Variable stroke engine

A four cycle internal combustion engine comprising:

• structure defining a cylinder;
• a piston for reciprocation in said cylinder;
• means for entering a combustible mixture within the cylinder during the intake stroke and combusting said mixture to urge said piston in a first direction during the power stroke;
• means for removing the mixture after combustion during the exhaust stroke;
• a crankshaft mounted for rotation about a first axis;
• a trunnion mounted for pivotal motion on crankshaft, the axis of pivotal motion being parallel to and spaced from the first axis of rotation of the crankshaft;
• a connecting rod pivotally connected to the piston at a first end thereof and pivotally connected to the trunnion at a second end thereof, the piston therefore being connected directly to the crankshaft through the connecting rod and the trunnion;
• a control shaft mounted for rotation about a second axis;
• a control link rotatably connected to said control shaft at a first end of the control link for rotation about an axis parallel to and spaced from the second axis, said control link being pivotally connected at a second end thereof to the trunnion;
• means for connecting the crankshaft and control shaft for joint rotation with the control shaft rotating at one-half the angular velocity of the crankshaft;
• and
• the engine causing the piston to be positioned at the identical location in the cylinder at the top dead center position between the compression and power strokes and the exhaust and intake strokes with the bottom dead center position of the piston between the power and exhaust strokes being relatively more distant from the top dead center position than the bottom dead center position of the piston between the intake and compression strokes so that the power stroke is longer than the intake stroke to increase power output from the engine.

A four cycle internal combustion engine comprising:

• structure defining a cylinder;
• a piston for reciprocation in said cylinder;
• means for entering a combustible mixture within the cylinder during the intake stroke;
• means for combusting said mixture within the cylinder to urge said piston in a first direction within the cylinder during the power stroke;
• means for removing the mixture after combustion during the exhaust stroke of the engine;
• a crankshaft mounted for rotation about a first axis, said first axis being spaced from the central axis of the cylinder and perpendicular thereto, said crankshaft having a journal spaced from the first axis;
• a trunnion mounted for pivotal motion on said journal of said crankshaft, the axis of pivotal motion being parallel to and spaced from the first axis of rotation of the crankshaft;
• a connecting rod pivotally connected to the piston at a first end thereof and pivotally connected to the trunnion at a second end thereof, the piston therefore being connected directly to the crankshaft through the connecting rod and trunnion;
• a control shaft mounted for rotation about a second axis spaced from and parallel to the first axis, said control shaft having a journal spaced from the second axis;
• a control link rotatably connected to said control shaft at the journal at a first end of the control link for rotation about an axis parallel to and spaced from the second axis, said control link
• being pivotally connected at a second end thereof to the trunnion;
• means for connecting the crankshaft and control shaft for joint rotation with the control shaft rotating at one-half the angular velocity of the crankshaft;
• and
• the power and exhaust strokes of the piston being longer than the intake and compression strokes to increase the energy output of the engine.