摘要 |
A valve operating mechanism for an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft and a plurality of intake or exhaust valves normally biased in a valve closing direction includes a rocker shaft, a cam rotatable in synchronism with the crankshaft, a plurality of rocker arms swingably supported on the rocker shaft in association with the valves, respectively, and swingable by the cam, a coupling device for selectively connecting and disconnecting adjacent ones of the rocker arms under hydraulic pressure, and a hydraulic circuit openable and closable according to a rotational speed of the engine for selectively supplying hydraulic pressure to the coupling device. The opening and closing of the hydraulic circuit are controlled in view of a delay in operation thereof based on an angular displacement of the crankshaft or the cam so that the coupling device will be inoperative when the rocker arms are in a predetermined initial interval of a valve opening stroke thereof. The delay in operation of the hydraulic circuit is determined dependent on operating conditions of the internal combustion engine. The predetermined initial interval is defined such that when a piston of the coupling device is urged to slidably move from one of the rocker arms to the other during the initial interval, the piston is struck by the other rocker arm.
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