Mechanical arrangements for piston-crankshaft devices

A mechanical arrangement for devices incorporating at least two pistons that are mechanically connected together, comprising:

• a housing defining internally thereof at least two elongate piston chambers arranged side-by-side and banked 90.degree. from one another, each having a midportion proximate the midportion of the other and each having a gas chamber at each longitudinal end thereof;
• said housing also defining internally thereof a crankshaft passageway that extends transversely of the piston chambers and intersects them generally at their midportions;
• a crankshaft mounted in said crankshaft passageway for rotation around a fixed axis, said crankshaft also including a portion having a circular cross section with a centroidal axis offset from and parallel to said fixed axis;
• a pair of eccentric discs mounted on the same crankshaft circular portion, one of said eccentric discs being confined to reciprocate in one of said piston chambers and the other eccentric disc being confined to reciprocate in the other of said piston chambers, said eccentric discs having an eccentricity equal to the crankshaft circular portion offset to produce a four-to-one ratio of piston stroke to centroidal axis offset during rotation of the crankshaft, the eccentric discs being rigidly coupled together with their geometric centers canted 90.degree. from one another relative to their common eccentric axis whereby constrained motion is achieved between eccentric discs and the crankshaft, each of said eccentric discs forming at least a part of a double-acting piston in its respective gas chamber.

A mechanical arrangement for a piston device including a crankshaft, said device utilizing a lubricant to lubricate bearing surfaces associated with the crankshaft, comprising:

• a housing defining internally thereof at least one expansible piston chamber and internal sidewalls defining a crankshaft passageway;
• a reciprocating piston in said piston chamber;
• means journaled on and connecting said crankshaft and said piston;
• lubricant enclosure means at least in part surrounding the crankshaft and said bearing surfaces for containing said lubricant in a confined space that includes said bearing surfaces but excludes said piston chamber;
• and rotary dynamic seals emplaced between the crankshaft and the lubricant enclosure means to sealingly separate the lubricant from the space external of the lubricant enclosure means.