Sleeve valve internal combustion engine

A four cycle, single sleeve internal combustion engine comprising:

• a block having a bore and a plurality of exhaust and intake passages that open into the bore;
• a single sleeve located within said bore to form a cylinder, said sleeve having apertures and being mounted within said bore for rotation within and axial movement along said bore to selectively bring said apertures into and out of alignment with said exhaust and intake passages;
• a piston slidably mounted within said sleeve;
• a crankshaft mounted for rotation about an axis that is fixed in position with respect to the block;
• a connecting rod connecting said piston and crankshaft whereby said piston moves axially along said sleeve as crankshaft revolves, a head fixed to said block and closing the end of said sleeve remote from said crankshaft;
• a sleeve valve actuating mechanism comprising of:
• a valve crankshaft mounted above the head for rotation parallel to the said crankshaft and driven at half speed;
• an extension of the said sleeve extending through the head;
• a valve connecting rod connecting said valve crankshaft to said sleeve extension;
• a radius rod lying essentially in the plane of motion of said valve connecting rod with one end connected to the said valve connecting rod approximately two thirds of the way down it, and the other end connected to said block such that the said radius rod is essentially horizontal when the sleeve is at mid-axial stroke;
• the result being that as the valve crankshaft turns at half speed, the sleeve moves in a quasi-eliptical path, said sleeve apertures are moved approximately twice as far in the axial direction as in the circumferential direction as said apertures are aligned with said intake and exhaust passages during engine cycle.