Valve construction particularly for ram jet rocket engines and to a ram jet rocket engine construction

In a ram jet engine having a precombustion chamber for containing a solid fuel which is capable of generating fuel-rich gases having a high temperature and a high proportion of solid particles, and a main combustion chamber for receiving the fuel-rich gases, a valve arrangement for controlling and metering an amount of the fuel-rich gases flowing from the precombustion chamber to the main combustion chamber, comprising:

• first means for defining a central flow aperture between the precombustion chamber and the main combustion chamber through which an amount of fuel-rich gases can pass;
• second means between said first means and the main combustion chamber for defining a cross sectional control area with a substantially radially extending annular nozzle for receiving the amount of fuel-rich gases, said second means including a bounding wall extending at a selected angle, said second means defining an elbow passage connected to said annular nozzle and an axial passage connected to said elbow passage for conducting fuel-rich gases from said annular nozzle to the main combustion chamber;
• a ball movably positioned in said annular nozzle, said selected angle of said bounding wall being chosen to permit radial movement of said ball and to avoid locking of said wall against said bounding wall;
• bolt means mounted for axial movement to said second means and against said ball for urging said ball along said cross sectional control area and toward said aperture for metering the amount of fuel-rich gases entering said annular nozzle from said aperture;
• and,
• said first means defining a plurality of bypass nozzles communicating between the precombustion chamber and said elbow passage and distributed around said central aperture for permitting a flow of fuel-rich gases to bypass said central aperture and flow directly from the precombustion chamber to the main combustion chamber.