Load responsive variable stroke internal combustion engine

In a four cycle internal combustion engine having a rotatable drive drum including a hollow exterior hub and a plurality of cylinders stationarily mounted in radial arrangement within the inner circumference of said drive drum, each of said cylinders being provided with a piston, a connecting rod coupled to said piston, a compression chamber defined by said piston in conjunction with the walls of said cylinder, a spark plug communicating with said compression chamber and an intake port and exhaust port leading thereinto, and a slide effective for opening and closing said intake port and said exhaust port, the improvement comprising:

• a. movable track means securably supported adjacent an interior webbed surface of said drive drum in transverse relationship with the axis of rotation thereof, said movable track means being formed of two pairs of interconnected declining slope track quadrants that alternately present a pair of oppositely disposed high contact surfaces and a pair of oppositely disposed low contact surfaces to each of said connecting rods, each pair of declining slope track quandrants being pivotally anchored to said interior webbed surface at the apex of a corresponding high contact surface, the free ends of said declining slope track quadrants defining said oppositely disposed low contact surfaces being movable a predetermined distance toward and away from said interior webbed surface,
• b. torque responsive means associated with said hollow exterior hub and with said interior webbed surface and effective for variably positioning said pair of low contact surfaces of said movable track means, said means being effective in response to the presence of a torque load on said exterior hub to position said low contact surfaces at a first relatively short distance from said interior webbed surface, and effective in response to the absence of a torque load on said exterior hub to position said low contact surfaces at a second relatively greater distance from said interior webbed surface,
• c. means associated with said movable track means and with each of said connecting rods effective for applying a displacing force against one of said high contact surfaces during the power stroke of an associated cylinder, for pushably applying a retracting force against a said connecting rod during the compression and exhaust strokes of an associated cylinder, and for pullably applying an extending force to a said connecting rod during the intake stroke of an associated cylinder, and
• d. means associated with the interior circumference of said drive drum effective for activating said slides of said cylinders to thereby open and close said intake and exhaust ports thereof, said intake port of each cylinder being thereby opened during the intake stroke thereof and closed during the compression, power, and exhaust strokes, and said exhaust port of each cylinder being thereby closed during the intake, compression and power strokes thereof and opened during the exhaust stroke.

Improved means for use in a circularly configured stationarily mounted four cycle intermal combustion engine whereby the length of the intake strokes of the cylinders is automatically varied according to the torque load that is applied to the output drive thereof, said length of the intake strokes being maximized upon the application of a torque load to said output drive and minimized upon the absence of any such torque load, said improved means comprising:

• a. a rotatably mounted drive drum encircling the cylinders, pistons and connecting rods of said engine and having a hollow exterior hub disposed in parallel relationship therewith, said exterior hub defining the axis of rotation of said drive drum,
• b. movable track means securably supported adjacent an interior webbed surface of said drive drum in transverse relationship with the axis of rotation thereof, said movable track means being formed of two pairs of interconnected declining slope track quadrants that alternately present a pair of oppositely disposed high contact surfaces and a pair of oppositely disposed low contact surfaces to each of said connecting rods, each pair of declining slope track quadrants being pivotally anchored to said interior webbed surface of the drive drum at the apex of a corresponding high contact surface, the free ends of said declining slope track quadrants defining said oppositely disposed low contact surfaces being movable a predetermined distance toward and away from said interior webbed surface,
• c. torque responsive means associated with said hollow exterior hub and with said interior webbed surface and effective for variably positioning said pair of low contact surfaces of said movable track means, said means being effective in response to the presence of a torque load on said exterior hub to position said low contact surfaces at a first relatively short distance from said interior of webbed surface, and effective in response to the absence of a torque load on said exterior hub to position said low contact surfaces at a second relatively greater distance from said webbed surface, and
• d. means associated with said movable track means and with each of said connecting rods effective for applying a displacing force against one of said high contact surfaces during the power stroke of an associated pg,38 cylinder, for pushably applying a retracting force against a said connecting rod during the compression and exhaust strokes of an associated cylinder, and for pullably applying an extending force to said connecting rod during the intake stroke of an associated cylinder.