Precombustion catalyst device for use with an internal combustion engine employing a vaporizable liquid fuel and an engine utilizing such a device

摘要

A precombustion catalyst device in which a mixture of air and liquid fuel particles successively pass through a pair of spaced screens having surfaces of different catalytic metals such as cadmium and nickel. The screens are held in closely spaced relationship from one another and spaced from ground by gaskets. Such devices are shown and described in U.S.L. Pat. Nos. 2,899,949 and 3,682,608. Pursuant to the present invention the gaskets, unlike the previously employed gaskets, contain an electrolyte, preferably one providing anions, for example, glycerol, the gaskets thereby forming high resistance paths between the screens and between each screen and engine ground. The resistance value of each path is in the order of 1 to 50 x 106 ohms. This change in gaskets has been found to improve the operation of the previous precombustion catalyst devices, making the same more reliable, raising previously obtained gasoline mileage improvement, and further reducing pollutants and lowering octane ratings without causing knocking.