Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7337869 | Hydraulic hybrid vehicle with integrated hydraulic drive module and four-wheel-drive, and method of operation thereof A vehicle includes an integrated drive module coupled to an axle thereof. The module includes a hydraulic motor configured to provide motive power at an output shaft, and a differential for distributing the motive power to right and left portions of the axle. The hy... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7237542 | Internal combustion engine The invention concerns a combustion engine comprising a cylinder and a piston which is displaceably guided in the cylinder, the piston having a piston head facing a combustion chamber and being coupled to a crankshaft via a connecting rod, wherein a second piston wh... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7232351 | Personal watercraft A personal watercraft includes a saddle ride type seat provided at a roughly central portion of a watercraft body, an engine mounted on the lower side of the seat and directed in a front-rear direction of the watercraft body, and cylinders provided in the engine are... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7152556 | Linear to rotational motion converter A mechanism or “motion converter” including cylinder, piston, yoke, 2 crankshafts and 2 gears converts linear motion of piston to rotary motion (or reverse) of crankshafts without creating the lateral force applied to the piston. Kinematics characteristics of th... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7032385 | Multi-crankshaft, variable-displacement engine An internal combustion engine for a vehicle provides variable displacement by selectively driving one or more engine crankshafts mounted within a single unitary engine block. In several embodiments the crankshafts are connected to a common output shaft with a one-wa... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7024858 | Multi-crankshaft, variable-displacement engine An internal combustion engine for a vehicle provides variable displacement by selectively driving one or more engine crankshafts mounted within a single unitary engine block. In several embodiments the crankshafts are connected to a common output shaft with a one-wa... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6998727 | Methods of operating a parallel hybrid vehicle having an internal combustion engine and a secondary power source The invention is directed toward methods for operating a parallel hybrid vehicle in a manner that responds to the operator's demand for power output, while maximizing engine efficiency and minimizing disruptions in vehicle drivability. According to principles of the... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6904883 | Modular internal combustion engines A line of small internal combustion engines, including twin cylinder engines and single cylinder engines. The engines each include a crankcase, and one or more cylinder members attached to the crankcase, the cylinder members being separate components from the crankc... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6745729 | Internal combustion engine system An internal combustion engine system for providing better fuel economy and fewer toxic emissions. The internal combustion engine system includes an engine assembly including an engine casing having first and second rows of chambers, and also including pistons being ... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6230671 | Variable compression and asymmetrical stroke internal combustion engine A variable compression and asymmetrical stroke internal combustion engine includes a cylinder, a drive piston reciprocally disposed in the cylinder, an auxiliary piston reciprocally disposed in the cylinder, apparatus for reciprocating the auxiliary pisto... | 05/15/2001 |
| 6189493 | Torque balanced opposed-piston engine An internal combustion engine having first and second synchronized subassemblies. The subassemblies are synchronized by a mechanical linkage of their crankshafts to provide identical timing between corresponding pistons in the two subassemblies.... | 02/20/2001 |
| 6105542 | Modular engine A modular engine has a plurality of engine sections, with each of the engine sections having a power module, which power modules are bolted to one another in a selected positional relationship. A link-up device is selectively able to couple any number of ... | 08/22/2000 |
| 5873332 | Water propulsion unit having a "V" shaped multi-cylinder crankcase scavenging engine A watercraft is propelled by an outboard motor having a water propulsion device powered by a multi-cylinder engine of a crankcase compression type, the engine positioned within a cowling of the motor. The engine has a very compact V type arrangement. The ... | 02/23/1999 |
| 5873333 | Motorcycle with twin crankshaft mechanism An improved crankshaft connecting rod mechanism provides altered reciprocating motion of a piston attached to the connecting rods. The basic mechanism includes two, geared-together, counter-rotating crankshafts which are transversely aligned along paralle... | 02/23/1999 |
| 5870979 | Internal combustion engine with arced connecting rods An improved crankshaft connecting rod mechanism provides altered reciprocating motion of a piston attached to the connecting rods. The basic mechanism includes two, geared-together, counter-rotating crankshafts which are transversely aligned along paralle... | 02/16/1999 |
| 5836273 | Reciprocating machine A reciprocating machine includes a cyclical kinematic chain in which power is transferred between translational and rotational motion. The kinematic chain includes a piston (2) reciprocating in a cylinder (1), connected by two connecting rods (9, 10) to d... | 11/17/1998 |
| 5778833 | Water vehicle having a "V" shaped multi-cylinder crankcase scavenging engine A water vehicle having a hull defining an engine compartment and propelled by a water propulsion device powered by a multi-cylinder engine of a crankcase compression type positioned within the engine compartment is disclosed. The engine has a very compact... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5769039 | V shaped multi-cylinder engine of crankcase compression type A multi-cylinder engine of a crankcase compression type shown for use in an outboard motor. The engine has a very compact V type arrangement. The intake system for admitting the charge to the crankcase chambers and the exhaust manifold is located in the v... | 06/23/1998 |
| 5758610 | Air cooled self-supercharging four stroke internal combustion engine An air-cooled self-supercharging four stroke internal combustion engine having four pistons which move in unison. There are two downward piston strokes in each four stroke cycle. The downward strokes of the pistons are used to compress the air in the cran... | 06/02/1998 |
| 5732668 | Siamese piston arrangement internal combustion engine The present invention provides an internal combustion engine using one or more siamese pairs of pistons, cylinders and connecting rods to drive two or more independently moving drive shafts. The pairs of pistons first connect to a stabilizing system that ... | 03/31/1998 |
| 5682844 | Twin crankshaft mechanism with arced connecting rods An improved crankshaft connecting rod mechanism provides altered reciprocating motion of a piston attached to the connecting rods. The basic mechanism includes two, geared-together, counter-rotating crankshafts which are transversely aligned along paralle... | 11/04/1997 |
| 5638777 | Compression or spark ignition four-stroke internal combustion engines having a variable compression ratio enabling high supercharging pressure levels An engine including an assembly of at least two cylinders with different displacements and two crankshafts coupled at the same rotational speed via a gear train and a variably timed transmission having three concentric shafts separable from the drive asse... | 06/17/1997 |
| 5596955 | Internal combustion engine A valveless four-stroke internal combustion engine employs an intake piston and an exhaust piston that reciprocate within intake and exhaust cylinders disposed adjacent the combustion chamber of the engine. A power piston reciprocates within a cylinder th... | 01/28/1997 |
| 5595147 | Contra-rotating twin crankshaft internal combustion engine A contra-rotating twin crankshaft system for internal combustion engines. Two crankshafts are arranged in parallel, and are connected together to rotate in opposite directions. At least one piston is spaced from the crankshafts. Connecting rod assemblies ... | 01/21/1997 |
| 4898126 | Internal combustion engine with catalytic ignition A catalytic internal combustion engine has an air cylinder (12) and a fuel management cylinder (14) interconnected at their head ends by a combustion chamber (5) and having respective pistons (16, 18) reciprocating in phase. Petrol is injected into the fu... | 02/06/1990 |
| 4503816 | Combustion engine with a constant combustion volume A combustion engine with a constant combustion volume is provided having three cylinders in which two cylinders work in four stroke and one cylinder in two stroke. It is especially designed to greatly increase the actual total useful effect ηt... | 03/12/1985 |
| 4170970 | Internal combustion engines A split four-cycle engine in which the cylinders are arranged in pairs. The intake and compression strokes take place in one cylinder. The power and exhaust strokes take place in the other cylinder. The cylinders are connected by a passageway which is con... | 10/16/1979 |
