Wabbler plate engine mechanisms

Claim 1

A wabbler plate engine mechanism comprising a crankcase having a crankshaft rotatable therein, the crankshaft being slidably coupled to an output shaft; a wabbler carrier obliquely mounted on the crankshaft and coupled by a flexible linkage to a connection fixed axially in relation to the crankcase, the linkage causing alteration of the angle between the crankshaft axis and the wabbler carrier, and thereby the stroke of the mechanism as the crankshaft is shifted relative to the output shaft; and a wabbler plate rotatably mounted on the carrier; a plurality of cylinders arranged around the crankshaft with pistons reciprocally moveable therein along axes substantially parallel to the rotational axis of the crankshaft; the wabbler plate having arms extending radially therefrom to bearings coupling each arm to a piston, each bearing permitting lateral movement of the respective arm relative to the axis of the piston; a stabilizer mechanism operating between the wabbler plate and the crankcase comprising ball races formed in juxtaposed curved surfaces of the wabbler plate and a ball race carrier on the crankcase, and a ball confined at the intersection of the ball races; and means comprising a screw threaded member mating with a corresponding thread in the crankcase around the crankshaft axis and coupled to the crankshaft and operable to shift the crankshaft axially and thereby the rotational axis of the wabbler plate, the crankshaft being connected to the ball race carrier on the crankcase such that the center of the carrier is always perpendicularly aligned with the rotational axis of the wabbler plate, the effective lengths of the ball races of the stabilizer being variable to accommodate such alteration of the angle between the crankshaft axis and the wabbler carrier.