Flywheel rotary engine

A power plant comprising a source of power fluid, a rotary output shaft, and means for converting the energy of the power fluid into rotational energy for delivery by said output shaft comprising a flywheel journaled for rotation about an axis, means for introducing power fluid to a central region of said flywheel, said flywheel comprising a body, means defining a plurality of passages within said body spaced circumferentially about said axis, an entrance for communicating each passage to the power fluid at the central region of said flywheel, an outlet for each passage via which power fluid is exhausted, each outlet being spaced radially outwardly of the corresponding entrance and oriented to produce a jet effect with resulting flywheel rotation when power fluid is exhausted therefrom, each passage comprising a straight entrance section which extends radially outwardly to merge into a chamber that is in the form of a single turn helix section, said single turn helix section having an initial portion of progressively increasing cross section and a final portion of progressively decreasing cross section, each passage further comprising an outlet section extending from its single turn helix section to its outlet, the extent of each single turn helix section and the organization and arrangement of the associated entrance and outlet sections being such that, as viewed axially of the flywheel, each passage appears to cross itself in such a manner that the corresponding helix section is disposed to one side of an imaginary radial from said axis to the crossing point and the corresponding outlet is disposed to the other side of the same radial.