Horizontally opposed internal combustion engine - has two banks of cylinders with crankshafts out of phase to reduce space needed

摘要

The engine has horizontally opposed cylinders (10,11,12,13) arranged in two groups with one group (10,11) vertically above the other (12,13). Each group has its own crankshaft (4,5) between its opposed cylinders and the two crankshafts are joined at their ends by gears. The output is taken from one of the crankshafts. The two crankshafts rotate in opposite directions (16,17). Their cranks are displaced by the circumferential distance corresponding to one stroke of the engine. With this arrangement the balance weights (14,15) are never in line and the crankshafts can be closer together than twice the radial projection of the balance weights.