Rotary engine

Claim 1

A rotary engine, comprising: first and second rotor means respectively mounted for rotation about first and second parallel axes, each of said rotor means comprising an arcuate sector of selected angular extent so that the sectors of said first and second rotor means complement one another and total approximately 360* ; said first rotor meaNs having the sector thereof defined by a first cylindrical surface which extends through a first arcuate extent, said first cylindrical surface being generated by a first radius defined about said first axis, said sector also being defined by a first curved surface which connects to one end of said first cylindrical surface and extends radially inwardly toward said first axis, said sector being still further defined by a second curved surface which is connected to the other end of said first cylindrical surface and extends radially inwardly toward said first axis and is interconnected to said first curved surface; said second rotor means having the sector thereof defined by a second cylindrical surface which extends through a second arcuate extent, said second cylindrical surface being generated by a second radius defined about said second axis, said second radius being equal to said first radius, said sector also being defined by a third curved surface which connects to one end of said second cylindrical surface and extends radially inwardly toward said second axis, said sector being still further defined by a fourth curved surface which is connected to the other end of said second cylindrical surface and extends radially inwardly toward said second axis and is interconnected to said third curved surface; housing means defining therein a substantially cocoon-shaped chamber, said cocoon-shaped chamber being defined by first and second substantially cylindrical bores which extend parallel to one another, said first and second bores each being defined by a third radius which is substantially equal to said first radius, and the longitudinally extending axes of said bores being spaced apart by a distance less than the diameter of each bore so that the two bores overlap so as to be in open communication with one another; said housing means including sidewall means surrounding said cocoon-shaped chamber and a pair of end wall means fixed to said sidewall means and closing the opposite ends of said cocoon-shaped chamber; means rotatably supporting said first and second rotor means in said first and second bores, respectively, whereby the axis of rotation of the respective rotor means is aligned with the longitudinally extending axis of the respective bore; said first curved surface being generated by providing a disk defined by a radius equal to said first radius, positioning a curve generating line adjacent said disk so that it overlies a reference line on said disk which extends radially outwardly from the center of said disk, said curve generating line having a length equal to said first radius and being positioned to overlie said reference line so that a first point defining the inner end of said generating line is disposed more closely adjacent the center of said disk and a second point defining the outer end of said generating line is disposed more closely adjacent the periphery of said disk, rotating the curve generating line about said second point in a rotational direction which is substantially parallel with said disk and simultaneously therewith rotating the disk about its center in the reverse rotational direction at the same angular velocity as said curve generating line, whereby the first point defines on said disk a curve which extends from said reference line to the periphery of said disk, said curve being the configuration of said first curved surface; said second curved surface as formed on said first rotor means being a mirror image of said first curved surface; said third curved surface as formed on said second rotor means being generated in the same manner as said first curved surface, and said fourth curved surface being the mirror image of said third curved surface; one of said end wall means having an annular ring-shaped channel formed therein in concentric relationship to said second axis, said ring-shaped channel projecting inwardly from the inner surface of said one end wall means whereby said ring-shaped channel communicAtes with said cocoon-shaped chamber, said one end wall means having a disk-shaped portion surrounded by said ring-shaped channel and having an end face thereon disposed directly adjacent and opposite to an end face on said second rotor means; a ring-shaped flow control element fixed to and projecting from one end of said second rotor means and slidably disposed within said ring-shaped channel, said ring-shaped element having an outwardly opening groove formed on the outer periphery thereof and extending angularly along half of said outer periphery, said ring-shaped element further having a flow opening providing communication between said groove and the inner periphery of said element; said disk-shaped portion having a recess formed in the end face thereof and opening toward said second bore, said disk-shaped portion also having a communication hole formed therein and extending between said recess and the outer periphery of said disk-shaped portion, whereby said opening and said hole intermittently communicate with one another during rotation of said second rotor means; means defining exhaust and intake opening respectively communicating with said first and second bores for permitting discharge of gases from said first bore and supply of gases to said second bore; ignition means associated with said chamber for igniting a combustible gas located therein, said ignition means including an ignition chamber communicating with said first bore and also communicating with said ring-shaped channel, whereby said ignition chamber intermittently communicates with said groove during rotation of said second rotor means; and means drivingly interconnecting said first and second rotor means for synchronous rotation in opposite directions.