Fuel-efficient vehicle with auxiliary cruiser engine

In an automotive vehicle having a chassis, a car body mounted on said chassis, vehicle control means within said car body, power train means consisting of a primary engine, speed change transmission, propeller shaft and differential, and front and rear paired wheels, one of which pair being associated with said differential and thereby constituting driving wheels, the improvement comprising:

• a) an auxiliary internal combustion engine of smaller size and better fuel efficiency than said primary engine, yet having sufficient power to maintain the vehicle at an acceptable cruising speed,
• b) a power output shaft associated with said auxiliary engine, clutch means interactive with said power output shaft, and a power take-off shaft associated with said clutch means, and
• c) power transfer means for transferring power laterally between said power take-off shaft and said differential, whereby
• d) power from said auxiliary engine may be selectively conveyed to said power take-off shaft, thence to said power transfer means and to said differential,
• e) said conveyance of power occurring after said vehicle has been accelerated to cruising speed by said primary engine, and said speed change transmission means is shifted to “neutral” to disengage said primary engine from said differential, thereby placing the vehicle in a free wheeling state, after which
• f) said auxiliary engine is accelerated to operational speed, thereby automatically causing engagement of said clutch means and transfer of power to said differential, thus achieving two desirable results, namely:
• g) enabling said auxiliary engine to maintain the vehicle at cruising speed with reduced fuel consumption per unit of distance traveled, and
• h) enabling the power train means including said primary engine to remain ready to be activated whenever increased power is needed.