Abstract: Engines, pumps and compressors having one or more pistons mechanically connected to a crankshaft (30; 100; 200) incorporates an eccentric disc (35, 35; 111, 112; 210) skewered by and mounted on a crankshaft crankpin (34; 101; 201-203). The eccentric disc is either a part of the piston (220) or is itself the piston (35, 36; 111, 112), and it tangentially engages the internal sidewall (42, 43) of the cylinder or "piston Chamber" so as to receive the brunt of the piston side force. The eccentric disc may also include a freely rollable peripheral portion (90; 115) to minimize internal frictional resistance and wear. The embodiment of FIG. 3 additionally features the combination of double-acting pistons; a four-to-one piston-stroke to crankpin-offset ratio; and two 90.degree. out-of-phase eccentric discs rigidly connected together side-by-side with each eccentric disc contained in a different piston chamber that are banked 90.degree. from one another.

Abstract: Stirling engines (10; 150) and other Stirling devices especially of the type incorporating double-acting pistons (41; 168, 170) are simplified, more easily sealed, reduced in overall size and weight, and made easier to balance by mounting the crankshaft (45; 100; 110; 176) centrally within the gas enclosure housing (22, 23; 164, 166) such that it perpendicularly intersects the cylinders' sidewalls and skewers the pistons, thus eliminating the conventional outboard crankcase. Each crankpin or equivalent (46-49; 82; 104; 112; 178, 180) on the crankshaft is rotatably contained between the piston's endwalls and interacts essentially directly with that piston, thus eliminating the connecting rod normally located therebetween. A number of alternative lubricating arrangements are disclosed for lubricating crankshaft associated bearings including one wherein liquid lubricant is circulated through the crankshaft, and another wherein liquid lubricant is particulated and forcibly circulated around the crankshaft.

Abstract: An engine other than an internal combustion engine, and preferably one incorporating the underlying philosophy of the Stirling hot gas engine, is physically arranged to both significantly reduce its size and weight relative to earlier designs as well as reduce fluid leakage into or out of the engine's gas enclosure. Size and weight reduction are achieved in several ways including that of moving this disclosure's counterpart to the Stirling crankshaft from outside the working-gas enclosure to inside the working-gas enclosure, or at least closer thereto than in existing designs. In several embodiments of the invention, this rearrangement simultaneously eliminates a major source of fluid leakage. In some designs of this disclosure, the Stirling working-gas enclosure, which consists of a power piston and cylinder, are replaced by a somewhat different appearing and thoroughly sealed working-gas enclosure that includes a bellows, this also assisting in reducing weight.

Abstract: An electrical cable connector for use in a knockout opening of an electrical box or the like includes a cam element with a slot therein arranged to receive the tip of a screwdriver transverse of its rotational axis so as to permit the application of a significant torque on the cam with a minimal force to thereby securely wedge the cable in the connector body and prevent its removal. This connector features a tubular body with an enlarged inner end to permit its installation into a knockout opening from the inside of the box, an integrally molded pressure pad opposite the cam element to permit the connector to accommodate several sizes of cable, and snap locks designed to defeatably hold the cam element selectively either in its open or its locked positions.