Muffler
AssigneeTecumseh Products Company
InventorsDavid C. Lowery, Robert W. Alyea
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Improvements in the attenuation of sounds emitted by an internal combustion engine exhaust system are achieved by shaping a muffler housing to substantially eliminate flat sound radiating surfaces, providing a circuitous exhaust gas flow path within the muffler housing and around an imperforate barrier and providing an exhaust gas outlet from the muffler housing which extends generally perpendicular to the direction of sound propagation within the housing near that outlet. The housing may be generally ellipsoidal in shape having a non-zero curvature which varys in a continuous manner at substantially all points on the surface and, subject to that requirement, designed to have a generally maximal volume subject to the dimensional constraints of its environment.
Claims5
An exhaust gas muffler comprising:
- an elongate enclosure having a longitudinal axis, said enclosure having an inlet for receiving exhaust gas from an engine, and an outlet for venting the exhaust gas to the atmosphere, exhaust gas flow and sound propagation within said enclosure being generally axially between the inlet and outlet, said enclosure being generally ellipsoidal in shape and having non-zero continuously varying curvature at substantially all points on its inner surface;
- said outlet comprising a tube having a generally straight imperforate portion thereof disposed within the enclosure with one end thereof opening to the exterior of the enclosure and the other end opening within the enclosure, said tube portion being generally perpendicular to the axial flow of the gas and sound propagation;
- and an imperforate baffle contained within the enclosure intermediate the inlet and outlet, said baffle being transverse to the longitudinal axis of the enclosure and having edges spaced inwardly from the enclosure thereby forming a plurality of gas flow openings.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.