Rotary engine

A rotary engine comprising:

• a drum-like housing having a cylindrical inner surface bounded at each end by a circular recess extending beyond the circumference of said inner surface,
• the center of said circular recesses being offset from the centerline of said inner surface,
• a flat circular torque plate having an inner and outer face positioned for relative rotative movement in each said circular recess,
• end plates affixed to each end of said housing maintaining said torque plates in position,
• an output shaft extending through said housing having an axis of rotation concentric with said housing circular recesses and fixedly connecting said torque plates to rotate as a unit such that said axis of rotation is more proximate to one location on said housing inner surface than to any other,
• a first plurality of evenly spaced grooves extending radially from the center of said inner face of one of said torque plates,
• a second plurality of evenly spaced grooves extending radially from the center of said inner face of the other of said torque plates, said second plurality of grooves being equal in number to said first and directly opposed thereby,
• a plurality of cylindrical roller vanes extending the length of said inner housing surface and free to turn thereon, each said roller vane having a first end in one of said first plurality of grooves and a second end disposed in said directly opposed groove in the other of said torque plates,
• a cylindrical surface extending the length of said inner housing surface holding said roller vanes in constant contact thereagainst such that said inner housing surface and said cylindrical surface define respectively an outer and inner race for said roller vanes,
• a slidable rotatable connection between the ends of said roller vanes and said torque plate grooves such that said vanes are freely rotatable against said outer and inner races and translatable along said grooves where said vanes revolve about said inner housing surface and the members of adjacent vane pairs contemporaneously vary in separation between a minimum and a maximum determined by said offset between said axis of rotation of said torque plates and said centerline of said housing inner surface in conjunction with the proximity of each vane to said axis of rotation;
• a plurality of work chambers individually defined by said inner surfaces of said torque plates, said inner and outer races and a pair of adjacent roller vanes, said work chambers having variable individual volumes directly proportional to the separation of the members of said adjacent roller vane pairs;
• a working fluid capable of expansion and contraction;
• means for introducing said working fluid sequentially into each of said work chambers;
• means for rotating said torque plates such that said adjacent roller vanes bounding said work chambers containing said working fluid rotate along said inner housing surface and translate along said torque plate grooves toward said axis of rotation until substantially minimum separation of said adjacent rollers is reached whereby said contained fluid is compressed and, considering said adjacent pairs of roller vanes in the direction of rotation, the leading member of said pair exceeds the trailing member in distance from said axis of rotation;
• means for sequentially expanding said working fluid attaining such compression such that the resulting pressure and the relative position of said vanes to said axis of rotation forces said leading vane away from said trailing vane by continued rotation along said inner housing surface and translation along said torque plate grooves away from said axis of rotation thereby rotating said torque plates and said output shaft by the force of said slidable rotatable connections in said torque plate grooves;
• and
• means for sequentially returning said work chambers to a condition whereby compression of said contained working fluid is begun anew.