massive yet tiny engine

Hopefully it wasn't patented. Because that construction is about 80 years old! And when you look at the "cylinders" you know why it was given up.

Nick

They will have had to make some serious advances in cylinder ring sealing technology for this to work. That many sets of rings traveling on the same circular path without the benefit of oil (from below in a conventional engine) will be a real challenge.

Karl

I cant see how it could possibly work. the leading piston moves as expected but the trailing piston has the exact same force on it pushing backwards. the video shows it to move forward as though there were no resisting force on it. the design is a load of codswallop. cant possibly function as indicated.

Stealth Pilot

This is a variation of the old "cat and mouse" engine, with a toroidal track instead of a cylindrical one (in the original versions, the cylinder axis is coaxial with the coaxial shafts that drive the "pistons" around. See US patent 5,433,179 for one example). There was one version with ball shaped pistons running in a similar toroidal track. Interesting design. I played around with variations once, but that was for a pump, when Edwards High Vacuum was looking for novel vacuum pump designs and I worked for the parent company's R&D center.

"Stealth Pilot" wrote

Well it does seem to run on compressed air. Notice that the lead piston moves forward faster than the trailing one. That seems to indicate some sort of gearing mechanism around the shaft. However, his website does not have any mention of running it on any fuels yet and when they run it on compressed air their body language seems to indicate that they are treating it like a quart bottle of nitroglycerin. :-)

To shed some more light onto that "invention" of torodial "cylinders":

There is a similar concept -looking at the cylinder- that is known as the "Beck-Motor". Not that much different is the "Primat-motor". The other construction -without looking to close at the one posted- is the "Esselbé-Motor". The "Esselbé" has been adopted by "Torodial Aircraft Motors Company". Similar to that one is the Bradshaw-Omega-Motor.

"Beck-Motor": French construction from 1909 with 8 pistons in a single torus-"cylinder".

"Primat-motor": Two pistons. The cylinder is a half circle. Again a torus. No more info at hand.

"Esselbé-motor": French construction during WW I, 1912 (so I was off about 10 years with my first guess). 4 pistons, again a torus as "cylinder". The gear to drive the pistons looks like a clockwork.

"Torodial Aircraft Motors Company": Company was in Omaha/Nebraska. Time built 1930. One version air cooled, the other water cooled.

"Bradshaw-Omega-motor": Adoption of the Esselbé by Granville Bradshaw in the 1950. He claimed that this engine is very compact, has low friction and only a few moving parts. He also intended to build a Diesel engine. 4 samples have been built and were running. 4 stroke.

'Nuff for googling around or visiting a technical library, guys! :-))

Nick

Every time I see someone with a creative new engine design, I can't help but ask how much waste heat it produces. For the most part, you either get usable output or waste heat from an engine. What's the ratio please? If they can't answer the question, or get all evasive, or start talking about space aliens or USING LOTS OF CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!! then you pretty much have the score.

That explains the quite retro look of what appears to be a crank handle on the left end.

Jeff

On Fri, 05 May 2006 19:31:57 +0800, with neither quill nor qualm, Stealth Pilot quickly quoth:

Judging by the animation, there must be gearing driving the inner hub. that would brace the rear pistons and probably result in a very pulsy engine. We'll see, eh?

-- The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease. --Voltaire (1694-1778)

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