Rotary internal combustion engine

A rotary engine comprising:

• a generally annular stator member having side walls and an interior peripheral wall and a first pair of spaced apart sockets located in the interior peripheral wall,
• a first pair of wedges pivotally mounted at one of their vertices on the interior peripheral wall of the stator member to pivot in and out of respective ones of said sockets as said rotor member rotates within the stator member, said wedges being mounted relative to said stator member such that a base of each wedge pivots along an arc generally towards the center of the stator member, and such that said bases of the wedges in the pair face each other, so that a space is formed by the said bases of the pair of wedges,
• a rotor member having side walls and an exterior periphery and two exterior side walls and a shaft extending from one side wall thereof and mounted to rotate, within said stator member, said rotor member formed to define combustion and compression cavities between the portion of the interior peripheral wall of the stator member between the bases of the wedges and the exterior periphery of the rotor member, said periphery having an outermost portion thereof being substantially parallel to the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said portion extending at least the distance between the bases of the wedges and said portion of the periphery being joined tangentially by a curved portion thereof which first curves convexly and inwardly away from the stator member and then curves concavely and outwardly toward the stator member,
• a cam track defined in at least one side wall of said rotor member,
• cam followers extending from at least one portion of each wedge and guided by said cam track to cause said wedges to pivot in and out of said sockets and to maintain sliding contact with the exterior periphery of said rotor member,
• means for introducing a fuel mixture into the spaces between the pair of wedges,
• means for igniting the fuel mixture between each pair of wedges,
• means for timing the ignition of the fuel mixture to coincide with the time the said portion of the rotor periphery is disposed substantially entirely across the space defined between the pair of wedges,
• means for exhausting the combustion products from the space between the pair of wedges.

A rotary engine comprising:

• a generally annular stator member having side walls and an interior peripheral wall and a first and second pair of spaced apart sockets located in the interior peripheral wall,
• a first and second pair of wedges each pivotally mounted at one of their vertices on the interior peripheral wall of the stator member to pivot in and out of respective ones of said sockets as said rotor member rotates within the stator member, the wedges being mounted relative to said stator member such that a base of each wedge pivots along an arc generally towards the center of the stator member, and such that each of said bases of the wedges in each pair face each other, so that a space is formed by said bases of each pair of wedges,
• a rotor member having two exterior side walls and an exterior periphery and a shaft extending from one side wall thereof and mounted to rotate within said stator member, said rotor member formed to define combustion and compression cavities between the portions of the interior peripheral wall of the stator member between the bases of the wedges and the exterior periphery of the rotor member, said combustion and compression cavities being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart about the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said exterior periphery having two outermost portions thereof substantially parallel to the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said portions extending at least the distance between the bases of the wedges of each pair thereof, and said portions being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart, the said portions of the exterior periphery being joined tangentially by two curved portions thereof which each first curves convexly and gradually inwardly away from the stator member and then curves concavely and gradually outwardly toward the stator member,
• a cam track defined in at least one side wall of said rotor member,
• cam followers extending from at least one portion of each wedge and guided by said cam track to cause said wedges to pivot in and out of said sockets and to maintain sliding contact with the exterior periphery of said rotor member,
• means for introducing a fuel mixture into the spaces between each pair of wedges,
• means for igniting the fuel mixture between each pair of wedges,
• means for timing the ignition of the fuel mixture to selectively coincide with or slightly precede the time the said portions of the rotor periphery are each disposed substantially entirely across the spaces defined between each pair of wedges,
• means for exhausting the combustion products from the spaces between each pair of wedges.

A rotary engine comprising:

• a generally annular stator member having side walls and an interior peripheral wall and a first and second pair of spaced apart sockets located in the interior peripheral wall,
• a first and second pair of wedges each pivotally mounted at one of their vertices on the interior peripheral wall of the stator member to pivot in and out of respective ones of said sockets as said rotor member rotates within the stator member, said wedges being mounted relative to said stator member such that a base of each wedge pivots along an arc generally towards the center of the stator member, and such that each of said bases of the wedges in each pair face each other so that a space is formed by said bases of each pair of wedges,
• a rotor member having two exterior side walls and an exterior periphery and a shaft extending from one side wall thereof and mounted to rotate within said stator member, said rotor member formed to define combustion and compression cavities between the portions of the interior peripheral wall of the stator member between the bases of the wedges and the exterior periphery of the rotor member, said combustion and compression cavities being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart about the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said exterior periphery having two outermost portions thereof substantially parallel to the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said portions extending at least the distance between the bases of the wedges of each pair thereof, and said portions being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart, each of said outermost portions being joined by a straight uncurved portion tangential thereto and each said straight portion being joined by a curved portion which curves concavely and outwardly toward the stator member to join the other of the said outermost portions,
• a cam track defined in at least one side wall of said rotor member,
• cam followers extending from at least one portion of each wedge and guided by said cam track to cause said wedges to pivot in and out of said sockets and to maintain sliding contact with the exterior periphery of said rotor member,
• means for introducing a fuel mixture into the spaces between each pair of wedges,
• means for igniting the fuel mixture between each pair of wedges,
• means for timing the ignition of the fuel mixture to selectively coincide with or sightly precede the time the said portions of the rotor exterior periphery are each disposed substantially entirely across the spaces defined between each pair of wedges,
• means for exhausting the combustion products from the spaces between each pair of wedges.

A rotary engine comprising:

• a generally annular stator member having side walls and an interior peripheral wall and a first and second pair of spaced apart sockets located in the interior peripheral wall,
• a first and second pair of wedges each pivotally mounted at one of their vertices on the interior peripheral wall of the stator member to pivot in and out of respective ones of said sockets as said rotor member rotates within the stator member, said wedges being mounted relative to said stator member such that a base of each wedge pivots along an arc generally towards the center of the stator member, and such that each of said bases of the wedges in each pair face each other so that a space is formed by said bases of each pair of wedges,
• a rotor member having an exterior periphery and two exterior side walls and a shaft extending from one side wall thereof and mounted to rotate within said stator member, said rotor member formed to define combustion and compression cavities between the portions of the interior peripheral wall of the stator member between the bases of the wedges and the exterior periphery of the rotor member, said combustion and compression cavities being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart about the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said exterior periphery having two outermost portions thereof substantially parallel to the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said portion extending at least the distance between the bases of the wedges of each pair thereof, and said portions being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart, said portions of the periphery being joined tangentially by two curved portions thereof which each first curves convexly and inwardly away from the stator member and then curves concavely and outwardly toward the stator member,
• a cam track defined in at least one side wall of said rotor member,
• a rigid arm carried by each wedge, said arm being disposed so that the mass thereof counterbalances the mass of the wedge,
• a push rod, one end thereof frictionally engaging the rigid arm and the opposite end thereof carrying a cam follower engaging the cam track, so that each wedge is caused to rotate in and out of its respective socket and to maintain sliding contact with the exterior periphery of said rotor member,
• means for introducing a fuel mixture into the spaces between each pair of wedges,
• means for igniting the fuel mixture between each pair of wedges,
• means for timing the ignition of the fuel mixture to selectively coincide with or slightly precede the time the said portions of the rotor periphery are each disposed substantially entirely across the spaces defined between each pair of wedges, and
• means for exhausting the combustion products from the spaces between each pair of wedges.

A rotary engine comprising:

• a generally annular stator member having side walls and an interior peripheral wall and a first and second pair of spaced apart sockets located in the interior peripheral wall,
• a first and second pair of wedges each pivotally mounted at one of their vertices on the interior peripheral wall of the stator member to pivot in and out of respective ones of said sockets as said rotor member rotates within the stator member, said wedges being mounted relative to said stator member such that a base of each wedge pivots along an arc generally towards the center of the stator member, and such that each of said bases of the wedges in each pair face each other so that a space is formed by said bases of each pair of wedges,
• a rotor member having an exterior periphery and two exterior side walls and a shaft extending from one side wall thereof and mounted to rotate within said stator member, said rotor member formed to define combustion and compression cavities between the portions of the interior peripheral wall of the stator member between the bases of the wedges and the exterior periphery of the rotor member, said combustion cavity and compression cavity being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart about the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said exterior periphery having two outermost portions thereof substantially parallel to the interior peripheral wall of the stator member, said portion extending at least the distance between the bases of the wedges of each pair thereof, and said portions being disposed substantially 180.degree. apart, said portions of the periphery being joined tangentially by two curved portions thereof which each first curve convexly and inwardly away from the stator member and then curves concavely and outwardly toward the stator member,
• spring means communicating between the stator member and each wedge to cause said wedges to pivot in and out of said sockets and to maintain sliding contact with the exterior periphery of said rotor member,
• means for introducing a fuel mixture into the spaces between each pair of wedges,
• means for igniting the fuel mixture between each pair of wedges,
• means for timing the ignition of the fuel mixture to selectively coincide with or slightly precede the time the said portions of the rotor periphery are each disposed substantially entirely across the spaces defined between each pair of wedges,
• means for exhausting the combustion products from the spaces between each pair of wedges.