International Rotary Motors
The International Rotary Motor (INTERNATIONAL ROTARY MOTORS, LTD.). Rotary engine with opposed cylinders; in all sizes the cylinders are in the same plane. In one type the crank-shaft is stationary, and in another carries a flywheel, so that it rotates in the opposite direction, and thus reduces the speed of each member by 50 per cent. A special feature of the engine from a constructional point of view consists in the mechanical operation of the inlet and exhaust-valves by means of a set of skew gear-driven cam-shafts. There is a cam-shaft for each cylinder, and it is placed transversely to the axis of the crank-shaft, so that the skew gear-pinion which it carries can run in contact with the skew gear-wheel on the latter member. The valves are of the inverted mushroom type, and are mounted without springs, centrifugal force being relied upon to keep them on their seats. The lubrication is forced, and magneto ignition is arranged by means of a chain-drive. The carburettor feeds through one end of the hollow crank-shaft into the crank-chamber, and the mixture is forced out of the crank-chambers by the pump action of the descending piston, through an external induction-pipe into the combustion-chamber of the opposite cylinder. This period of the cycle is somewhat suggestive of the two-stroke cycle, but the International Rotary motor has the more usual cycle of four strokes.[1]
1911 Patent. '...the International Rotary Motors Limited and William Alban Richards have made application for the restoration of the patent granted to Charles Benjamin Redrup and William Alban Richards for "Improvements in and relating to internal combustion engines," numbered 18193 of 1904, and bearing date the 22nd day of August, 1904, which expired on the 22nd day of August, 1909, owing to the non-payment of the prescribed renewal fee....'[2]