Valve operating system for internal combustion engine

Abstract

In a valve operating system for an internal combustion engine, wherein connected and disconnected states of cam followers can be switched over from one to another to change the valve operating characteristic of an engine valve, each cam follower includes a cam follower body having a pair of support walls integrally provided thereon and arranged in parallel to sandwich a roller therebetween, and a hollow roller shaft which is fitted and supported at outer peripheries of its opposite ends in through-bores in the support walls, and which has the roller rotatably carried at its intermediate portion. A first groove is defined in an outer peripheral surface of the through-bore in one support wall to extend circumferentially of the through-bore, and a second groove is defined in an outer peripheral surface of the roller shaft at its one end corresponding to the first groove. A C-shaped resilient fastener is mounted in the first and second grooves and is capable of engaging with inner surfaces of the grooves astride them. The switching pin is slidably fitted to inner peripheral surfaces of the roller shafts of adjacent cam followers. With such arrangement, the roller shaft of the rollered cam follower can simply be fixed to the support wall of the cam follower body without caulking equipment, and a protrusion for fixing the roller shaft is not created on an outer surface of the support wall. The roller shaft is also used as a portion of a cam follower connecting mechanism.