Rotary engines

Abstract

This impeller-free vacuum cleaner is based on a rotary piston. Vacuum suction of 300 inches of water or better can be delivered. Quietness of below 70 db can be delivered. Tongued rotary piston assemblies may be strategically placed, such as stacked, to eliminate vacuum suction dead zones. Sealing problems that otherwise were encountered with previous reciprocating and rotary piston structures for vacuum cleaners are solved by using a tongued rotary piston with a double-notched rotary valve operating by a Geneva mechanism, and a novel pancake-shaped cylindrical structure to house the rotary piston. An inventive rotary combustion engine also is disclosed.

1 . A vacuum cleaner, wherein no centrifugal impeller is included and wherein a siren scream noise is not made, wherein the vacuum cleaner delivers a vacuum suction of at least about 300 inches of water.  
   
   
       2 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 1 , including a positive displacement vacuum system.  
   
   
       3 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 2 , wherein the positive displacement vacuum system is selected from the group consisting of: a system including a reciprocating piston structure; a system including a bellows structure; a system including a diaphragm structure.  
   
   
       4 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 1 , wherein air is pumped.  
   
   
       5 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 1 , wherein a liquid is pumped.  
   
   
       6 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 2 , having an exterior size of no bigger than about 6 inches by 6 inches by 6 inches.  
   
   
       7 . An impeller-free vacuum cleaner, comprising: a reciprocating piston actuated by a diamond level wind screw.  
   
   
       8 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 7 , wherein the reciprocating piston is prevented from rotating.  
   
   
       9 . A vacuum cleaner comprising a double-acting piston.  
   
   
       10 . A vacuum cleaner comprising at least one rotary piston.  
   
   
       11 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 10 , wherein the rotary piston is disposed in a hollow, closed chamber.  
   
   
       12 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 11 , wherein the chamber has a shape selected from the group consisting of cylindrical, toroidal and rectangular toroidal.  
   
   
       13 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 10 , wherein the rotary piston has a tongue.  
   
   
       14 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 13 , wherein the rotary piston tongue (1) pushes air in front of the tongue and (2) creates a vacuum behind the tongue.  
   
   
       15 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 13 , including a rotary valve which is capable of moving.  
   
   
       16 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 15 , wherein the rotary valve includes an intake passage and a discharge passage.  
   
   
       17 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 15 , the piston having a rotational axis and the valve having a rotational axis, wherein the piston axis is parallel to the valve axis.  
   
   
       18 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 15 , the piston having a rotational axis and the rotary valve having a rotational axis, the rotary valve axis being 90 degrees offset.  
   
   
       19 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 11 , wherein the chamber includes an opening through which can move the rotary valve.  
   
   
       20 . A vacuum cleaner, comprising a stack of at least two rotary pistons, each rotary piston disposed in a respective hollow, closed chamber.  
   
   
       21 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 20 , wherein the closed chamber has a shape selected from the group consisting of cylindrical, toroidal and rectangular toroidal.  
   
   
       22 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 20 , wherein motion of the rotary pistons is synchronized so that when one rotary piston is dormant, at least one other rotary piston is active.  
   
   
       23 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 20  wherein the stack includes exactly two rotary pistons-with-chambers stacked, and each rotary piston-with-chamber has associated therewith a rotary valve, wherein when viewed from above the respective rotary valves are on opposite sides.  
   
   
       24 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 20 , wherein the stack includes four rotary pistons-with-chambers stacked, and each rotary piston-with-chamber has associated therewith a rotary valve, wherein when viewed from above the respective rotary valves are positioned at 0, 90, 180 and 270 degree positions.  
   
   
       25 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 10 , wherein the piston is about 1 inch by 1 inch.  
   
   
       26 . The vacuum cleaner of  claim 10 , the piston having a hub wherein the piston hub has a peripheral concave surface.  
   
   
       27 . A vacuum cleaner comprising a set of at least two tongued rotary pistons in a single chamber, the piston tongues being staggered to minimize dormant zones.  
   
   
       28 . A vacuum cleaner, comprising a Geneva mechanism.  
   
   
       29 . A rotary combustion engine, without any trochoidal chamber.  
   
   
       30 . A rotary piston engine including at least one piston, wherein the piston (i) always follows a purely circular path and/or (ii) does not reciprocate and/or (iii) need not speed up or slow down to operate properly.