase to the reservoir.

Claim 33

The supercharged engine of claim 26 including a throttle in the carburetor means and mechanical linkage means interconnecting the throttle and the throttle means.

Claim 34

The supercharged engine of claim 26 wherein the carburetor means includes means responsive to rate of flow of air through the carburetor means for adjusting the fuel flow.