Abstract: A piston for a direct fuel injection engine is described. The piston comprises a cylindrical skirt and a piston face. The cylindrical skirt has an axis. The piston face has a bowl. The bowl has a wall extending about an axis in inclined relation to the cylindrical skirt axis. An engine is also described. The engine comprises an engine block defining an engine cylinder and a piston moveable axially in the engine cylinder. The piston comprises a cylindrical skirt and a dome-shaped piston face, the piston face having therein a bowl. The bowl located with the cylinder axis passing therethrough. The bowl is defined by a cylindrical wall extending about an axis extending in inclined relation to the axis of the cylinder. The bowl includes a bottom wall extending perpendicularly to the bowl axis. The engine also comprises a fuel injector nozzle adapted to direct a spray of fuel toward the bowl for deflection toward a spark plug disposed on the opposite side of the cylinder axis from the fuel injector.

Abstract: A vacuum die casting system has three die casting machines connected to a single vacuum system, all of which is controlled by a programmable logic controller. The controller allows any two of the machines to be operatively connected to the vacuum system so that the casting operation of those two machines are performed under vacuum. The controller comprises six address relays, a sixteen channel input card, a processor, a sixteen channel output card, an interface and two high speed counter cards. The result is an efficient, reliable, and economical vacuum die casting system.

Abstract: A simple and efficient reverse propulsion and control means for water jet powered boats which includes a sliding water valve for controlling exhaust thrusters mounted around the peripheral of the boat and which is coordinated with pivotal movement of the main thruster nozzle.

Abstract: A marine vessel and jet propulsion system cantileverly mounted to the transom of a boat having a water tunnel or cavity integrally formed as a part of the boat structure. The turbojet pump assembly is cantileverly mounted on the aft portion of the transom and is connected by a drive shaft to the output of the drive engine of the boat. According to a preferred embodiment, a mounting member located between the transom and the drive engine also serves as an exhaust manifold housing.

Abstract: A wedge for preventing relative side to side motion between the propshaft housing and the gear case of an outboard engine is described. The wedge is configured to be located between the propshaft housing and the gear case bore inner diameter surface so that the wedge forces one side of the propshaft housing into contact with the bore surface. The wedge fills, or bridges, the clearance gap between the propshaft housing and the gear case bore surface at the location of the wedge.

Abstract: A catalytic reactor for an internal combustion engine having a cooling jacket surrounding multiple catalyst elements. A thermal barrier layer is formed between the catalyst elements and the cooling jacket to prevent over cooling of the catalyst elements. The thermal barrier layer can be formed from insulating elements such as fibrous material, a plurality of annular rings disposed around the catalyst elements, a corrugated layer, or can be formed by an empty space.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring and recording various conditions of engine performance and in particular provides a useful record of the speeds at which the engine has been operated over the life of the engine.

Abstract: A fuel injector nozzle includes a nozzle body and a poppet disposed in the body for reciprocating movement. The body has an internal bore surrounding the poppet. The internal bore tapers in a constant angle of taper from a front seating region to a fuel reservoir region. The poppet has a corresponding surface which diverges slightly from the bore. The surfaces of the bore and poppet form flow control surfaces which terminate in a sharp-edged orifice at the front face of the nozzle. When the poppet is displaced to an open or flow position, fuel is accelerated to the orifice and atomized into a combustion chamber.

Abstract: A vacuum valve control system for a vacuum die casting machine that controls the opening and closing of a vacuum valve. The system comprises an input device for entering certain values, a detecting device for determining the position and speed of an injection plunger, a processor to calculate when the injection plunger has reached particular values for position and speed and a control device for opening and closing the vacuum valve when the particular values have been reached. The processor includes two counting devices, one to calculate the position of the injection plunger and one to calculate the speed of the plunger. The control device includes solid state relays which energize a solenoid to open the vacuum valve when the plunger has reached a certain position. The solid state relays also deenergize the solenoid to close the vacuum valve when either another particular position of the plunger has been reached or when the plunger is approaching a certain speed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for controlling AC power from the stator of an alternator in which groups of windings have various numbers of turns and various numbers of poles per winding can be connected in series to achieve optimum power generation at one RPM and in parallel to achieve optimum power generation at another RPM.

Abstract: An automatic and initial adjustment of pertinent engine parameters to provide an engine with a gentle break-in period. The engine's electronic control unit adjusts the engine parameters most conducive to proper break-in during operating speeds greater than a predetermined speed and for a predetermined period of break-in time.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a jet propulsion unit comprising a housing including a wall defining a water tunnel having therein a water outlet port, and a recess located in the wall defining the tunnel and in surrounding relation to the port, and a screen located in the recess and extending across the port and in flush relation to the wall defining the tunnel.

Abstract: A marine jet propulsion system for a boat or the like comprises a power plant for rotating a drive shaft. A gear system is connected to the drive shaft and is configured to engage and rotate an impeller shaft. An impeller mounted to the impeller shaft is enclosed within a housing having a water inlet opening and a jet stream exit opening. The gear system includes a pinion gear connected to the drive shaft and engaging a pair of opposed ring gears, the ring gears being thus rotatable by the pinion gear in opposite directions. A clutch system is provided for selectively causing the impeller shaft to alternatively be engaged by one or the other of the ring gears and thereby selectively rotating the impeller in opposite directions.

Abstract: A system for determining the direction of rotation of the crankshaft of an internal combustion engine includes a sensor assembly for generating a crank rotation direction signal. The sensor assembly includes a stator having a sprocket fixed to the crank and having a plurality of teeth. The rotation of the crank, and the sprocket with the crank, results in changes in the magnetic field, and such changes or flux create a current in a conductor. The rotor also includes, at one angular location about the sprocket, a first interruption that serves as a first reference point or marker. The interruption in the sprocket teeth creates an irregularity in the magnetic flux and, consequently in the generated current or signal. The rotor also includes a second interruption or marker at an angle other than 1800 from the first marker. The second interruption differs physically from the first interruption, so that a second irregularity which is distinguishable from the first irregularity occurs in the generated signal.

Abstract: A method of operating a two-stroke, spark-ignited, internal combustion engine in which the ignition is time-based controlled at low or idle speeds and is crank-angle-based controlled at higher speeds.