Abstract: The compression stroke supplies a small portion of the compressed air to a considerably smaller, fixed-volume receiving chamber through a valved communication passage. Simultaneously, fuel is injected into the air stream to mix with the air with the air pressure increasing in the small chamber until the air reaches ignition temperature to ignite the air/fuel mixture. The resulting rapid rise in pressure acts upon a check valve to seal the passage and to contain the combustion process within the small chamber. The small quantity of air therein is insufficient to support complete combustion, therefore most of the fuel is conditioned to a state of auto-ignition. The piston continues to compress the main air charge in the cylinder and slightly before TDC a controllable valve opens a second passage to expel the superheated mixture into the large volume of compressed air in the cylinder.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes a plurality of cylinders arranged parallel to and equally spaced from a longitudinally extending engine axis with a pair of opposed pistons mounted in each cylinder for controlled reciprocation therein. Respective rotatably mounted axial-faced cams and connected followers control the motion of the pistons through the operating cycle to permit at least one and preferably more power strokes from each cylinder during each rotation of the engine. A controllable divider valve is located between the opposed faces of the pistons to define, on the one side, a first air/fuel receiving compression chamber and, on the other side, a second relatively high-pressure ignition air receiving chamber.

Abstract: An engine and method in accordance with this invention includes a plurality of parallel cylinders equally spaced from a longitudinally extending engine axis with a pair of opposed pistons in each cylinder for controlled reciprocation therein. Respective rotatably mounted axial-faced cams and followers control the motion of the pistons through the operating cycle to permit at least one power stroke from each cylinder during each rotation of the engine. A controllable divider valve located between the opposed faces of the pistons defines, on one side, a first air/fuel receiving compression chamber and, on the other side, a second relatively high-pressure ignition air receiving chamber.