Conversion device for rotary and reciprocating motion - has followers projecting into curved closed track on piston

摘要

A method of deriving continuous rotary motion from a reciprocating element. The reciprocating element is circular in section, contained in a cylinder and may be the piston in, say, a heat engine. Grooves are cut in the cylindrical surface of the piston and register with fixed elements projecting through the containing cylinder wall at right angles to the cylindrical axis. The projections are truncated cones and the grooves have matching profiles and are so shaped that as the piston reciprocates it is forced to rotate continuously. The piston slides on splines which transmit the rotary motion to the output shaft.