Abstract: The present valve mechanism for an internal combustion engine makes it possible to reliably perform switching between the low-velocity operation mode and the high-velocity operation mode without delay. The valve mechanism includes: a first rocker arm which is supported by a rocker shaft in an oscillatory manner; a second rocker arm which is supported by the rocker shaft in an oscillatory manner; a cylinder provided for either said first rocker arm or said second rocker arm, said cylinder communicating with an oil passage; a first piston fitted in said cylinder in a slidable manner; an engaging protrusion provided in a protruding condition for the remaining one of said first rocker arm and said second rocker arm, said engaging protrusion being capable of engaging with said first piston; and a second piston which moves said first piston to an engaging position.

Abstract: The present valve mechanism for an internal combustion engine makes it possible to reliably perform switching between the low-velocity operation mode and the high-velocity operation mode without delay. The valve mechanism includes: a first rocker arm which is supported by a rocker shaft in an oscillatory manner; a second rocker arm which is supported by the rocker shaft in an oscillatory manner; a cylinder provided for either said first rocker arm or said second rocker arm, said cylinder communicating with an oil passage; a first piston fitted in said cylinder in a slidable manner; an engaging protrusion provided in a protruding condition for the remaining one of said first rocker arm and said second rocker arm, said engaging protrusion being capable of engaging with said first piston; and a second piston which moves said first piston to an engaging position.

Abstract: There is provided a combustion chamber structure in an internal combustion engine in which, at a peripheral portion of a combustion chamber, a gap between a cylinder head lower face and a piston upper face is small in intake-to-intake and exhaust-to-exhaust zones and gradually increases toward an intake-to-exhaust zone. According to such design, the mixture in the peripheral portion of the combustion chamber can smoothly flow from the intake-to-intake and exhaust-to-exhaust zones to the intake-to-exhaust zone along the peripheral face of the cylinder. The flow of air-fuel mixture from the intake-to-intake zone collides at the center of the intake-to-exhaust zone with the flow of mixture from the exhaust-to-exhaust zone, and the combined flow goes over a conical tapered portion in the upper face of the piston and vigorously enters a central recessed portion thereof. Therefore, it is possible to satisfactorily mix an air-fuel mixture with a simplified configuration.

Abstract: There is provided a combustion chamber structure in an internal combustion engine in which, at a peripheral portion of a combustion chamber, a gap between a cylinder head lower face and a piston upper face is small in intake-to-intake and exhaust-to-exhaust zones and gradually increases toward an intake-to-exhaust zone. According to such design, the mixture in the peripheral portion of the combustion chamber can smoothly flow from the intake-to-intake and exhaust-to-exhaust zones to the intake-to-exhaust zone along the peripheral face of the cylinder. The flow of air-fuel mixture from the intake-to-intake zone collides at the center of the intake-to-exhaust zone with the flow of mixture from the exhaust-to-exhaust zone, and the combined flow goes over a conical tapered portion in the upper face of the piston and vigorously enters a central recessed portion thereof. Therefore, it is possible to satisfactorily mix an air-fuel mixture with a simplified configuration.

Abstract: A method of uranium isotope enrichment by utilizing a photochemically selective effect is provided. The method comprises placing a powder of a uranyl compound of carboxylate having at least one oxygen-containing substituent in a magnetic field, irradiating the powder for an effective period of time with visible or shorter wavelength light capable of being absorbed by uranyl ion in the uranyl compound, and separating the resulting reduction products of the uranyl ion from the unreacted uranyl compound by fractionation to isolate a fraction enriched with .sup.235 U isotope. An ordinary light source having wavelengths of a wide range can be used, and there is no need for uranium gasification and cryogenic cooling which are required in a conventional laser method or molecular laser method.