US1623177A - Valve for internal-combustion engines - Google Patents

Description

April 5, 1927.

O. C. FUNDERBURK VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed Sept. 20, 1923 Eff UDEM' 2 Sheets-Sheen:l 1

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2 O. C. FUNDERBURK Filed Sept. 20, 1923 VALVE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES April 5, 1927.

IN\/E NTR @m Patented pr. 5, 1927.

PATENT OFFICE.

OTIS C. FUNDERBUBK, OF BOSTON, .MASSACHUSETTS VALVE For. INTERNAL- coMBUs'rIoN ENGINES.-

Application filed September 20, `17923. Serial No. 663,883.

` the valve lifter on the `lower end ofthe valve stem is one of the chief causes of noise in an' internal combustion engine. This is particularly the case in internal combustion engines having overhead valves -and cam shafts adjacent the crank shaft since large clearances arenecessary owing to the large amount of expansion in internal combustion engines running at-high temperatures. It is also well understood that in V-type engnes `the work of adjusting the valve liters after the valves have been ground occupies asmuch time as or' more than the work of v grinding the valves. It is also understood that this adjustment requires great skill and must be done very carefully, otherwise the engine will not operate properly or will be 'will now be described are arranged in pairs,

noisy.

Attempts have been made to overcome these difiiculties by interposing a column of lubricating oil between the valve lifter and the valve stemvbut such attempts have not been successful chieiybecause no elective means okeeping the column of oil supplied with the varying quantities required has been devised. a l

The device embodying -my invention is applicable both to L-head and T-head engines as well as to overhead valve engines, but since the problem of noise is particularly serious in overhead valve engines, and since, by increasing the length of the oil column, it is possible to do away altogether with the long push rod and rocker arms.

I have shown my invention in its preferred form as embodied in an engine having overhead valves.

The invention will be fully understood `from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and the novel features thereof will be pointed outv and clearly defined in the claims at the close of this specification.

Referringngw to the drawings:

.O Fig. 1 is a section of an internal combustion englnerhaving overhead valves equipped with a valve gear embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on a larger scale showing one valve and connected parts.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3--3, Fig. 1, showing two adjacent valve lifters together with the. casing in which they operate and the cam.

\ Fi 4 1s a side elevation of the casing in whic the valve lifters operate.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6 6, Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 is a section on line 7 7, Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating the ac'tion of the parts.

Fig. 9 is a section showing my invention as ap lied to an L-head motor.

Re erring now to the drawings, and particularly to Figfl, there is shown at A a cylinder block, and at B the removable head casting. .A camshaft is shown at C; two

cams being shown at D andE (see Fig. 3).

One inlet valve is shown at F and one ex haustbv valve at G. These parts are 'of ordinary construction, except as statedin the claims, and form no part of my invention.

The. valve operating mechanisms lwhich the valve operating mechanism for each valve being4 in part dependent for its operation on the other valve operating mechanism of the pair. At H is shown ,a pipe leading to the lubricating system of the engine (not shown) an supplying the valve operating mechanism with a 'continuous supply of oil under pressure.

At 11 is shown acasing mounted on the cylinder block and having within two cylindrical bores 12 in which operate valve lifters 13 and 14. In the drawings as'shown,

each casing 11 has two cylindrical bores therein the whole being arranged for the operation of a pair Vof valves. It will-be understood', however. that I do not limit myself to this construction since, it` more convenient, multiples of this unit may be formed in a single casting. .The valve lifters 13 and 14 are. supplied with cam rolls-15 and 16 in `the well known manner, .and the said rollsare held against thel cams by springs 17,'the upper end of each spring resting against a shoulder a in the casing and the lower end resting against a shoulder b. on the valve lifter. Each valve llifter vvis turned down, as shown at c, to form an annular space, below and above which are cylindrical portions -which fit tightly in the bore of thecasing. Each bore is supplied withthree annular' enlargements of oil grooves; those in the right-handbore which operatethe inlet' valve being marked 18, 19,

and 20, while those in the exhaust valve bore are marked ,21, 22 and 23. It will bcseen that the top grooves are therefore designa ted 18 and 21, te middle grooves are designated 19 and 22 and the lower grooves are designated 20 and 23. .The sections shown in Figs. 5, 6 and -7 are taken onY horizontal planes through the three 'sets of oil grooves;

thus Fig. 5 is taken through the bottom oil grooves 20 and 23.

n F ig. 6 is taken through the middle oil grooves`19 and 22 and Fig. 7

is taken through the top oil grooves 18 andv 7 lnclusive, and the ldiagram which is shown in Fig. 8. Thus-the middle grooveil) of the'v right-hand bore. is connected with thetop groove 21 ofr the left-hand bore by'horizons tal passages 28 and 29 and thevertical bore 27. Likewise the middle groove 22 of the left-hand bore is connected with the top.

groove 18 of the right-hand bore by -the horizontal passages 30 and 31 and the vertical passage 26. The arrangement of these passages in simplified form will be readily understood from an examintion of the diagram comprising Fig. 8. The turned-down' portions c on the valve lifters act as valves which connect the lower oil grooves 20 and 23 with the middle oil grooves19 and 22 at certain times during their travel. The elect of this is to connect the source 'of oil supply from the lubricating system under pressure with the top oil- groove 18 or 21 depending upon the position of the valve litters, The top of the valve lifter -when in itslowest position is slightlybelow the top of 'the upper oil groove so that this oil groove then opens into the space above the valve lifter. The' spaces above the tops of the valve lifters, designated 6 and 7, respectively, consitute theoil column by which the valve stem is moved. In theormshown in Figs. Lto 3,

` this oil column extends through the pipes 32 v and 33, passages 35 and into the chamber 36 formed' in.`the cover 37S'thereby exerting pressure'on'the end face Z of the valve stem 38. In the form shown in Fig. 9, however,

as will be later `explained,the oil column is very short, being designated 40. The length The middle groovesof the oil column is clearly dependent on the distance between the valve lifter and the valve stem and it is one of the advantages of the system embodying my invention that thc-lifter and .valve stem can be placed at any desired distance apart, since the oil c'olumn can be contained within any connecting pipe or passageand being flexible, the design is not affected by the necessity of providing a mechanical connection between the two parts. Y

The mechanism above the oil column -as embodied in an overhead valve mechanism will now be described.

The valve stem 38 slides in a tubular gide 39 in the head` casting B. `The upper end of the valve stem is provided with an enlarged cylindrical member 41 forming a plunger or piston which slides in a hollow-Valve spring cage 42. The piston 41' fits an upper cylinder portion 420 of the cage 42, which cylinder portion is open at its upper end to the chambers 36 and at its inner end is enlarged or counterbored, as shown at'421. The cage 42 screws onto a thimble 43 and has a shoulder e seating against a gasket 44 having a ground spherical face f which contacts with a complementary spherical face or seat in the head casting B. Within the thimble 43 and Valve cage 42 is a valve spring 46, one end of which seats against the inturned shoulder g or the thimble 43' and theother end of thevalve stem. -It` will therefore bc seen that the valve spring 46 tends to hold the valve 'closed and that the ground seat -f between the head and the washer 45 permits the valve cage 42 toadjust itself so that the bore wit-hin which the plunger 41 moves will be perfectly alined concentrically with the axis of the valve stem 38. The joint at e is also a ground joint. The spherical joint f takes care of misalignment and the flat joint at e takes care of eccentricity.

At 47 lis shown a bleed port which-carries away from the interior of the valve -cage 42 any. oil which may leak by the pist0l'41. Itwill thereforel be seen that there is no oil pressure wit-'hin the valve cage 42 and therefore the pressure exerted by the oil on the face dof the piston tends to compress the spring 46 and open the valve. l

It will be understood that the structure Fig. 3, the turned-down portion c connects' which seats against a washer 45 secured to the oil groove with the oil groove 19 and oil flows freely from the lubricating system into the passage 28, vertical passage 27, passage 29 to the upper oil,r groove 21 of the 5 other valve-lifter 14. At this time the valvelit'ter l4 is in its low position and the eX- haust valve G is closed. The oilv therefore fills the oil pipe and chamber 36 if it is empty or supplies any deficiency it there 1u has been any leakage, but the pressure e'xerted by the lubricating system is not-sufi'icient,to compress the spring 46 and open the valve. Tthereaftcr, the revolution of the cam shaftcases the cam E tov perlnit the valve lifter 13 to drop, the cam D still holding the cam lifter- 14 in substantially the same position. The cam lifter 13 reaches its lowest position before the cam lifter 14 starts to rise,land the turned-down portion c drops below the lower edge of the middle groove 19, so that the -Valve lifters are then in the posit-ion shown in the diagram forming Fig. 8. .At this time the oil passage from the lubricating system to the oil column above the cam lifter 14 is closed, and this takes place before the cam lifter 14 begins to rise. Thereafter, the cam. lifter 14 rises,

pushin'g the oil column ahead of itjand lifting the valve, but since theother cam lifter has cut olf communication with the lubricating system, none of' the oil can be pushed back into the lubricating system, and the action in lifting the valve is positive. At the ,next revolution of the cam shaft the valvelifters assume the reverse positions, and the lubricating system supplies oil through the ports 30, 26 and 31 to the upper oil groove 18 on the inlet valve-lifter 13. At the same time the lifter 14 rises above the top of 7the upper oil .groove 21 ofthe exhaust valve lifter, and raises the column of oil in the pipe 33 between the end of the lifterand the end of the-valve stem, and opens the valve. It will therefore be seen that'when one valve lifter is pushing up thel oil column to open its correspondingvalve, the other vvalve lifter is down and is being supplied with oil to replace any deficiency caused by leakage, or otherwise. It will also be seenthat the lifters operate not only to lift the columns of oil, but also as a slide valve to make the connections between the ports necessary toaccomplish the replenishment of the oil column for the adjacent valve.

The extent of opening movement of each'.y

Aapplied to an ordinary L-head engine having -the inlet and exhaustvalves on the same side. .The construction of the valve lifter is exactly the same as that already described in connection with Figs. 1 and to 8 inclusive. In this construction.l however, 'the valve steni S is provided atthe lower end with a piston 5() operating in the upper end of the bore of the lifter casing 51. Between the'lower end of the plunger 50'and the upper end of thev valve lifter 52 is a space 4() within which is the oil column which transmits the movement of the valve lifter to the valve stem. This oil columnas will be seen is very small indeed and the valve lifter 'is so near to the lower end of the valve stem 4that in case thereshould be a `t'ailure ot' the lubricating system to supply oil to the valve mechanism the lower. end of the valve stem would 'rest on the upperl end of the lifter Aand the mechanism` would still. operate through with a reduced valve opening. This is an important feature ot' this embodiment of my invention, lbecause failure of the oil column resulting from leakage orotherwise will not interrupt the action of the valve mechanism. Furthermore it makes it possible `to start the` engine even though the oil' columns are empty.

From the'foregoing itY will be seen that' the" mechanism embodying my invention .provides a continuous supply of oil for the replenishment of the oil columns and at thev l.saine time affords a substantially rigid connect'ion between the valve lifter and the ,'100

valve stem without thepresence ot a clearance'which necessarily results in objectionable noise. It willalso beseen that the mechanism automatically compensates for any change in adjustment and there-fore after the valves areA ground or the parts have been assembled, no adjustment of the valve lii'ters is required, thus doing. away with at least half the labor resulting from valve grinding.

Moreover, the arrangement in pairs, in consequence of which the oil column over one valve lifter isbeing replenishedvby the action of the other valve` lifter, makes it possible to attain the full liftV of the valve in every instance,'which is a great improve- 115 ment over constructions heretofore tempted in'which some of the oil in the o1l column is pushed back into the lubricating system, therebyv cutting down the amountl which the valve islifted. In my present device, this does not take place. because communication with the lubricating system is completely cut oil before the valve lifter begins to push the column of oil up. Therefore, since at this' time-none of the oil can 125 escape, the movement of the valve lifter produces` an equal movement of the valve stem.

It will also be seen that while the arcolumn is being replenished while the other oil column is'acting to operate the valve, `is desirable, it is not necessary to have the valves themselves on the same sidefthe engine Ias the valve litters. Furthermore the invention 'is capablev of embodiment in various .other forms or arrangements, thus making possible greater flexibility in the design of the engine. than has heretofore been possible where it has been necessary to have a ,direct mechanical connection between the valve stem and the valve lifter.

lYhat I claim is:

1. The oil operated valve mechanism in which cooperating ports in a valve lifter and the casing therefor establish communication between a source of oil supply under pressure and the oil space between another lifter and its cooperating valve stem whereby one lifter acts as a valve to control the supply of oil to the oilv valve stem,.while ports in the latter lifterand its casing control. the flow to the oil space between the first mentioned lifter and its cooperating valvestem..

'3. The oil operated-valve mechanism for a pair 'of valves in which cooperating ports in a pair of adjacent valve lifters and the cas-y mg fqrthem alternately act as valves so that -oil from Va source of oil supply under pressure is alternately supplied to the spaces between said valve lifters and the valves operated by them.

4. In combination, -a casinghaving therespace of another lifter dur' ing the idle period of the latter.

in two bores each with three oillgrooves about them, and having passages connecting a. groove of one bore with a groove of another bore, and having a passage leading from a source of oil supply under pressure to one of the grooves'of each bore, valve lifters in each bore each having a port which in one position of the lifter will connect two adjacent grooves, said casing also forming at least lin part a space to contain an oil column to support the valve stem, said parts being arranged so that the oil column space for one` valve lifter will be connected by the port in the other lifter with the grooves in its bore and thereby withl'he source of oil supply.

5. The oil operated valve mechanism for a pair of valves inwhich cooperating ports in a pair of adjacent valve lifters and the casing for them alternately act as valves so that oil from a source of oil supply under pressureV is alternately supplied to the oil spaces between the valve lifters andy the valves ope-rated by them, said ports being arranged ,so that the communication between the source of oil supply and the oil space is wholly cut off before the valve lifter begins its lifting movement.

6. In combination with a lifter and a casing therefor, a valve chamber, a passage connecting said casing and Said valve chamber, a valve stem and a cage containing the spring within the chamber. there being a combined fiat and spherical joint between the cage and its seat so that the cage can adjust itself to the position of the valve stem.

In testimony whereof I affix my s1gnature.

.OTIS C. FUNDERBURK.

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