Abstract: A solid pole oxygen sensor in which one end of a lead wire of platinum or platinum/rhodium is buried in a solid pole and the surfaces of the solid pole and the lead wire are coated with an electroconductive paste. The solid pole is wrapped or encased in a solid electrolyte, pressure-molded into a pellet, which is dried and then fired in a reducing atmosphere. The surface of the sintered mass thus obtained is then plated or baked to form a platinum electrode, and the oxygen sensor element thus obtained is fitted or secured to the tip of an approximately cylindrical ceramic insulator equipped with electroconductive zones to be connected to the platinum electrode.

Abstract: A solid pole oxygen sensor wherein an oxygen sensor element is composed of a solid pole with one end of a lead wire buried therein; an internal electrode formed on the outside surface of the solid pole; a solid electrolyte enclosing the electrode to constitute a solid pole assembly as a column with a projection at its top; and a platinum electrode separated from the lead wire. The oxygen sensor element is so secured to an almost cylindrical ceramic insulator by means of adhesive or the like that the upper top side of the oxygen sensor element having the projection is matched to a recess at the tip of the cylindrical ceramic insulator and a pair of electroconductive zones provided on the side wall of the cylindrical ceramic insulator are electrically connected with the platinum electrode and the lead wire. A process of manufacturing a solid oxygen sensor is also disclosed.

Abstract: An oxygen sensor with an oxygen sensor element having an outer protective layer of alumina, acting as getters with respect to catalyst poisons, particularly phosphorus, in exhaust gases, formed on the outer surface of a catalyst layer of platinum or a mixture of platinum and rhodium which is coated on an electrode protective layer provided on the outer electrode of an oxygen sensor element. Such an outer protective layer is additionally provided on the inner wall of the inner louver of the oxygen sensor having a double louver structure. A method of manufacturing an oxygen sensor with an oxygen sensor element comprising the steps of coating such an outer alumina protective layer onto the outer surface of said catalyst layer formed on an electrode protective layer provided onto the outer electrode of an oxygen sensor element and additionally coating such an alumina protective layer onto the inner wall of the inner louver of an oxygen sensor having a double louver structure.

Abstract: A protective layer of a refractory material deposited on a metal electrode layer of an oxygen sensing element is improved by a process comprising forming the protective layer onto the surface of the metal electrode layer by plasma spray coating the surface of the metal electrode layer, first with a refractory material powder at a position of a prescribed distance from a plasma spray coating device and at a prescribed electric power, and second, with a refractory material powder having the same particle size and composition as said refractory material powder used in the first plasma spray coating at a position of a distance greater than said prescribed distance and/or at an electric power lower than said prescribed electric power.

Abstract: The high temperature durability of an oxygen sensing element, which comprises a solid electrolyte member composed of sintered material, and a means for providing a reference oxygen partial pressure, composed of a sintered product of a finely divided metal or metal-metal oxide mixture powder and being completely embedded within the solid electrolyte member, is improved by incorporating in the finely divided metal or metal-metal oxide mixture powder an antisintering material and a pore-forming material capable of subliming or being decomposed, thereby to generate gas upon sintering. The amounts of the antisintering material and the pore-forming material are from 5 to 70% by weight and from 20 to 80% by weight, respectively, based on the total weight of these additives-incorporated metal or metal-metal oxide mixture. The low temperature operation capability of the oxygen sensing element is improved by further incorporating therein a minor amount of a platinum group metal.

Abstract: A temperature-compensated crystal oscillator for correcting frequency variations caused by temperature changes by means of a differential amplifier which detects an unbalanced voltage in a bridge circuit including a temperature sensitive element for controlling a capacitance of a variable capacitor. The oscillator includes a circuit element having a temperature characteristic responsive to a temperature characteristic of the variable capacitor. The aforesaid circuit element is positioned in a current sink path of the differential amplifier.

Abstract: Vehicle-mounted gaseous fuel generator consisting of a primary heat-exchange chamber holding coiled pipes for separately preheating a liquid hydrocarbon and water, a secondary heat-exchange chamber similarly equipped with coiled pipes utilizing the heat of the engine exhaust to heat and vaporize each of the fuel materials which have been preheated in the primary heat-exchange chamber, a reaction-reforming chamber composed of an outer reaction chamber for blending the hydrocarbon vaporized in the secondary heat exchange chamber with air for partial oxidation and an inner steam-reforming catalyst layer through which the combined flow of the partially oxidized gas and the vaporized water is passed to be transformed into an inflammable gas, and an apparatus for collecting the inflammable gas in a gas-collector and transmitting it via the primary heat-exchange chamber to the carburetor of the engine.

Abstract: Gas generator for mounting on an automobile, said generator comprising a float chamber for holding a liquid fuel, a gas tank to hold an inflammable gas generated through partial oxidation and steam-reforming of said liquid fuel after passage through catalyst beds, and a valve for opening and closing a duct which carries said liquid fuel from said float chamber to the carburetor in response to the pressure within said gas tank, characterized in that when starting, only the liquid fuel is supplied from said float chamber to the carburetor to drive the engine, and when said catalyst beds are heated up and the inflammable gas fills the gas tank, said inflammable gas is used as the fuel supply for the engine.

Abstract: A method of operating an internal combustion engine with a combustible gas which comprises the steps of: transforming a refined product of crude oil into a combustible gas in a gas generator by admitting said refined product into said gas generator with 60-120 % of the stoichiometric volume of oxygen needed to oxidize said refined product under the partial oxidation conditions of 400.about.800.degree.C with a space velocity ranging from 5000.about.50,000 V/VC .times. hr.sup..sup.-1 ; passing the combustible gas produced to an internal combustion engine to start and operate said internal combustion engine; and discharging the exhaust gases from said internal combustion engine.