Rotary steam engine

In a rotating machine including a housing having opposite end walls spaced apart along a first axis by a peripheral wall shaped to define an epitrochoidal cavity symmetrical about said first axis and configured as two lobes intersecting at lobe junctures which define a minor axis of the section of said housing normal to said first axis, one of said lobes lying in first and second quadrants about said first axis and the other lying in third and fourth quadrants thereabout,

• a rotor symmetrical about a further axis and movable in said cavity, said rotor having opposite side wall surfaces adjacent, and in slightly spaced relation, to said end walls of said housing, and interconnected by a plurality of peripheral flank surfaces which intersect at apices to determine lines of sealing contact with said peripheral wall of said housing,
• means, including a crankshaft on which said rotor rotates on said further axis eccentrically with respect to said first axis, for limiting motion of said rotor in said cavity to planetating movement about said first axis in the direction from said fourth quadrant to said first quadrant, so that said apices sweep through said lobes,
• spaced seal means, including inward valving seal means and outward chamber isolating seal means, carried by at least one side wall surface of said rotor to move in the interstice between said side wall surface and the adjacent end wall of the housing, so that said rotor and said housing jointly define a plenum space inward of said valving seal means and a plurality of distinct working chambers, outward of said isolating seal means, which move about said first axis and successively increase and decrease in volume with said movement of said rotor,
• and means for conducting a fluid into said housing at a site inward of said valving seal means, the improvement which comprises:
• bridging passage means in the inner surface of at least one of said end walls, sized to conduct pressure fluid from said plenum space to said working chambers during first predetermined portions of said movement, said bridging passage means being positioned off said minor axis in an odd numbered one of said quadrants and extending inward from near the location of said peripheral wall to a site lying inward of said valving means during said first predetermined portions of said movement;
• and further passage means in said inner surface of said one of said end walls for affording egress of pressure fluid from said working chambers during second predetermined portions of said movement, said second passage means being positioned off said minor axis in an even numbered one of said quadrants to always lie outward of said valving seal means, and to be located between said seal means except during said second predetermined portions of said movement.

In a rotating machine including a housing having opposite end walls spaced apart along a first axis by a peripheral wall shaped to defined an epitrochoidal cavity symmetrical about said first axis and configured as two lobes intersecting at lobe junctures which define a minor axis of the section of said housing normal to said first axis, one of said lobes lying in first and second quadrants about said first axis and the other lying in third and fourth quadrants thereabout,

• a rotor symmetrical about a further axis and movable in said cavity, said rotor having opposite side wall surfaces adjacent, and in slightly spaced relation, to said end walls of said housing, and interconnected by a plurality of peripheral flank surfaces which intersect at apices to determine lines of sealing contact with said peripheral wall of said housing,
• means, including a crankshaft on which said rotor rotates on said further axis eccentrically with respect to said first axis, for limting motion of said rotor in said cavity to planetating movement about said first axis in the direction from said fourth quadrant to said first quadrant, so that said apices sweep through said lobes,
• spaced seal means, including inward valving seal means and outward chamber isolating seal means, carried by at least one side wall surface of said rotor move in the interstice between said side wall surface and the adjacent end wall of the housing, so that said rotor and said housing jointly define a plenum space inward of said valving seal means and a plurality of distinct working chambers, outward of said isolating seal means, which move about said first axis and successively increase and decrease in volume with said movement of said rotor,
• and means for conducting a fluid into said housing at a site inward of said valving seal means, the improvement which comprises:
• bridging passage means in the inner surface of at least one of said end walls, sized to conduct pressure fluid between said plenum space and said working chambers during first predetermined portions of said movement, said bridging passage means being positioned off said minor axis in an odd numbered one of said quadrants and extending inward from near the location of said peripheral wall to a site lying inward of said valving seal means during said first predetermined portions of said movement;
• and further passage means in said inner surface of said one of said end walls for affording egress of pressure fluid from said working chambers during second predetermined portions of said movement.

A rotating machine comprising, in combination:

• a housing having opposite end walls spaced apart along a first axis by a peripheral wall shaped to define an epitrochoidal cavity symmetrical about said first axis and configured as two lobes intersecting at lobe junctures which define a minor axis of the section of said housing normal to said first axis, one of said lobes lying in first and second quadrants about said first axis and the other lying in third and fourth quadrants thereabout;
• a rotor symmetrical about a further axis an movable in said cavity, said rotor having opposite side wall surfaces adjacent, and in slightly spaced relation, to said end walls of said housing, and interconnected by a plurality of peripheral flank surfaces which intersect at apices to determine lines of sealing contact with said peripheral wall;
• means, including a crankshaft on which said rotor rotates on said further axis eccentrically with respect to said first axis, for limiting motion of said rotor in said cavity to planetating movement about said first axis in the direction from said fourth quadrant to said first quadrant, so that said apices sweep through said lobes;
• spaced seal means, including inward valving seal means and outward chamber isolating seal means, carried by the side wall surfaces of said rotor to move in the interstices between said side wall surfaces and the adjacent end walls of the housing, so that said rotor and said housing jointly define a plenum space inward of said valving means and a plurality of distinct working chambers, outward of said isolating seal means, which move about said first axis and successively increase and decrease in volume with said movement of said rotor;
• means for conducting a fluid into said housing at a site inward of said valving seal means;
• bridging passage means in the inner surfaces of said end walls, sized to conduct fluid from said plenum space to said working chambers during first predetermined portions of said movement, said bridging passage means being positioned off said minor axis in the odd numbered ones of said quadrants and extending inward from near the location of said peripheral wall to sites lying inward of said valving seal means during said first predetermined portions of said movement;
• and further passage means in said inner surfaces of said end walls for affording fluid connection with said working chambers during second predetermined portions of said movement, said further passage means being positioned off said minor axis in the even numbered ones of said quadrants to always lie outward of said valving seal means, and to be located between said valving and isolating seal means except during said second predetermined portions of said movement.