Rotary engine.

Application filed June 16, 1910. Serial No. 567,134.

To dll whom it, may concern:

Be it known that I, Franklin P. Nichols, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Houston, in the county of Harris 5 and State of Texas, have invented a new and Improved Rotary Engine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in rotary engines, and more particu10 larly to that type of rotary engine, one example of which is illustrated in my previous Patent No.. 928,147, issued July 13, 1909. In this engine, I employ an outer casing or shell, the inner surface of which is provided 15 with a plurality of cam pockets, and within the casing is mounted a rotor having blades movable radially and adapted to follow the contour of the inner surface of the casing.

One object of my present invention is to 20 more effectively control the delivery of motive fluid to the pockets in the outer casing, and in order to do this, I provide the sliding . blades or pistons with valves, which are mechanically operated during the movement of 25 the rotor.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be set forth more fully hereinafter and. the scope of the invention defined in the claims.

. Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings,, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indlicate corresponding parts in all the figures, and in which—

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through an engine. constructed in accordance with my invention, said section being taken on the line 1—1 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the engine and taken on the 40 line 2—2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view of the inner face of one of the end walls of the casing; Fig. 4 is a section similar to a portion of. Fig. 2 but on. an enlarged scale; Fig. 5 is a section similar to a portion of 45 Fig. 1₅ but on an enlarged scale and showing portions of the sliding piston blade and controlling valve in section; and Fig. 6 is an edge view of a portion of one of the sliding, piston blades.

My improved engine in its construction embodies, an outer casing having a substantially cylindrical peripheral wall 10 and end walls 11 and 12. The end walls present bearings for the shaft ends 13 of a rotor mounted within the casing and driven by I the motive fluid. The inner surface of the peripheral wall 10 is scalloped or corrugated to present a series of pockets 15, each extending lengthwise of the peripheral wall parallel to the axis of rotation. These pock- ₆₀ets are all of the same width and each is of its greatest depth intermediate its parallel side edges and. gradually decreases in depth toward. said side edges. The edge of one pocket is spaced a short distance from the 05 adjacent edge of the next pocket, so as to present inwardly-extending flanges or ribs 16 separating the pockets. Within the casing the rotor 14 has a cylindrical peripheral wall 17 in engagement with the inner edge ₇₀of each of said ridges or flanges, so as to completely separate each pocket from the adjacent ones. The wall 17 is connected to the center portion of the rotor by spoke sections 18, which also serve as conduits for 75 delivering the motive fluid to the pockets, as will be set forth more fully hereinafter.

Spaced about the periphery of the wall 12 and preferably in alinement with each spoke, is a radially-movable plate or piston blade 19 so of a length substantially equal to the length of the rotor and having its outer edge in engagement with the inner surface of the peripheral wall 10 of the casing. The several. piston blades are pressed outwardly 85 against this peripheral wall, so as to follow the contour of the several pockets and move inwardly and outwardly as the rotor moves. Each piston blade is preferably held outwardly by the pressure of the motive fluid 30 itself, instead of by springs, cams or other mechanism. As shown, each piston blade is mounted to slide radially within a pocket . or chamber 20, into the inner end of which the motor fluid may be delivered through 95 a passage 21 extending radially in the corresponding spoke 18. .The passages 21 are preferably located adjacent one end wall, as is shown, in Fig. 1, and at. the center they all communicate with a longitudinal passage 22 100 in the axle 13.

Within the adjacent end wall 11 of the casing, there is an annular chamber 23, which may receive motive fluid through a passage 24 and may deliver this motive fluid to the 105 chamber 22 through radially-disposed passages in the axle. Thus, motive fluid entering through the passage 24 may at all times enter, all of the chambers 20 and thus hold the piston blades outwardly against the wall no

983,754 steam, compressed air or the like. The ports or passages through the valves are so arranged in respect to the passages through the piston blades, that when a valve is moved lengthwise to one position, for instance, that < 0 illustrated in Fig. 5,.the ports will be out of registry and no motive fluid can escape out into the pocket. By moving the valve lengthwise toward the right-hand end to the position shown in Fig. 5, the ports will be 7 5 brought into registry and the motive fluid may pass into the pockets and operate.

For controlling the movement of . the valves, the end Avails 11 and 12 are provided with grooves 30, corresponding in position 80 and curvature to the inner surfaces of the corresponding pockets 13, and the groove in each scalloped portion is. of varying depth and each valve has a terminal or end portion 31 disposed within the groove. The depth 85 of the groove in one end wall bears such relationship to the depth of the groove in the opposite end wall, that the valves 26 will be reciprocated so as to open the valve for the admission of motive fluid to the pocket when 90 the piston is at one end of the pocket, and to close the valve when the piston has passed across a portion of the width of the pocket, so as to shut off the motive fluid and permit the motive fluid within the pocket to act ex- 95 pansively upon the piston.

It will be noted that there are no parts operated by spring pressure or by any complicated mechanism, and the pressure of the pistons against the pocket walls is directly 100 proportional to the pressure of the motive fluid, so that as the pressure of the motive fluid increases and the tendency of the fluid to flow past the outer edge of the piston, increases, the pressure of the piston against 105 the wall will correspondingly increase and permit this escape of the motive fluid. The pockets may be any depth or width desired, and a greater or lesser number of pistons may be employed. Preferably, the number no of pistons is less than-the number of pockets, so that it will be impossible for all of the pistons to the stop on dead center between adjacent pockets.

Various changes may be made in the con- HE struction and operation of my improved engine, without departing from the spirit of . my invention. . .