Oil pan and windage tray for high performance engines
OwnerEdward Hamiltoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An oil pan and windage tray reduce friction loss by separating the oil collection volume of the pan from rotating engine components. A skimmer integral with the tray skims oil from rotating parts and channels oil thrown from the rotating parts into a side pouch of the pan for delivery to the pan collection volume. The skimmer and tray mount to the engine separately from the pan. An alternate embodiment of a dry sump pan has a removable partition between a side pouch and the rotating parts and a skimmer separate from the pan. Separating the skimmer from the pan permits easy adjustment of the space between the skimmer and the rotating parts of the engine without obstruction from the pan.
Claims12
An improved tray and skimmer for an internal combustion engine that has rotating components, a crankcase housing at least some of the components, a crankcase housing at least some of the components, a lubrication system for supplying oil to the components, and an oil pan, the tray and skimmer comprising:
- (a) a pair of longitudinally extending mounting flanges of a length substantially equal to longitudinally extending surfaces of the crankcase of the engine against which the pan mounts, the mounting flanges having means for mounting the tray and skimmer to the crankcase along the longitudinal surfaces of the crankcase and sandwiched between the crankcase and the pan;
- (b) the skimmer extending longitudinally proximate one of the mounting flanges and on the side of the tray that will face opposite the direction of rotation of the engine's rotating components, the skimmer being adapted to scrape oil from the rotating components and for the adjustment of the clearance between it and the rotating components;
- (c) the tray and one of the mounting flanges being physically connected together via a wall means with the tray and skimmer underlying the mounting flanges with the skimmer being in position for directing oil flung from rotating components of the engine towards the skimmer and for preventing oil in the pan from splashing up onto the rotating components;
- (d) passage means through said wall means located between the tray and the skimmer to pass oil from the rotating components into the pan;
- and
- (e) the tray and skimmer being physically separate from the pan so that the clearance between the skimmer and the rotating components can be adjusted without the pan being mounted to the crankcase and blocking visual observation of the clearance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.