Apparatus for converting one form of energy into another form of energy

Abstract

Improvements in apparatus for converting one form of energy into another form with the use of an essentially closed, continuous loop passageway containing a plurality of freely movable, unrestrained bodies. Force generated by expansion of a gas is applied to successive bodies in one region of the passageway to propel them around the passageway in one direction. At another point in the passageway, at least a portion of the kinetic energy of the propelled bodies is converted into another form of energy. Each body, before being propelled around the passageway, enters a compressor section where it compresses the gas in the passageway, the compressed gas being bled off through a check valve where energy is added to it before it is used to propel a body around the passageway in the expander section which immediately follows the thrustor section. The invention is characterized by the addition of conduits connected to the compressor and thrustor sections to regulate the pressures therein and prevent noisy operation, wasted kinetic energy and the possibility of having bodies move backwards from the thrustor section into the compressor section.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.