Parallel inherently balanced rotary valve internal combustion engine

Claim 1

An internal combustion engine comprising a first plurality of cylinders, each cylinder comprising a head, a piston, an inlet port and an exhaust port; a second plurality of cylinders, each cylinder comprising a head, a piston, an inlet port and an exhaust port; a first rotary fuel valve adjacent to said first plurality of cylinders and a second rotary valve adjacent to the said second plurality of cylinders, each valve having a valve member mounted for rotation about an axis parallel to its adjacent cylinders for feeding a fuel-air mixture to each said cylinder, each valve member having a fuel-air passage terminating in an outlet port for rotating alignment with a cylinder head of one of its adjacent cylinders for feeding a fuel-air mixture into each said cylinder inlet port, each valve member having an exhaust passage terminating in an exhaust inlet port for rotating alignment with a cylinder head of another adjacent cylinder for exhausting gases from the said cylinder exhaust port; crankshaft means coupled to said pistons for rotation relative to the cylinders, the crankshaft means comprising first and second crankshafts, at least one piston from each of the said first and second pluralities of cylinders being connected to each crankshaft; a fuel injector means communicating with each fuel-air passage in all rotary positions of each valve member to feed a fuel-air mixture into each fuel-air passage; drive means for rotating the valve members continuously about their respective longitudinal axes; and gear means connected to rotate simultaneously the first and second rotary valves, the said gear means being adapted to rotate the first and second rotary valves in opposite directions.