US763949A - Means for cooling automobile-engines. - Google Patents

Description

No. 768,949. I PATENTED JULY 5, 1904.

J. O. ANDERSON. MEANS FOR COOLING AUTOMOBILE ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.21,19O4.

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J. G. ANDERSON.

MEANS FOR COOLING AUTOMOBILE ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 21, 1904.

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Patented July 5, 1904.

PATENT EEicE.

JAMES C. ANDERSON, OF JERSEY CITY, NEVV'JERSEY.

MEANS FOR COOLING AUTOMOBILE-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 763,949, da uly 5, 1904.

Application filed January 21,1904. Serial No. 189,963. (No model.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES C. ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for Cooling Automobile-Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to means for cooling explosion-engines, and has special reference to the cooling of such engines when used upon automobiles.

The disadvantages connected with watercooled engines are well known, prominent among which may be mentioned the liability of the water to freeze in cold weather, the complexity and weight of the various pipes, tanks, and pumps in the circulatory system, and the care required to keep the apparatus in good working order. To avoid these disadvantages, attempts have been made to cool the engine by circulating air around the cylinders and valve-boxes, this being accomplished by means of fans driven by the engine and also by the draft created by the movement of the vehicle when the engine .is used to drive an automobile. Air-cooled engines are, however, not considered to be so effective as the water-cooled engine, the principal difficulty residing in the fact that air cannot be passed rapidly enough around the engine to keep it at an efficient working temperature. Any arrangement, therefore, in air-cooled engines which will circulate the air most rapidly in contact with the walls of the engine or which will bring the coolest available air into contact therewith will be an advantage. These things I have accomplished by my invention, as will appear from the description hereinafter. It should first be pointed out, however, thatan accepted construction for automobiles driven by a multiplex-cylinder engine is one in which the engine is placed under a hood at the forward end of the car with the cylinders arranged in a fore-and-aft line, so that the crank-shaft will be at right angles to the axles and permit of the simplest and most effective form of power transmission between said crank-shaft and the axle. An engine arranged with its cylinders one behind the,

other in this manner, however, is not in the most advantageous position to be cooled by the circulation of air due to the motion of the vehicle, for the reason that an unequal cooling results, because the air first impinges against the front cylinder and is to an extent heated, so that it is not so eifective on the cylinders behind. For this reason it has heretofore been proposed to turn the engine around, so that its shaft is parallel to the axles and the cylinders arranged abreast across the front of the vehicle. This results in a uniform cooling by air, but introduces difliculty in the transmission of power from the engine to the rear axle and limits the size and power of the engine to the available width of the vehicle-frame.

A feature of my invention is to provide for the cooling by air of a multiplex-cylinder engine in which the cylinders are arranged in the fore-and-aft or most approved position and by such means that the air at atmospheric temperature will strike all of the cylinders at the same time and will have the same cooling effect thereon as if they wereplaced abreast across the front of the vehicle.

Another disadvantage in the cooling of the engine entirely by a blast of air created by the movement of the vehicle itself is the fact that when the engine is running at high speed and the vehicle is either stationary or running at low speed the quantity of air passing the engine, which under such circumstances should be the greatest possible, is, in fact, none in case the vehicle is standing still and comparatively little in case it is moving at slow speed.

It is therefore another object of my in vention to provide means for maintaining a movement of air past the engine at speed proportionate to the speed of the engine, so that whether the vehicle be stationary or running the movement of the air will not vary. My construction, however, is such that 1 am able to take advantage of the motion of the vehicle to help produce the necessary coolingcurrent of air.

The invention Will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings,

in wh ich I I I Figure 1 is a horizontal section through the hood at the front of an automobile, showing a portion of the machinery in plan. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the hood on line :1: .z' of Fig. 1, showing the machinery in side elevation. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the hood, showing the engine in end elevation; and Fig. 4.- is a sectional detail of the exhaustnozzle and air-passage.

A is a portion of the flooring of the body of an automobile, B the dashboard, and C the hood covering and protecting the engine and located in front of the dash.

E is the engine, shown as having four cylinders arranged in a plane running fore and aft of the car, the crank-shaft a being at right angles to the axles of the vehicle. The space inclosed by the hood and occupied by the engine is divided into two compartments by a partition f, running fore and aft and occupying a plane substantially coincident with the vertical axes of the cylinders, the partition having an opening fitting closely over the cylinders. The forward end of the partition along the vertical line where it abuts against the forward. cylinder is deflected and leads thence in adiagonal direction, as indicated by the part f, to one corner of the front of the hood, andv the front of the hood being open, as usual, air passing therethrough will have access only to one of the compartments into which the hood is divided. This compartment is by design the one in which the valvechambers of the various cylinders of the engine are located. The front of the hood is a grill or lattice work (Z, made up of vertical blades set at an angle to the direction of motion, such that air passing between them will be deflected toward the compartment containing the valve-boxes. This compartment, for the sake of clearness, I will designate as g, and the other compartment as g. The engine is provided with the usual thin flanges or wings a on its exterior walls to furnish large contact-surface for the air to facilitate the exchange of the heat. These flanges are placed around the upper ends of the cylinders and the valve-boxes where the greatest heat is generated, and the spaces between them form free passages of communication from the compartment 1 to the compartment g, the zone below the flanges being closed by the partition f. From the chamber g an exhaust-tube h of considerable diametcrleads toward the rear of the vehicle, and in this t'ubeis placed the exhaust-nozzle z' of the engine. This exhaustnozzle consists of a hollow ring having an annular opening z" presented toward the exit of the tube, the ring being axially located in the tube. At the point where the ring opens into the tube there is an annular restriction or throat j, formed by the casting The object of this construction is to afford large contact of the escaping products of combustion with the column of air, so as to transfer a maximum of propulsive effect to the latter and also to obtain a rapid and thorough interchange of heat between the two named gases, all of which better utilizes the available energy of the products of combustion and contributes to a silent exhaust or exit. The exhaust-pipe from each cylinder leads to a trunk-pipe Z, which in turn leads to the ring or nozzle 4. Thus the exhaust from all of the cylinders passes through this nozzle.

The operation is as follows: WVhile the vehicle is in motion a current of air is caused to pass through the open front of the hood and be deflected into the compartment g, from which it passes simultaneously into contact with the exterior walls of all of the cylinders. It is forced through the many spaces between the flanges of the cylinders into the compartment 9. It then finds an exitthrough the tube 71, past the exhaust-nozzle 1:, and again to the atmosphere through the rear end of the tube. It will thus be seen that by dividing the hood into the two compartments located on opposite sides of the engine the air at atmospheric temperature strikes the valve-boxes and walls of the various cylinders all at the same time, as if, in fact, the engine was arranged with its cylinders abreast across the front of the machine. One cylinder is therefore cooled to the same extent as the others. Besides the current of air produced by the movement of the vehicle a current more to be relied upon will be produced by the running of the engine. Since the exhaust-passages from the cylinders all lead to the nozzle 71, a suction will be produced in the tube It in the direction of its exit to an extent depending upon the speed of the engine or the pressure of its exhaust. This suction will draw air from the compartment g into the compartment g and force it outward through the end of the tube 72.. Thus if the engine is running free and the vehicle stationary a circulation of air to cool the engine will still be maintained. Also if the vehicle is running uphill with its engine running at high speed and the vehicle at low speed, owing to the low ratio of gear connection, there will still be an adequate circulation of air to accomplish the necessary cooling. I am aware that in some air-cooled engines the current of air is created partially by fans driven by the engine, which in so far as their utility to cool the engine while the vehicle is stationary is concerned is the equivalent of my invention; but from the standpoint of simplicity of apparatus and operation I consider my method of utilizing the exhaust to be superior. There is always more or less power wasted in the exhaust from these engines, and by properly designing the nozzle v1 and the passage it this power can be utilized Without objectionable reaction. In fact, the nozzle and the tube can be incorporated into a muffler, in which case they will add substantially nothing to the cost of the outfit. I propose placing a door in IIO the side of the hood, as shown at 0, opening into the compartment g, which will give acess to all parts of the engine requiring attention,

and same may be opened for the purpose of making adjustments of the engine while it is running without in any way interfering with the cooling of the engine, according to the plan'of the engine.

It will thus be seen that in an air-cooled engine I have preserved the present accepted type of machine and at the same time provided means for cooling the cylinders uniformly and for applying the cooling agent in accordance with the speed of the engine without relying upon the speed of the vehicle.

It is observed that the arrangement of chamber g at one side of the engine and the pro vision for conducting air intoit and then into contact with the external walls of the engine will perform a useful function without the chamber g as such on the opposite side. This latter chamber is provided mainly to allow the suction of the'exhaust to act upon' the air cooling-column.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In an automobile, a multicylinder-engine arranged with its cylinders in a fore-and-aft line, a casing covering the engine, said casing having an opening for air, an air-passage leading from said opening to one side of the engine and an exit for air on the opposite side of the engine. 1

2. In an automobile, amulticylinder-engine arranged with its cylinders in a fore-and-aft line, a casing covering the engine, a partition in the casing dividing it into two compartments, an entrance for air in one compartment and an exit for air in the other compart ment,said partition having an opening through which air can pass from one compartment to the other, the engine being located in a position to be struck by the air on its way from one compartment to the other.

3. In an automobile, a multicylinder-engine arranged with its cylinders in a fore-and-aft line, a casing covering the engine, a partition in-the'casing dividing it into'two compartments, an entrance for air in one compartment and an exit for air in the other compartment, said partition provided with an opening occupied by the engine whereby the air in moving from one compartment to the other will be directed against the exterior walls of the engine, for the purpose set forth.

4. In an automobile, amulticylinder-engine arranged with its cylinders in a fore-and-aft line, a casing covering the engine, a fore-'andaft partition in the casing dividing it into two compartments, an entrance for air in'the front of one compartment and an exit for air in the other compartment, said' partition provided with an opening occupied by the engine whereby the air in moving from'one compartment to the other will be directed against the exterior walls of the engine, for the purpose set forth.

In Witness whereof Isubscribe my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES o, ANDE SON;

VVitnesses:

FRANK S. ()BER, WALDO IVLCHAPIN.

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