Igniting apparatus for internal combustion engines

Claim 1

An ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines comprising: a main combustion chamber connected to receive a lean fuel mixture; an auxiliary combustion chamber dimensioned to receive a lean mixture from said main combustion chamber; a communicating opening for inter-connecting said auxiliary and main combustion chambers wtih each other; a spark generating means located close to and forming a spark gap at said communicating opening; and an igniting electric source means for generating an electric discharge spark in the spark gap to ignite the lean mixture within said auxiliary combustion chamber and to supply energy to the combustion gas when said combustion gas is passing through said communicating opening; said igniting electric source means including a high voltage electric source device comprising an electric source, an ignition coil connected to said electric source and a contact breaker connected in series to a primary winding of said ignition coil to feed an initial high voltage surge to said spark gap, and a low voltage electric source device comprising a second electric source, a capacitor connected to said second electric source through a first resistor forming a charging path and a second resistor connected to said capacitor to form a discharging path and to determine a discharging time constant, said capacitor having a capacity of a value sufficient to maintain the electric discharge generated in said spark gap by said high voltage electric source device until the time when the combustion gas generated within said auxiliary combustion chamber passes through said communicating opening, these said electric source devices being connected to said spark gap in parallel to each other through reverse current breakers respectively for preventing a current leakage occurring between both said electric source devices.