Briggs & Stratton, LLC

Robert K Catterson

Robert K Mitchell

Norbert M Vogl

Michael E Kendziora

An internal combustion engine has an integral cylinder head, a one-piece connecting rod, and a crankshaft disposed at the interface between the first engine housing and the second engine housing. In an overhead cam shaft embodiment, the cam shaft drive means includes first and second gearsets of cross-helical gears. Also directly mounted to the cam drive shaft are the oil slinger, the centrifugally-responsive speed governor components, and the auxiliary power take-off shaft. This arrangement eliminates the need for additional shafts and subassemblies. In another embodiment, both the crankshaft and the cam shaft are disposed at the interface between the two engine housings to decrease manufacturing and assembly costs. The crankshaft and/or cam shaft bearings are formed integral with the engine housings to eliminate the need for separate bearing components.

Internal combustion engine having an integral cylinder head

A clutch/brake mechanism designed to reduce the possibility of its clutch and brake components being engaged simultaneously that includes axially fixed clutch and brake members (80 and 33) spaced from one another relative to the drive shaft (21) of a power source, and an axially movable carrier (65) arranged about the drive shaft. The carrier has wall surfaces defining a movable brake element (75) and a movable clutch element (76), the former being engageable with the fixed brake member (33) when the carrier is in one position and the latter being engageable with the clutch member (80 ) when the carrier is moved to another position.

Combination clutch/brake mechanism

An air cleaner especially for use on small single cylinder internal combustion engines has a substantially annular air filter element of the dry paper type, removably mounted in a housing to divide the same into inner and outer compartments, the latter having an outlet for cleaned air that is connectable with the air intake port of the engine carburetor. An inlet passage for air to be cleaned which leads to the inner compartment, is so constructed that air flowing therethrough must undergo an abrupt change in direction in order to reach the inner compartment, and has an outlet so located that solid contaminants entrained in the air flowing to the inner compartment, by virtue of the tendency thereof to continue moving in the direction they were, leave the inlet passage through that outlet and hence are separated from the air before it enters the inner compartment. The entrance into the air inlet passage communicates with the high velocity region of the blower housing of the engine and is so disposed with respect thereto that to enter the inlet passage, air from the blower housing must abruptly change direction so that much of any dust and chaff entrained in the air stream bypasses the entrance.

Air cleaner for internal combustion engine

A rotary engine of the trochoidal type in which the rotor and the profile of a basically trochoidally shaped inner housing wall bear such relationship to one another that when the differential in pressure in the flanking chambers is Greatest, the rotor apex seals are deliberately caused to stroke out, so that the resulting friction between the outwardly stroking apex seals and the sides of the rotor slots, so modifies the outward forces acting on the seals that the contact force between the seals and the housing wall are significantly less than they would be without such outward stroking of the apex seals. In one embodiment of the invention, the outward stroking of the apex seals results from the outward displacement of the profile of the inner housing wall surface along those stretches thereof at which the pressure differentials are greatest and, in another embodiment, the desired outward stroking is obtained by using an oversized two lobed-trochoidal profile for the inner housing wall and shifting the housing with respect to the rotor shaft along the major axis of the trochoid.

Rotary engine with modified trochoidally shaped inner wall

The junction seals at one side of the rotor of a rotary engine are integral parts of the rotor.

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Brookfield, WI, United States of America

Robert K Catterson