Four cycle rotary engine with flexible combustion chamber wall

Claim 2

A rotary combustion engine comprising a housing, a flexible wall extending across a portion of said housing to form with said housing a combustion chamber having a plurality of walls, said flexible wall having a pair of side edges in sliding engagement with said housing and having a pair of ends, support means on said housing slidably and pivotally supporting said flexible wall at said ends, a rotor rotatably mounted on said housing and having a wall engaging portion which is radially spaced from the axis of rotation thereof and which travels around said axis for engaging and moving said flexible wall inwardly toward another wall of said chamber and permitting said wall to move away from said other wall as said rotor is rotated and thereby alternately reducing and increasing the volume of said chamber, fuel means for supplying a combustible gas to said chamber, and valve means driven by said rotor and connected between said fuel means and said chamber and between said chamber and the atmosphere for supplying said gas to said chamber during alternate ones of the movements of said flexible wall away from said other wall and for venting said chamber to the atmosphere during alternate ones of the movements of said flexible wall toward said other wall.

Claim 3

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 1, further comprising ignition means including gas firing means in a wall of said chamber and timing means driven by said rotor for igniting said combustible gas in said chamber when said gas is therein and said flexible wall has been moved inwardly by said rotor.

Claim 4

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 1, wherein said flexible wall comprises a flexible, resilient reed.

Claim 5

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said reed comprises a plurality of relatively long and narrow laminations at least one of said laminations having spaced slots therethrough extending lengthwise thereof but shorter than the length of said reed.

Claim 6

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 4, wherein another of said laminations is substantially imperforate.

Claim 7

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 3, wherein said support means is a pair of supports pivotally mounted on said housing, each of said supports having a slot therein for slidably receiving an end of said reed and both of said supports having their pivot axes extending substantially parallel to said ends of said reed.

Claim 8

A rotary combustion engine comprising a housing having an inner peripheral wall and a pair of end walls defining a first chamber; a pair of supports pivotally mounted on said housing at said peripheral wall in spaced relation therealong and with their pivot axes extending substantially parallel to said peripheral wall, each of said supports having slots therein extending substantially parallel to the pivot axis thereof; a flexible, resilient, relatively long and narrow reed having side edges and longitudinally spaced ends mounted in said first chamber with one end thereof slidably received in the slot in one of said supports and the other end thereof slidably received in the slot in the other of said supports, whereby said reed may be bent from a normal position toward and away from a first portion of said peripheral wall causing pivoting of said supports and sliding of said ends of said reed with respect to said supports, said side edges of said reed being in engagement with the surfaces of said end walls to define a combustion chamber intermediate said reed, said ends wAlls and said peripheral wall; a rotor rotatably mounted within said first chamber with its axis of rotation extending substantially parallel to said peripheral wall and intermediate said reed and a second portion of said peripheral wall different from said first portion thereof, said rotor having a reed engaging member rotatably mounted thereon with its axis of rotation spaced from said axis of rotation of said rotor and extending substantially parallel to said axis of rotation of said rotor, said reed engaging member being spaced from said axis of said rotor a distance greater than the spacing of said normal position of said reed from said axis of said rotor whereby as said rotor is rotated, said reed engaging member bends said reed toward said first portion of said peripheral wall and reduces the volume of said combustion chamber and alternately permits said reed to return to its normal position thereby increasing the volume of said combustion chamber; valve ports in a wall of said housing which bounds said combustion chamber for permitting the flow of gases into and out of said combustion chamber; valve means associated with said valve ports and connected to said rotor to be driven thereby for controlling the flow of gases into and out of said combustion chamber, said valve means successively preventing the flow of gas through said ports during a first bending and return of said reed by said reed engaging member, permitting the flow of gas through one of said ports during a second bending of said reed thereby and preventing the flow of gas through said one port but permitting the flow of gas through the other of said ports during the return of said reed after said second bending; and ignition means in a wall of said housing which bounds said combustion chamber and exposed to said combustion chamber for igniting a combustible gas therein.

Claim 9

A rotary combustion engine comprising a housing having an inner peripheral wall and a pair of end walls defining a first chamber; a pair of supports pivotally mounted on said housing at said peripheral wall in spaced relation therealong and with their pivot axes extending substantially parallel to said peripheral wall, each of said supports having slots therein extending substantially parallel to the pivot axis thereof; a flexible, resilient, relatively long and narrow reed having side edges and longitudinally spaced ends mounted in said first chamber with one end thereof slidably received in the slot in one of said supports and the other end thereof slidably received in the slot in the other of said supports, whereby said reed may be bent from a normal position toward and away from a first portion of said peripheral wall causing pivoting of said supports and sliding of said ends of said reed with respect to said supports, said side edges of said reed being in engagement with the surfaces of said end walls to define a combustion chamber intermediate said reed, said ends wAlls and said peripheral wall; a rotor rotatably mounted within said first chamber with its axis of rotation extending substantially parallel to said peripheral wall and intermediate said reed and a second portion of said peripheral wall different from said first portion thereof, said rotor having a reed engaging member rotatably mounted thereon with its axis of rotation spaced from said axis of rotation of said rotor and extending substantially parallel to said axis of rotation of said rotor, said reed engaging member being spaced from said axis of said rotor a distance greater than the spacing of said normal position of said reed from said axis of said rotor whereby as said rotor is rotated, said reed engaging member bends said reed toward said first portion of said peripheral wall and reduces the volume of said combustion chamber and alternately permits said reed to return to its normal position thereby increasing the volume of said combustion chamber; valve ports in a wall of said housing which bounds said combustion chamber for permitting the flow of gases into and out of said combustion chamber; valve means associated with said valve ports and connected to said rotor to be driven thereby for controlling the flow of gases into and out of said combustion chamber, said valve means successively preventing the flow of gas through said ports during a first bending and return of said reed by said reed engaging member, permitting the flow of gas through one of said ports during a second bending of said reed thereby and preventing the flow of gas through said one port but permitting the flow of gas through the other of said ports during the return of said reed after said second bending; and ignition means in a wall of said housing which bounds said combustion chamber and exposed to said combustion chamber for igniting a combustible gas therein.

Claim 10

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 7, wherein said reed engaging member is a first roller and further comprising a second roller mounted on said rotor similarly to said first roller but on the opposite side of said axis of said roller.

Claim 11

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 8, further comprising at least one further reed mounted on said housing similarly to said first-mentioned reed but spaced therefrom along said peripheral wall to form a further combustion chamber with said end walls and a portion of said peripheral wall different from said first portion thereof, said further reed being bendable by said rollers similarly to said first-mentioned reed and further valve ports in a wall of said housing which bounds said further combustion chamber and wherein said valve means comprises means for controlling the flow of gases into and out of said further combustion chamber in the manner in which it controls the flow of gases into and out of said firstmentioned combustion chamber and said ignition means comprises means for igniting a combustible gas in said further combustion chamber.

Claim 12

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 9, wherein there are two further reeds each similarly mounted on said housing and in equally spaced relation to each other and said first mentioned reed around said peripheral wall to form two further combustion chambers similar to said first-mentioned combustion chamber and the gases into and out of which are controlled by said valve means in the same manner as said first-mentioned combustion chamber and wherein said ignition means comprises means for igniting a combustible gas in said combustion chambers in timed relation and when said combustible gas is compressed therein by the reed forming part of the combustion chamber.

Claim 13

A rotary combustion engine as set forth in claim 9, wherein said rotor is mounted on and secured to a shaft and said valve means comprises a plate mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith and a plurality of ducts interconnected with said ports, said plate having a plurality of spaced channels therein for opening and closing said ducts and Thereby controlling the flow of gases through said ports.

Claim 14

In a rotary expansible chamber device comprising a housing having a wall forming one wall of said chamber and having at least one port opening into said chamber, a rotor rotatably mounted on said housing and having a portion which is radially sapced from the axis of rotation thereof and which travels around said axis, the combination therewith of a flexible, resilient reed forming a wall of said chamber, said reed being in sliding engagement at its side edges with said housing, and support means on said housing slidably and pivotally supporting said reed at its ends on said housing with an intermediate portion thereof in the path of movement of said portion of said rotor whereby upon rotation of said rotor, said reed is bent toward and away from said housing wall thereby alternately reducing and increasing the volume of said chamber.

Claim 15

In a rotary expansible chamber device comprising a housing having a wall forming one wall of said chamber and having at least one port opening into said chamber, a rotor rotatably mounted on said housing and having a portion which is radially sapced from the axis of rotation thereof and which travels around said axis, the combination therewith of a flexible, resilient reed forming a wall of said chamber, said reed being in sliding engagement at its side edges with said housing, and support means on said housing slidably and pivotally supporting said reed at its ends on said housing with an intermediate portion thereof in the path of movement of said portion of said rotor whereby upon rotation of said rotor, said reed is bent toward and away from said housing wall thereby alternately reducing and increasing the volume of said chamber.

Claim 16

A rotary device as set forth in claim 12, wherein said reed comprises a plurality of relatively long and narrow laminations at least one of said laminations having spaced slots therethrough extending lengthwise thereof but shorter than the length of said reed.

Claim 17

A rotary device as set forth in claim 13, wherein another of said laminations is substantially imperforate.

Claim 18

A rotary device as set forth in claim 12, wherein said support means is a pair of supports pivotally mounted on said housing, each of said supports having a slot therein for slidably receiving an end of said reed and both of said supports having their pivot axes extending substantially parallel to said ends of said read.

Claim 19

A rotary device as set forth in claim 15, wherein said reed comprises a plurality of laminations, at least one of said laminations being substantiall imperforate and another of said laminations having spaced slots therein which are shorter than the length of said lamination between the ends thereof received by said supports for permitting compression thereof in a direction transverse to the side edges thereof.

Claim 20

A rotary device as set forth in claim 16, wherein said laminations are made of metal and said other lamination is made of a metal different from the metal of said one lamination.