Crankcase ventilating system and method of removing oil mist from gas in the system

A method of removing an oil mist from a gas in a crankcase ventilating system which introduces the gas composed essentially of air, a blow-by gas, and the oil mist from a crankcase into an intake manifold, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) drawing said gas from said crankcase into a trapping chamber to remove oil mist particles of relatively large size from said gas in said trapping chamber;
• and
• (b) then expanding said gas through a pressure-limiting orifice into a heat exchanger chamber in contact with said engine and heating said gas by conduction and radiation from said engine whereby oil mist is condensed while the more volatile components of the gas remain in the gas phase and are drawn off.

A crankcase ventilating system in an internal combustion engine having a crankcase and cylinder block and an intake manifold, said crankcase ventilating system comprising:

• (a) a first chamber for passing a gas from the crankcase therethrough;
• (b) a valve for controlling the amount of the gas flowing from said first chamber therethrough;
• (c) a second chamber for passing therethrough the gas flowing from said first chamber via said valve and for allowing the gas to flow from said second chamber into the intake manifold, said second chamber having an effective size greater than that of the valve sufficient to cause expansion of said gas upon entry into said second chamber and being disposed adjacent to and heated by a side of said crankcase and cylinder block.