Valve Operating Arrangement of an Internal Combustion Engine

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates in general to an internal combustion engine having intake and exhaust valves, and more particularly to a valve operating arrangement of an over-head cam type internal combustion engine.

2. Brief Description of the Prior Art

In an internal combustion engine now in use, a cam shaft is usually employed for achieving the opening and closing movements of the intake and exhaust valves. The cam shaft is driven by the crank shaft and converts the rotational movement of the crank shaft to the reciprocating movements (viz., the opening and closing movements) of the intake and exhaust valves with an aid of pivotally movable rocker arms. In this connection, a so-called over-head cam type engine is known as an engine which systematically and effectively mounts therein those parts of the valve operating mechanism. However, as will become apparent as the description proceeds, some of the engines of such type have suffered from drawbacks originating from a poor-supported arrangement of the valve operating mechanism.

According to the present invention, there is provided an improved valve operating arrangement of an over-head cam type internal combustion engine, which assures a quite stable arrangement or construction of the valve operating mechanism.

According to the present invention, there is provided a valve operating arrangement of an over-head cam type internal combustion engine, which comprises a cylinder head having thereon a cam shaft on which cams are securely mounted to rotate therewith about the axis of the cam shaft, a monoblock supporting member detachably mounted on the cylinder head, valve lifters operatively supported by the supporting member, one end of each valve lifter being in contact with the corresponding cam on the cam shaft, and a rocker shaft mounted on the supporting member and pivotally supporting thereon rocker arms, one end of each rocker arm being in contact with the other end of the corresponding valve lifter.

Objects and advantages of the present invention will become clear from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional valve operating arrangement of an over-head cam type internal combustion engine, which arrangement has a drawback which can be solved by the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of another conventional valve operating arrangement of an over-head cam type internal combustion engine, which arrangement has another drawback which can be solved by the present invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B show an exploded view of a valve operating arrangement of the present invention, in which FIG. 3A shows a monoblock supporting member, a rocker arm and a rocker shaft, and FIG. 3B shows a cylinder head and a cam shaft;

FIG. 4 is a laterally sectional view of the valve operating arrangement of the invention in the assembled condition, which view is taken along the line IV--IV of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the valve operating arrangement of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI--VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line VII--VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII--VIII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX--IX of FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along the line X--X of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 5, but showing a modification of the valve operating arrangement of the invention.

Prior to describing in detail a valve operating arrangement of the present invention, two conventional valve operating arrangements will be outlined with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in order to clarify the present invention. In the drawings, like numerals are used to denote similar elements.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a conventional valve operating arrangement of an internal combustion engine, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Secondary Publication No. Sho. 55-8647. The arrangement is of a so-called over-head cam type, which comprises a cam shaft 10 extending in a bore 12 formed in a cylinder head 14 of the engine. Cams 16 are securely mounted on the cam shaft 10 to rotate therewith about the axis of the shaft 10. Valve lifters 18 (oil tappets) are axially movably received in holes 20 of the cylinder head 14, abutting at their lower ends on respective cams 16. The upper end of each lifter 18 is projected outwardly from the cylinder head 14 to contact with one end of a corresponding rocker arm 22 of which other end is in contact with a top of a stem of a valve 24 (which is either an intake valve or an exhaust valve). The valves 24 are biased to assume their closed positions by coil springs 26 mounted on the cylinder head 14. Each rocker arm 22 is pivotally held by a stud bolt 30 through a ball joint 28, which bolt is fixed to the cylinder head 14. Designated by numeral 32 is a spark plug which is projected into a combustion chamber 34.

With the arrangement as described hereinabove, the rotation of the cam shaft 10 induces, in order, a reciprocating movement of each valve lifter 18, the pivoting movement of each rocker arm 22, and thus the reciprocating movement of each valve 24. Thus, each valve 24 repeats its closing and opening operations under operation of the engine.

However, the conventional arrangement as described above has a tendency to cause, particularly when the engine is under high speed operation, a non-smooth movement of each valve 24 inducing a power loss of the engine. This undesirable tendency is caused by a poor supporting function of each stud bolt 30 to the associated rocker arm 22. In fact, long time usage of the arrangement tends to produce a notable play of each rocker arm 22 relative to the associated stud bolt 30 thereby worsening the movement transmission from the lifter 18 to the valve 24.

Beside, since the arrangement necessitate to provide the cylinder head 14 per se with holes for receiving (or holding) the valve lifters 18 and the stud bolts 30, a measure has been applied to the portion where the holes are positioned, in order to increase the mechanical strength of that portion. Usually, the measure comprises thickening of that portion. However, this measure results in gross and heavy construction of the cylinder head. In addition to this, boring such hole in the cylinder head 14 is troublesome because of the complicated construction of the same.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown another conventional valve operating arrangement of an internal combustion engine, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,521,176. The arrangement is of a over-head cam type, which comprises a cam shaft 10 rotatably supported on brackets 36 mounted on the cylinder head 14. Cams 16 are securely mounted on the cam shaft 10 to rotate therewith. Rocker supporters 38 are mounted on the cylinder head 14 beside the brackets 36 for pivotally supporting thereon rocker arms 22. One end of each rocker arm 22 carries a cam roller 40 contacting one of the cams 16. The other end of each rocker arm 22 engages with a top of a stem of a valve 24 through a valve lifter 18 (oil tappet). The valves 24 are biased to assume their closed positions by coil springs 26 mounted on the cylinder head 14. As shown, each rocker supporter 38 is formed with a laterally extending bracket portion 42 of which leading end is formed into a tubular support 44 for slidably receiving therein the valve lifter 18. Designated by numeral 46 is a conduit for applying each tubular support 44 with a lubricant oil.

With the arrangement as described hereinabove, the rotation of the cam shaft 10 induces pivoting movement of each rocker arm 22, and thus the reciprocating movement of each valve 24. As is known, the valve lifter 18 (oil tappet) functions to automatically take up the clearance that exists between the valve stem and the lifter 18.

However, the conventional arrangement has the following drawbacks. When this arrangement is employed in a multi-cylinder type internal combustion engine, a number of rocker supporters 38 are inevitably necessitated thereby causing a high possibility of mispositioning of them on the cylinder head 14 during their assembly. Besides, assembling them on the cylinder head 14 requires troublesome and time-consumed work. In fact, each rocker arm 38 and its associated parts are independently applied to one of the combination chambers, so that piping of the lubricant oil supplying system becomes very complicated because of their independent constructions.

Therefore, it is an essential object of the present invention to provide an improved valve operating arrangement of an internal combustion engine, which is free of the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Referring to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4 and 5, there is shown an improved valve operating arrangement according to the present invention. In order to facilitate the description on the arrangement, the following description will be commenced with respect to the construction of each part of the arrangement employed in the invention with reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B. In FIG. 3B, there is shown a cylinder head 48 of a cross-flow type internal combustion engine to which the valve operating arrangement of the invention is practically applied. The cylinder head 48 has at its upper portion a generally rectangular recess 50 which extends along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder head 48. A plurality of bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c are axially spacedly arranged in the recess 50, each having a cylindrical bearing hole 54 for operatively receiving therein an elongate cam shaft 56. Designated by numeral 58 is a collar portion which is projected outwardly from the cylinder head 48 in a manner to be aligned with the inside positioned bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c. Each of the bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c is formed with a circular flat top 60 from which a small passage 62 for a lubricant oil extends inward to each hole 54. The cam shaft 56 has spaced cams 64 and spaced annular rings 65, 66 and 68 which are all securely or integrally mounted on the shaft 56 to rotate therewith. The cam shaft 56 is formed with an axially extending lubricant oil passage 70 from which small passages 72 and 74 extend to the outer surfaces of the cams 64 and the ring 68. The small passage 74 of the annular ring 68 is enlarged at its exit portion, as shown.

As will be understood from FIG. 4, a plurality of combustion chambers 76 are formed in the cylinder head 48, which are positioned under the aligned bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c. Each combustion chamber 76 has intake and exhaust ports 78 and 80 which extend therefrom in the opposite directions to the lateral sides of the cylinder head 48. Intake and exhaust valves 82 and 84 are associated with their corresponding intake and exhaust ports 78 and 80 to selectively close and open them. The stems 82a and 84a of the intake and exhaust valves 82 and 84 are axially movably received in diagonally extending holes (no numerals) formed in the cylinder head 48. Coil springs 86 and 88 are associated with the valve stems 82a and 84a to bias the valves 82 and 84 toward their closed positions. The coil springs 86 and 88 are exposed to the recess 50 of the cylinder head 48.

Referring again to FIG. 3B, the coil springs 86 and 88 are located at obliquely opposed positions with respect to an imaginary line on which the bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c stand. Stud portions 90a, 90b, 92a, 92b are projected upwardly in the recess 50, and stand on opposite sides of the imaginary line thereby to provide two rows of them along the imaginary line. All of these stud portions are formed with threaded bores (no numerals). At least one of the stud portions 90b is formed with a small oil passage 94 which leads to an oil gallery (not shown) formed in the cylinder head 48 into which a pressurized lubricant oil flows from an oil supply source (not shown). Designated by numerals 96 are positioning tube members which are fitted to the bores of selected some of the stud portions 90a and 92a for the purpose which will become apparent as the description proceeds.

As shown in FIG. 3A, a frame-like supporting member 98 is employed in the invention, which is to be bolted to the stud portions 90a, 90b, 92a, 92b of the cylinder head 48 for assurely supporting thereon a rocker arm assembly and valve lifters. Preferably, the supporting member 98 is constructed of aluminium. As seen from the drawing, the supporting member 98 comprises generally an elongate major portion 100 and a plurality of laterally extending leg portions 102a, 102b, 104a, 104b. The leg portions 102a and 102b and the other leg portions 104a and 104b extend in opposite directions thereby to provide two groups of leg portions beside the main portion 100. As is seen from FIG. 5, the two groups of leg portions are alternately arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis of the elongate main portion 100, so that each clearance between the adjacent leg portions 102a and 102b on one group is located at the diagonally opposed position of the corresponding each clearance between the legs 104a and 104b of the other group with respect to the axis of the elongate main portion 100, i.e., the leg portions 102a, 102b are staggered with respect to the leg portions 104a, 104b. As will become apparent as the description proceeds, the adjacent leg portions 102a and 102b on one group and the adjacent leg portions 104a and 104b on the other group from a unit which serves one combustion chamber 76. The leg portion 102b of one unit and the leg portion 102a of the other unit are connected by an integral reinforcing rib 106, while, the leg portion 104a of one unit and the leg portion 104b of the other unit are integrally connected by a reinforcing plate portion 108. The adjacent two leg portions 102a and 102b and the adjacent two leg portions 104a and 104b of each unit are equipped therebetween with strut members 110 and 112. With these parts and portions, the mechanical strength of the supporting member 98 is increased sufficiently. The leading end of each leg portion is shaped like a rectangular column, and has a through hole 114. For the reason which will become apparent hereinafter, the diameter of each hole 114 is considerably greater than that of the after-mentioned threaded bolt (138). Each unit of the supporting member 98 is formed with a pair of inclined through holes 116 and 118 at the elongate main portion 100 thereof. Circular top sections of the holes 116 and 118 are formed with chamfered portions 117 and 119 for facilitating the assembly of after-mentioned rocker arms 130. Upon assembly, a valve lifter 120 (oil tappet) is axially slidably received in each of the through holes 116 and 118, as is seen from FIG. 4. The lifter 120 has an opening 120a through which a lubricant oil is supplied thereinto. The elongate main portion 100 of the supporting member 98 is formed with an axially extending oil passage 122 to which the inclined through holes 116 and 118 are exposed, and from which small passages 124 extend to the through holes 114 of selected leg portions 102b and 104b. Preferably, the passage 122 is provided by using, upon casting of the supporting member 98, a stainless tube as a core. This method provides the passage 122 with smooth wall surface. The diameter of the oil passage 122 is considerably greater than that of each small passage 124. The elongate main portion 100 is provided with axially spaced downward projections 125 each having a small passage exposed to the larger diameter oil passage 122. One of the leg portions, that is, the leg portion 102b shown at the right-upper section of FIG. 3A is formed at its bottom surface with a groove 126 which terminates at a portion inside the leg portion 102b. The construction of this portion will be described in detail hereinafter.

The rocker shafts 128 pivotally mounting thereon several paired rocker arms 130 are securely mounted on the two groups of leg portions 102a, 102b, 104a, 104b of the supporting member 98, respectively. Each rocker arm 130 is provided with a downward projection 130a for facilitating the positioning thereof to the supporting member 98. As is understood from FIG 3A, each rocker shaft 128 is constructed of a solid rod member and formed with axially spaced several mount portions 132a and 132b, each comprising diametrically opposed flat portions. The mount portions 132a are respectively formed with bolt holes 134. For the reason which will become apparent hereinafter, the diameter of the hole 134 of at least the mount portion 132b is considerably greater than that of the after-mentioned threaded bolt which is used for connecting the rocker shaft 128 and the supporting member 98 to the cylinder head 48. A small oil passage 136 is formed in the rocker shaft 128, which extends diagonally from the hole 134 of the selected mount portion 132b to the cylindrical outer surface of the shaft 128 on which the rocker arm 130 is slidably and pivotally mounted. As shown in FIG. 7, the oil passage 136 extends downwards to the lower side of the rocker shaft 128. If desired, a diametrically extending hole 137 may be provided, which extends from the passage 136.

In the following, assembly of the valve operating arrangement of the invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4 and 5.

The cam shaft 56 is received in the aligned bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c . . . and 58 in such an arrangement that the ring portions 65, 66 and 68 are rotatably supported by the bearing portions 58, 52a and 52b, respectively. Thus, the paired cams 64 shown in FIG. 3B are located between the bearing portions 52a and 52b, and the other paired cams 64 (not shown) on the right side of the ring portion 68 of FIG. 3B are located between the bearing portions 52b and 52c. The frame-like supporting member 98 is mounted or seated at their rectangular column portions of the leg portions 102a, 102b, 104b, 104a, in one to one relation, on the stud portions 90a, 90b, 92b, 92a, with the valve lifters 120 slidably received in the inclined through holes 116 and 118 of the member 98. It is to be noted that this mounting is precisely and easily achieved because of the provision of the positioning tube members 96 previously fitted to the selected stud portions 90a and 92a (see FIG. 3B). Thus, the downward projections 125 (which have therein oil passages 125a) of the supporting member 98 are precisely mated with the circular flat tops 60 of the inside positioned bearing portions 52a, 52b, 52c of the cylinder head 48. The two rocker shafts 128 each mounting thereon associated rocker arms 130 are mounted respectively on the rectangular column portions of the two groups of the leg portions 102a, 102b, 104b, 104a, in such a manner that the mount portions 132a and 132b of each rocker shaft 128 fit on the column portions 102a and 102b (or, 104b and 104a) of each group. With this, the holes, for example the holes 134 of the rocker shaft 128, the holes, for example, the hole 114 of the leg portion 102a of the one unit and the holes, for example the hole of the stud portion 90a of the cylinder head 48 become aligned. Threaded bolts 138 each having a seal flange 138a are inserted in the aligned holes and screwed to the stud portions 90a, 90b, 92b, 92a of the cylinder head 48, so that the rocker shaft 128 and the supporting member 98 are securely mounted on the cylinder head 48 in a manner as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

As is understood from FIG. 4, the valve lifters 120 in the through holes 116 and 118 of the supporting member 98 contact at their lower ends with the associated cams 64 of the cam shaft 64, and at their upper ends with the inside ends of the associated rocker arms 130. The outside ends of the rocker arms 130 contact with the upper ends of the stems 82a and 84a of the associated intake and exhaust valves 82 and 84. Thus, rotation of the cams 64 induce, in order, the reciprocating movements of the valve lifters 120, the pivoting movements of the rocker arms 130 and the reciprocating movements of the intake and exhaust valves 82 and 84. Thus, the opening and closing operations of the valves 82 and 84 occur in response to the rotation of the cam shaft 56 about its axis.

In the following, a lubricant oil supplying system formed in the above-mentioned assembled valve operating arrangement will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3A to 9.

As is understood from FIGS. 3A, 3B and 8, upon assembly, the stud portion 90b of the cylinder head 48, the leg portion 102b of the supporting member 98 and the rocker shaft 128 are secured or united by the bolt 138 to form a first oil supplying way which comprises the small oil passage 94 of the stud portion 90b, the groove 126 of the leg portion 102b, the cylindrical gap 140 defined between the bolt 138 and the wall of the hole 114 of the leg portion 102b, the cylindrical gap 142 defined between the bolt 138 and the wall of the hole 134 of the rocker shaft 128, and the inclined passage 136 (see FIG. 7) defined in the rocker shaft 128. The cylindrical gap 140 is connected to the relatively large diameter longitudinally extending oil passage 122 of the supporting member 98 through the small passage 124, as is best seen in FIG. 8. As is understood from FIGS. 3A, 3B and 10, upon assembly, the stud portion 92b of the cylinder head 48, the leg portion 104b of the supporting member 98 and the other rocker shaft 128 (not shown in FIG. 3A) are secured or united by the bolt 138 to form a second oil supplying way which comprise the cylindrical gap 144 defined between the bolt 138 and the wall of the hole 114 of the leg portion 104b, the cylindrical gap 146 defined between the bolt 138 and the wall of the hole 134 of the other rocker shaft 128, and the inclined passage 136 (see FIG. 9) defined in the other rocker shaft 128. The cylindrical gap 144 is connected to the oil passage 122 of the supporting member 98 through the small passage, as is best seen in FIG. 10. Furthermore, upon assembly, as is understood from FIGS. 3A, 3B and 6, the downward projections 125 of supporting member 98 are respectively mated with or seated on the inside positioned bearing portions 52a, 52b 52c of the cylinder head 48 to form respectively a third oil supplying way which comprises the oil passage 122, the small passage 125a of the downward projection 125 and the small passage 62 of the bearing portion 52a, 52b or 52c of the cylinder head 48. As is seen from FIG. 6, the oil supplying way associated with the stud portion 52b further comprises the small passage 74 formed in the ring portion 68 of the cam shaft 56, the axially extending oil passage 70 in the cam shaft 56 and the small passages 72 of the cams 64 mounted on the cam shaft 56.

Thus, a pressurized lubricant oil from the oil gallery (not shown) formed in the cylinder head 48 is supplied through the first oil supplying way (which comprises the passages 94, 126, 140, 142, 136 and 124) to not only the rotatably supported beared portion of the rocker arm 130 of FIG. 7 but also the larger diameter oil passage 122 of the supporting member 98. The pressurized oil in the passage 122 is supplied through the second oil supplying ways (each of which comprises the passages 124, 144, 146 and 136) to the beared portions of the other rocker arms 130. The pressurized oil in the passage 122 is then supplied through the third oil supplying ways (each of which comprises the passages 125a and 62) to the rotatably supported portions of the ring portions 66, 68, of the cam shaft 70. The pressurized oil in the passage 62 of the bearing portion 52 is permitted to flow into the passage 70 of the cam shaft through the passage 74 in response to rotation of the cam shaft 56. The oil in the passage 70 is supplied through the passages 72 to the rotatably supported portions of the cams 64. With the oil feeding, the moving parts of the valve operating arrangement are smoothly and lubricantly beared by their associated parts.

Referring to FIG. 11, there is shown a slight modification of the valve operating arrangement of the present invention. The supporting member 98' employed in this modification has substantially the same construction as the afore-mentioned supporting member 98 except for the construction of the leg portions. As is understood when comparing FIG. 11 with FIG. 5, the supporting member 98' of this modification has leg portions 148a, 148b, 150b and 150a which are larger or longer than the corresponding leg portions 102a, 102b, 104b and 104a of FIG. 5. The leading end of each leg portion 148a, 148b, 150b and 150a has a through hole through which a threaded bolt 152 passes to be screwed to the cylinder head 48. Unlike the arrangement in FIG. 5, the threaded bolts 138 employed in this modification function to only secure the rocker shafts 128 to the supporting member 98'. This modification may be practically used when the cylinder head 48 has a limited parts-mounting space.

In the following, advantages given by the present invention will be described, comparing the case of the invention with the cases of the afore-mentioned conventional valve operating arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2.

1. Unlike the cases of the conventional arrangements, in the present invention, the rocker arms 130 are reliably and assuredly held by the rocker shafts 128 which are tightly mounted on the monoblock supporting member 98 (or 98') which is tightly seated on the cylinder head 48. Thus, the undesirable tendency (which may cause the power loss of the engine originating from the poor supporting arrangement of the rocker arms) appearing in the conventional arrangements does not appear in the present invention. In fact, the arrangement provided by the invention enables the associated engine to run very smoothly even under high speed operation.

2. As compared with the cases of the conventional arrangements, the construction of the cylinder head 48 employed in the invention is quite simple because of the employment of the separate supporting member 98 (or 98'). In fact, the supporting member mounts thereon many parts which have been directly mounted on the cylinder head in the conventional arrangement. Such simplification in construction of the cylinder head induces low cost and light weight engine construction.

3. Positioning of the supporting member 98 (or 98') onto the cylinder head 48 can be easily and precisely achieved by the provision of the positioning tube members 96 which are previously fitted to the selected stud portions 90a and 92a. The monoblock construction of the supporting member permits itself to act as an excellent positional base member for parts mounted thereon when arranged on the cylinder head 48.

4. The lubricant oil supplying system for lubricant of the parts of the valve operating arrangement is substantially provided by or formed in the separate supporting member 98 in the preseent invention, unlike the cases of the conventional arrangements. This measure induces simplified construction of the cylinder head 48. The measure is highly evaluated when considering that forming the oil flow passages in the cylinder head is more difficult than forming such passages in the separate supporting member.

5. The longitudinally extending oil passage 122 in the supporting member 98 (or 98') is greater in diameter than the small passage 124 (of the leg portion 102b) through which the pressurized lubricant oil is fed into the passage 122. Thus, the passage 122 can act as a so-called oil strainer, so that even when air bubbles are contained in the lubricant oil fed from the small passage 124, such air bubbles are separated in the passage 122. Thus, the valve lifters 120, namely, the oil tappets received in the holes 116 and 118 are supplied with oil containing no air bubbles.

6. Providing the supporting member 98 (or 98') with the inclined holes 116 and 118 for the valve lifters 120 means reduction in thickness of the member 98 (or 98'). This measure induces compact construction of the member.

7. Approximately half of the holes 114 formed in the leg portions of the supporting member 98 (or 98') serve as bolt holes and oil passages. This measure induces the simplified construction of the supporting member.

8. The rocker shafts 128 employed in the present invention are constructed of a solid rod member. This means not only a steady mounting of the rocker shafts to the supporting member 98 (or 98'), but also a steady mounting of the rocker arms to the rocker shafts.