Specifications

The claims of this patent are generally related to an apparatus and its processes to propel a marine vessel. A marine vessel is "every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water" of any size, any shape, or any purpose. The basic apparatus comprises of two main parts: a combustion chamber and one or more main valves connected to it. The valves should be in contact with the water so that when they get open, the pressure resulted from combustion get exerted to the water. A combustion chamber here refers to a closed space in which fuel is burnt. It is connected to the marine vessel. It can be in any shape and form with any kind of fuel. The main valve or valves on the combustion chamber can be open or closed. When they are open, through them, the space inside the combustion chamber gets open to the water. Timing and controlling the valve or valves can be performed by different systems which include, but not limited to, the pressure itself, mechanical controlling system, micro controllers, etc. The main valve or valves can also be opened and closed with different processes. When combustion occurs inside the combustion chamber, the pressure increases. That pressure can be released to the water through the main valve or valves.

An embodiment of the apparatus can be built if a space is added in front of the main valve or valves. The space can trap the water and guide it to the needed direction. Alternatively, it can store the pressured water. Its function can also be a combination of directing and storing the water. The space's surface can be open on some parts of it, closed on other parts, fully closed, closed with hole or holes on it, or in any other state. The space can be in any shape or form. In this document when the word 'space' is used, it means the space explained here.

Based on the first two essential parts, combustion chamber and valve or valves in contact with water, in addition to the space defined above, we describe three embodiments. The combustion chambers in all three embodiments are shaped as cylinder. They have a fuel inlet, pressured air inlet, a spark plug, and an exhaust outlet. They have one main valve connected to them. In all three embodiments, while the main valve is closed, first the pressured air inlet let the pressured air inside the combustion chamber. At the same time, with the help of pressured air, the exhaust outlet lets the exhaust steam out. Then the fuel comes in through the fuel inlet. At the next step spark occurs and combustion happens. In all three embodiments the main valve opens by means of the pressure resulted from the combustion. In addition, in all three embodiments there is a controlling system that control function and timing of combustion. Furthermore a set of nets are needed around all three embodiments so to prevent external object from disturbing function of the apparatus. The valves and spaces of the embodiments are assumed to be inside the water. Claims 2 to 8 and Figures 1 and 2 are related to Embodiment 1 . Beginning with the first embodiment, the main valve has a special form. Since valves with similar structures are used in other embodiments, for the sake of avoiding repetition, we refer to them as sliced valves. A sliced valve is comprised of different parts. The most important parts are two sliced plates. To explain what is meant by a sliced plate, imagine we have a round plate. Then we draw few diameters of the round plate in a way to have equal angles between the diameters. Drawing the diameters gives us several sectors of the round plate. If we take out every second sector of the round plate, we'll have a sliced plate. The sliced valves are closed when the two sliced plates fulfill each other to make a single plate with no empty sector. In sliced valves, one of the sliced plates ate connected to another body and does not move. The other sliced plate is connected to a cylinder and they move together. The cylinder surrounds the combustion chamber so to direct the movement. The movable sliced plate together with its cylinder gets pulled to the fixed sliced plate by means of one or more springs.

The first embodiment has a sliced valve as its main valve. Furthermore, in the first embodiment the space to hold and direct the water is shaped as a cylinder to which a funnel is connected. The space is situated in front of, but not connected to, the main valve by its funnel like side. When the main valve is closed, the space has time to get filled with the water. The funnel part of the space helps the filling process. When combustion occurs, with the pressure the main valve opens; that is the movable sliced plate and its cylinder approach and get connected to the space's cylinder and the force gets exerted on the water inside the space's cylinder. The space's cylinder directs the movement of pressurized water. As the pressurized water goes out of the space's cylinder, according to Newton's third law, the marine vessel is forced to propel in the opposite direction.

Claims 2, 3, and 9 to 17 in addition to Figure 3 are related to Embodiment 2. The shape of second embodiment's space is like two intersecting cylinders. The combustion chamber is perpendicularly attached to the space on the space's center; that is where the two cylinders meet. The main valve is situated inside the space in the second embodiment. The main valve comprises of a plate with a hole at its center, a pivot which goes into the hole, and a spring. The pivot is connected to the inside of the space where the two cylinders intersect and in front of the combustion chamber. The pivot then goes into a spring, and finally the plate, by its hole, is put on the pivot. By its hole, the plate can go along the pivot. However, the spring around the pivot pushes the plate. When it is pushed, the plate disconnects inside of the combustion chamber and the space. When combustion occurs, the pressure pushes the plate and the spring and the plate goes along the pivot. When the combustion chamber is decompressed, the spring pushes the plate back. In the second embodiment, there are four more valves at the ends of space's cylinders. The valves are controlled to direct the water's comings and goings. So there is an extra control system for these valves. It is also used as a navigation system by deciding on which space's valve to be open when the space is refilling with water and which space's valve to be open when pressurized water goes out. Claims 2, 3 and 18 to 24 in addition to Figure 4 are related to Embodiment 3. The process in the third embodiment is partially different. Particularly, the role of the space is different. Rather than only directing the pressured water, it also stores it. More precisely, it stores the pressured water and gradually releases it. When the water is decompressed, combustion comes in and there will be pressured water inside the space again. As can be expected, the structure of third embodiment's space is more complex. To make the process possible, in this embodiment, the space is divided into two separate spaces, a first cylinder and a sub-space. There is also a second cylinder which connects the two. The role of first cylinder is to take the water in while the sub-space stores the pressured water and releases it gradually. Basically, other parts of the embodiments are the same as the first embodiment. There is a combustion chamber with a sliced valve on it (see above for explanation of a sliced valve). The space shaped as two cylinders and a sub-space. The sub- space can be in any shape but there are one or more holes so it can release the water gradually. First cylinder is like the space in the first embodiment. It has a funnel near the main valve. However there are more complexities into it. At the end of first cylinder, there is another sliced valve. However the structure of the sliced valve is different in that there is no cylinder to support one of sliced plates, but it is connected to the main valve by one or more rods. It is situated inside the cylinder and it closes when the main valve opens. This way the pressured water gets trapped in the space. The second cylinder starts from one side of the first cylinder and ends at the sub-space. It is connected to the first cylinder perpendicularly. There is a third valve at the end of the second cylinder (the side that is connected to the sub-space) so to separate the first cylinder and the sub-space. The valve is comprises of a plate and a set of springs that pulls the plate to the other side of the second cylinder. It opens when pressure in the first cylinder is higher than pressure inside the sub- space. The sub-space has a hole or holes to release the pressured water gradually. When combustion occurs, the main valve gets open, the second valve gets closed, the pressure inside the first cylinder goes up, the third valve opens, and pressure inside the sub-space also goes up. Then after combustion chamber decompressed, the main valve closes, the second valve opens, the water goes inside the first cylinder and it gets decompressed, and the pressured water stays inside the sub- space until it gets decompressed by releasing enough pressured water. Then combustion occurs again and the cycle goes on.

The process introduced could also be used as a method to exert force on liquid for any purpose which includes, but not limits to, producing pressured liquid cutters. Whether it is meant to be used for propelling marine vessels or other purposes, the process includes combusting, opening the valve, waiting for decompression of the combustion chamber while the force is being exerted on the liquid, and closing the valve. The liquid of course could be in a space in order to direct and/or store the pressured liquid. Claims 25 to 38 are either related to the processes involved in a marine vessel or related to more general uses.

The invention and the embodiments presented here weigh less than used propelling systems since they have fewer parts. Having fewer parts means less repair and maintenance costs. Comparing to existing systems, the force created inside the combustion chamber is used more straight. That means there are very fewer steps until the force moves the marine vessel. Also since the combustion chambers can be created singularly at any designed size, it is possible to spread the propelling system throughout under surface of a marine vessel. As a result, the concerned issues are addressed with this invention and its embodiments introduced here.

Drawings

Three embodiments of the invention are illustrated in 4 Figures. The reference numbers in the figures are specified based on the following: the first digit refers to the embodiment number and the third digit is reference number of the object in a figure.

Figure 1 is an illustration of the first embodiment. It shows the main parts of the embodiment unassembled. Figure 2 illustrates a cross section of the first embodiment in detail while it is assembled. Figure 3 is an illustration of the second embodiment. It is partly unassembled and cross sectioned. Figure 4 is a partially unassembled illustration of the third embodiment.