Abstract: A free piston combustion chamber coupled to air compression and gas expansion chambers are combined with a rotary motor. The rotary motor shaft drives the air compressor, receives power from the expanding gases in the expansion chamber and provides residual torque and power for external use. Two combustion chambers located at each end of the free piston receive compressed air and fuel for combustion outside of the rotary motor assembly. The motion of the free piston between the two combustion chambers is independent of the motor rotary motion. The air admission inside the combustion chambers, the fuel injection and the combustion initiation process are all controlled and timed by the free piston movement back and forth. A heat exchanger is located between the combustion-chamber/free-piston assembly and the rotary motor. The compressed air exiting from the compression chamber is heated by the gases exiting from the combustion chambers, before they are admitted into the expansion chamber of the rotary motor.

Abstract: A free piston combustion chamber coupled to air compression and gas expansion chambers are combined with a rotary motor. The rotary motor shaft drives the air compressor, receives power from the expanding gases in the expansion chamber and provides residual torque and power for external use. Two combustion chambers located at each end of the free piston receive compressed air and fuel for combustion outside of the rotary motor assembly. The motion of the free piston between the two combustion chambers is independent of the motor rotary motion. The air admission inside the combustion chambers, the fuel injection and the combustion initiation process are all controlled and timed by the free piston movement back and forth. A heat exchanger is located between the combustion-chamber/free-piston assembly and the rotary motor. The compressed air exiting from the compression chamber is heated by the gases exiting from the combustion chambers, before they are admitted into the expansion chamber of the rotary motor.

Abstract: A free-piston combustion member comprising air compression and gas expansion chambers is combined with a rotary motor. The rotary motor shaft drives an air compressor, receives power from the gases expanding in an expansion chamber and provides residual torque and power for external use. Two combustion chambers located at each end of the free piston receive compressed air and fuel for combustion outside of the rotary motor assembly. The motion of the free piston between the two combustion chambers is independent of the motor rotary motion. The air admission inside the combustion chambers, the fuel injection and the combustion initiation process are all controlled and timed by the free piston movement back and forth. A heat exchanger is located between the combustion-chamber/free-piston assembly and the rotary motor. It also serves as storage tank for the compressed air before its admission in the combustion chambers in order to smooth out pressure surges in the compressed air entering the combustion chambers.

Abstract: A fluid-driven power plant includes a motor and a combustion energy input device combined in a closed, pressurized system. A balanced cylinder provides variable low pressure fluid storage within the system and also operates the compression stroke of the combustion device. A compression acceleration cylinder in direct fluid communication with the accumulator assists in the compression stroke allowing the balance cylinder to be operated at a lower pressure. An opposed combustion piston configuration balances the forces within the system. A device for monitoring the speed of the combustion pistons allows for compensation for misfires and variations in the heating value of fuel. Apparatus is provided to adjust the sensitivity of the power demand controls and to anticipate a future demand for high power output.

Abstract: An internal combustion hydraulic engine is powered by compression and ignition of pressurized fuel to pressurize hydraulic fluid. The timing and operation of the engine is controlled by a hydraulically driven distributor valve. A pair of starting valves are employed to hydraulically actuate the distributor valve for starting the operation of the engine. An intensifier pump powered by the engine and coordinated with the operation of the engine is employed to pressurize the fuel which is combusted for powering the engine.

Abstract: A free piston combustion chamber coupled to air compression and gas expansion chambers are combined with a rotary motor. The rotary motor shaft drives the air compressor, receives power from the expanding gases in the expansion chamber and provides residual torque and power for external use. Two combustion chambers located at each end of the free piston receive compressed air and fuel for combustion outside of the rotary motor assembly. The motion of the free piston between the two combustion chambers is independent of the motor rotary motion. The air admission inside the combustion chambers, the fuel injection and the combustion initiation process are all controlled and timed by the free piston movement back and forth. The compressed air exiting from the compression chamber is heated by the gases exiting from the combustion chambers, before they are admitted into the expansion chamber of the rotary motor.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine in which a rotor or turbine is driven by the exhaust gases of interconnected double acting pistons. The three parallel pistons are interconnected by pinion gears engaging racks on the sides of the pistons. Improved mechanisms are disclosed for coordination of the movement of the pistons, the manner in which the intake and exhaust valves are operated, the manner in which the engine is started, and the manner in which the firing of spark plugs is timed. A control wheel is provided for starting and valve operation. A cam connected to the pinion gears operates sets of points to fire the spark plugs.

Abstract: An internal combustion driven fluid pumping apparatus for accumulating fluid pressure to be applied against a load includes a two-stroke combustion cylinder having a piston drivingly connected to a piston of a linearly disposed compression cylinder, which is in turn connected by a fluid conduit to a pressure accumulator. The accumulator is operatively connected to the compression cylinder such that the frequency of cycles of the combustion cylinder varies with the changes in the demand of the load upon the fluid pressure stored in the accumulator, and such that the speed of the pistons in each individual stroke is substantially constant. To begin each cycle, fluid is forced into the compression cylinder at a pressure less than the pressure of fluid in the accumulator, but sufficient to compress and ignite combustible gases in the combustion cylinder. A fluid-driven power plant is disclosed including a motor and a combustion energy input device combined in a closed, pressurized system.

Abstract: The system of this disclosure provides apparatus by which fossil fuel is utilized in the generation of power. The generated power is more efficiently utilized by the apparatus. The system includes an internal combustion process which moves a piston. The piston is directly connected to actuate a special hydraulic pump which provides power fluid to an improved hydraulic motor. Each component of the system is specifically designed respective to the other components of the system to complement one another in a manner to effect an increase in efficiency, and therefore the efficiency gained from each component is added to the efficiency gained by the other components, all of which results in an accumulative gain in power from the total system.

Abstract: A power plant comprises a free piston gas generator having compression chambers and motor cylinders. A reciprocable assembly has drive pistons which are slidably received in the motor cylinders and compression pistons, each slidable for defining a variable volume compression chamber. A rotary compressor delivers air at above atmospheric pressure to the compressor chambers which are distributed into a first set and a second set. The outlets of the first set deliver air to the motor cylinders. The second set delivers pressurized air to the exhaust gas and the mixture is admitted into a power gas turbine. The temperature of the mixture of hot air and exhaust gas is increased before delivery to the turbine by a heat exchanger and a compression chamber.

Abstract: A hydraulic device for a reciprocating piston engine to convert the piston motion into rotation of a drive shaft. A hydraulically driven rotor is mounted for rotation on the drive shaft and has a close machine fit with the rotor housing. The cylinder in which the piston reciprocates is mounted on the rotor housing and communicates with the peripheral surface of the rotor through specially located openings formed in a plate. The rotor contains hydraulic fluid and its periphery has a portion provided with open passages to direct fluid into the base end of the cylinder during the compression stroke. During the power stroke of the piston, the fluid in the base end of the cylinder is expelled against vanes which are formed on the rotor periphery, thereby turning the rotor. A cam and associated linkage mechanically force the piston to the bottom dead center position at the end of each power stroke.

Abstract: In a preferred embodiment, for a turbine driven by hydraulic fluid, the combustion cylinder's piston is lubricated by the hydraulic fluid and drives the hydraulic fluid, and during the driven movement of the piston, movement of that piston causes the return reciprocal movement of another piston of another hydraulic combustion cylinder, and a starter motor is connected to drive both the turbine and the reciprocatable pistons.

Abstract: A power plant including a vane type engine having fuel compression means and a gas expansion means. Air or an air-fuel mixture compressed by the vanes in the compression means is fed to a free piston combustion member where burning takes place and gases are returned to the gas expansion means of the engine to drive the power shaft.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine in which a rotor or turbine is driven by the exhaust gases of a pair of interconnected double-acting pistons. The double-acting pistons are interconnected by a pinion gear and are internally constructed to have an inner piston slidably reciprocating within a chamber defined within an outer piston. The purpose of the inner piston is to feed additional fuel into the main combustion chamber in a controlled manner. Exhaust gases are collected and washed before being exhausted to the atmosphere or recycled within the engine.

Abstract: An engine for operating a hydraulic motor. Opposed pistons, joined by a common connecting rod operating between two cylinders and between internal combustion valving and ignition components, are used to drive fluid under pressure through a series of cross-over valves to and from a hydraulic motor. Hydraulic fluid is stored and maintained under pressure within the engine cylinders on the other side of the pistons forming an internal combustion engine. A series of embediments within the common connecting rod actuate a matched set of proximity detectors. The proximity detectors, in turn, time the operation of the engines and the operation of the cross-over valves without mechanical linkages. A hydraulic pump is used to start the engine. A blower is used to mix the fuel and air within the engine and to exhaust combustion gasses. The hydraulic motor drives a flywheel to store energy and to dampen the pulsations resulting from the shifting of the cross-over valves and the reciprocating action of the pistons.

Abstract: A linear engine/hydraulic pump system provides an efficient source of controllable fluid power thay may be used for a hydrostatic drive system of a vehicle. The engine/pump has a prompt first stroke full power capability and capability of prompt power increase from a lower power operation. A supplemental engine (bounce engine) produces output work to operate the power engine of the free piston engine pump during a compression stroke of the latter. The engine is of the opposed piston type with a synchronizer and cross drive to maintain controlled interrelated operational movement of the two oppositely moving pistons thereof while combining output work effort and holding approximately constant the approximate center of mass of the engine. A novel starter also is disclosed.

Abstract: A fuel injected free piston-turbine heat engine wherein a piston moves reciprocally within a cylinder to deliver gases to an impulse turbine powering a fan-scavenged two-stroke cycle operation of said piston, there being a low compression storage chamber of substantial volume normally open into the cylinder and closed by upward movement of the piston to withhold gases at combustion supporting temperature, there being a high compression auto ignition chamber of limited volume comprising the upper portion of the cylinder and isolated from said low compression chamber by said piston closure thereof for continued compression of combustion supporting gases by said piston movement to auto ignition temperature, and there being constant volume fuel injection means for injecting fuel at high pressure into the auto ignition chamber and at a progressively diminishing rate as the first mentioned storage chamber is re-opened and as the cylinder pressure decreases during the effective power stroke.

Abstract: A gas cushioned free piston type engine comprises two oppositely arranged combustion cylinders and a pair of pistons reciprocably mounted therein, which are rigidly connected to each other by a common piston rod. The engine includes further a pump cylinder provided in a central part of the engine located between the two combustion cylinders, a pump piston having opposite faces impingeable by fluid, fixed to the piston rod and dividing the pump cylinder into a pair of pump cylinder chambers, a common suction chamber and a common pressure chamber, which, together with inlet valves and outlet valves, are arranged in the central part of the engine.

Abstract: There is disclosed an engine which drives a turbine via a series of relatively identical hot gas pulses. The series of pulses are generated by a combustor-compressor unit under a controllable firing rate. The firing rate of the unit is rapidly variable over a wide range to enable one to drive the turbine and a shaft coupled to the turbine for propelling a vehicle. The combuster compressor is controlled to develop the gas pulses by a servo system which monitors the shaft rotation for varying mechanical loads to operate the turbine at a constant speed. A torque converter is employed to transform the shaft power into mechanical power necessary to propel a vehicle at conventional and required speed variations.

Abstract: A new heat engine in which liquid moves in a tube, one end of which is closed. The tube is heated at the closed end, and the liquid oscillates along the length of the tube. When the liquid interface enters the hot section, some of the interface vaporizes, so that the pressure in the space between the interface and the end of the tube increases, and the interface is forced back into the cooler section of the tube. The vapor then condenses, the pressure falls, and the liquid moves back toward the hot end.The longer the tube in relation to size of the hot section or "boiler," the greater the momentum of the liquid when it enters the boiler, and the higher the peak pressure ratio which is developed. High pressure ratios are essential for efficient operation. It is also generally necessary for the boiler walls to be heavy enough to "store" the heat required for one complete cycle, and to be able to reject it to the water during the very short time that the interface is within the boiler.

Abstract: In order to make better use of the energy which is generated by the combustion of fuel and air in an internal combustion engine, such an engine is provided with a turbine through which the hot exhaust combustion gases are expanded to drive a power output shaft of the turbine, a compressor for compressing the air drawn into the engine, and passages extending in the engine around the combustion chamber or chambers through which pass the compressed air which is not used for combustion, this air extracting heat from the engine and being expanded through the turbine to assist the exhaust gases in driving the turbine output power shaft.

Abstract: An hydraulic power transmission circuit comprises a high-pressure section and a low-pressure section, which together include (a) an internal or external combustion free-piston engine to each of whose pistons is attached one piston pump, the pump piston and the engine piston being rigidly connected for the purpose of joint axial motion; (b) at least one rotary motor or linear actuator adapted to be driven by the hydraulic fluid pressurized by the said piston pumps; (c) valve means for directing the hydraulic fluid to and from the motors or actuators; (d) a charge pump; (e) accumulator means for balancing the fluctuations of pressure and quantity of the hydraulic fluid; and (f) means for controlling the operation of the free-piston engine, said means comprising a rotary auxiliary hydraulic motor of the positive displacement type in the low-pressure section of the circuit, which motor is provided with transmission means for driving a rotary distributor at a number of revolutions governed by the frequency of the

Abstract: Improved apparatus for generating a high pressure mixture of steam and combustion gases for utilization by a steam engine or the like. The apparatus includes a combustion cylinder and an accumulator cylinder of substantially equal diameter, with both cylinders interconnected at each end by pipes of substantially equal diameter to form a closed loop. A first pair of opposed free pistons is movable toward and away from each other in the combustion cylinder and a second pair of opposed free pistons is movable toward and away from each other in the accumulator cylinder. The space between the first pair of pistons comprises a combustion chamber, while the space between the second pair of pistons comprises an operating accumulator chamber filled with a compressible fluid.

Abstract: A power system is disclosed for use as an automotive drive engine, utilizing combustible fuel and hydraulic drive. A multiple-phase engine, incorporating three piston units, burns fuel to provide alternating-pressure tri-phasic hydraulic energy in three lines. The engine is resonant in operation, i.e. all parts move in a rectilinear mechanically-resonant motion pattern and a constant positional phase relationship is preserved between the engine pistons by a single hydraulic mechanism.As disclosed, the tri-phasic hydraulic energy is applied to a dynamic valve unit for conversion into a unidirectional hydraulic power stream that is applied to actuate one or more hydraulic motors. In the described embodiment, the valve unit is driven by a synchronous electrical motor which is phase varied in relation to the operating phase of the engine by a control unit that regulates the entire system for response to manual commands. The central logic or control unit receives manual command data as well as system data, e.g.

Abstract: An oil pressure chamber is coupled to the input of a turbine for driving the turbine with hydraulic fluid under pressure. A lower cylinder has a piston movably mounted therein for movement in axial directions. The output end of the lower cylinder is coupled to the oil pressure chamber. An upper cylinder has a piston movably mounted therein for movement in axial directions and coupled to the piston of the lower cylinder for movement therewith. A hydraulic fluid supply is coupled to the output end of the lower cylinder for supplying hydraulic fluid to the lower cylinder. A fuel and air mixture supply is coupled to the output end of the upper cylinder for supplying a fuel and air mixture to the upper cylinder. A coupling device couples the output end of the upper cylinder to the input end of the lower cylinder whereby movement of the piston from the input end to output end in the upper cylinder compresses the fuel and air mixture and supplies it to the input end of the lower cylinder.