Four cylinder in-line engine with driving balancer system

Claim 1

A cylinder and piston engine, comprising; a cylinder block; a crankshaft disposed therein and having cylinder and piston means for rotating it at a crankshaft speed; a cam shaft for timing intake and exhaust operations in the cylinder means; and a balancer system for balancing vibromotive forces acting on the cylinder block on operation of the piston means, the system comprising first and second balancer shafts laterally spaced from the crankshaft on two sides of that shaft and substantially parallel thereto, and a timing mechanism disposed at an end of the cylinder block and driven by the crankshaft for driving the balancer shafts and also the cam shaft, the timing mechanism comprising a single elongate endless member engaging the several shafts to drive the first and second balancer shafts in directions opposite to one another, both at a speed equal to twice the crankshaft speed, and wherein the timing mechanism includes a gear fitted to one of the balancer shafts to drive the shaft, and a gear shaft having idler gear means fitted thereto to be driven thereby and meshing with said gear, said elongate endless member being enabled to drive the gear shaft and the other balancer shaft to effect the rotating of the balancer shafts in opposite directions, and also to drive the cam shaft.