The Richard Clem Engine

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The Richard Clem Engine

A few months back, we got a call from a friend who had heard of this incredible motor that wassaid to run itself and generate excess useable power. The details were unclear at the time and ourfriend gathered more details and we met for lunch to discuss what he had found out. This file

with diagram is listed on KeelyNet as CLEM2.ZIP.As we understand it, inventor Richard Clemdied of a heart attack soon after the deal was signed with the coal company. His workshop wasraided by law enforcement officials and all his notes and drawings were removed. The story as Iwas told by our unnamed friend. A local man (Dallas) developed a closed system engine that waspurported to generate 350 HP and run itself. The engine weighed about 200 pounds and ran oncooking oil at temperatures of 300 F. It consisted of a cone mounted on a horizontal axis. Theshaft which supported the cone was hollow and the cone had spiralling channels cut into it.These spiralling pathways wound around the cone terminating at the cone base in the form ofnozzles (rimjets). When fluid was pumped into the hollow shaft at pressures ranging from 300-500 PSI (pounds per square inch), it moved into the closed spiralling channels of the cone andexited from the nozzles. This action caused the cone to spin. As the velocity of the fluid

increased, so did the rotational speed of the cone.As the speed continued to increase, the fluidheated up, requiring a heat exchange and filtering process. At a certain velocity, the rotating conebecame independent of the drive system and began to operate of itself. The engine ran at speedsof 1800 to 2300 RPM. Immediately after the inventor had the heart attack and the papers wereremoved, the son of the inventor took the only working model of the machine to a farm nearDallas. There it was buried under 10 feet of concrete and has been running at that depth forseveral years. In later conversations, our contact says the engine had been tested by BendixCorporation. The test involved attaching the engine to a dynamometer to measure the amount ofhorsepower generated by the engine in its self-running mode. It generated a consistent 350 HPfor 9 consecutive days which astounded the engineers at Bendix. They concluded the only sourceof energy which could generate this much power in a CLOSED SYSTEM over an extended

period must be of an atomic nature. Construction of the engine was from off the shelfcomponents except for the hollow shaft and the custom cone with the enclosed spiral channels.Richard Clem worked with heavy machinery for the city of Dallas and had noticed that certainkinds of high pressure pumps continued to run for short periods after the power was removed.His curiosity into this phenomenon led to the development of the Clem Engine.

The Clem Over-Unity Motor

The following is from a newspaper clipping that has no name or date. In 1972, Richard Clemannounced the invention of a way to operate automobile engines on cooking oil. He's stillmaking that claim today, even though his first prototype motor fell apart and he had been "strungalong" by at least 15 companies before he found financial backing. Clem, 48, a heavy equipmentoperator for the city of Dallas and part-time inventor, says if the automobile industry adopts hisinvention, motorists could change the eight gallons of vegetable oil only every 150,000 miles andnever buy any gas. Clem said he uses vegetable oil because his motor runs at 300 degrees -- atemperature where water has boiled away and conventional motor oil breaks down. Though he


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won't divulge many details of the engine, a 12-volt battery apparently is the only other source ofpower. When Clem finished his first vegetable oil engine in 1972, he mapped a 600- mile testtrip to El Paso for the first engine model he had financed through his earnings. But he only madeit as far as Abilene before the 'shafts and everything bent in it. 'He blamed the failure on poorconstruction, too small a shaft and the use of chains instead of gears. Undaunted, he decided to

try again, but said, 'I needed money to build this thing better.' Neither the automobile industrynor the 15 other companies he wrote -- some as far away as Taiwan -- were interested infinancing a prototype and then manufacturing it. Then last year, he said, a large coal companyoffered to back him. Clem refused to disclose the name of his benefactor, but did say the coalcompany had signed contracts to sell the engines to power companies for use in pulling turbines.Clem said he expects to finish work on the motor by the end of this year. (1972)

KeelyNet/Vanguard Note

The above article was reported as being generated from Flower Mound, Texas(northwest of Dallas and slightly beyond Carrollton). I called the only Clem listed inthe book as of 11/20/92 and they knew of no other Clem in that area, nor did theyknow of any Richard Clem or his family. Two separate visits to the patent section ofthe Dallas Library have not yielded any patents by a Richard Clem involving any typeof engine. We are still pursuing for more details.

As of 12/26/92, I drew up a .GIF file called CLEM1.GIF that is bundled with this fileunder the name CLEM2.ZIP. It gives a better understanding of how the machine was

constructed, at least as it was described to us.

For those who study such matters, one immediately sees the tie-ins with BoundaryLayer Drag principles as evinced in much of Tesla's work as well as VictorSchauberger's Impansion and Implosion discoveries. We have noted something oddabout spinning masses in that at specific velocities, strange things occur. Thevelocities at which phenomena occur are dependent on the resonant frequencies of themass as an aggregate, exactly as Keely said.The Clem system was said to be built withoff-the-shelf components. The most complicated piece of the entire machine was thecone. And based on boundary layer drag, it would seem that the cone was

unnecessary. The question with the Clem device is, 'Does the extended surface area ofthe cone add to the additional velocity of the cone, yielding greater pressures throughcentrifugal force or would flat plates as in the TESLA turbine be sufficient to generatethe same effect?' We continue to look for more information on this device andappreciate your comments or supporting material.


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KeelyNet Update (May 1996)

A company called Creative Sciences is selling plans ($60) for what they claim is a

machine that generates 1500hp and runs by itself. They call this a CEACU and claimit was released by a 70 year old retired scientist.

The truth of the matter is it was designed and built by the late Richard Clem of FlowerMound, Texas as documented by this paper.It is wonderful that someone has takenthis information and done something with it (or so claimed) and we will have moredetails later if you might like to build one. However, be aware a few years ago, someof our Roundtable group chipped in for about $150 worth of 'plans' from CreativeSciences. The plans were bogus and were not free energy unless you are simpleenough to think compressed air (as used in some of Dennis Lees 'demonstrations') is

free energy.In the last part of June 2001, Rick Harrison, president of CreativeSciences sent an email to KeelyNet saying he was prepared to sue if we did not stop'bad-mouthing' his company. The website is http://www.fuellesspower.com and I toldhim go ahead, since I and many others would love to see them prove their overunityclaims in court. Since then he has not responded back and the website is notresponding, so I think they are changing their claims. We also have several emailsfrom others who say Creative ripped them off and one from Brazil saying its been 60days after he sent about $115.00 and received nothing.With regard to differencesbetween the CEACU design and Clem the CEACU does not require the cone, butinstead uses a thick disk with nozzles on the outer edge. A hollow shaft feeds waterinto this disk at a high velocity. As the water exits from the nozzles, the disk spinsgiving an ever higher velocity. A 3200 psi air tank is used to get the disk spinning to1000 rpm when it is claimed to begin to run on its own. There are other ways toachieve this velocity beyond 3200 psi as you can well imagine.If you write them,please let them know that Richard Clem is the true inventor (as I will).Thanks!... Jerry W. DeckerSysop / KeelyNet

KeelyNet Post

New Info on the Richard Clem Engine

This past week, a new contact from the Roundtable meetings went out with some ofus for dessert after the meeting. We discussed a wide range of topics and somehowRichard Clem was mentioned. This fellow said he actually KNEW Clem, had met him
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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personally a couple of times and had some additional information about him which hewould gladly contribute to the pool. Clem had a daughter and son, who our contactsays meet often at a restaurant/bar in a suburb of Dallas. So we will be pursuing acontact with them, even though they were VERY spooked by the events leading up toand after their fathers death, which might make some bridge building necessary.

When the FBI comes in and takes all your fathers papers and work, I think I'd beparanoid too. Our contact said Clem often drove the test car up and down CentralExpressway in Dallas, back when there was NOTHING but open fields in the 70's. Inseeking details or verifications of what we already had collected and which is listed inthe fileCLEM1, our contact said Clem worked for the city of Dallas and operatedheavy equipment. This we knew, however, he said Clem used asphalt sprayingequipment, which used melted asphalt that was pumped through the machine. Clemnoticed THIS MACHINE would continue to run for up to an hour even after thepower was turned off! The reason Clem never applied for a patent was because hisdesign was basically the same as the asphalt sprayer and so he felt he could notinfringe on an existing patent. That is the first key difference, it was a hot asphaltsprayer rather than a fire engine pump. The second key difference from our originalinformation was that the axis of the cone was VERTICAL, with a horizontal spinplane. This had been suggested by many but we presented the information as it wasgiven. Now, it makes even more sense because the gravity gradient would be slightlygreater and amplified by the expanding centrifugal rotation. Clems' machine usedMazola cooking oil and ran at about +300 Fahrenheit. He also used a heat exchangerto keep it cool. So we have a temperature differential plus the centrifugal thrust. Wewill post any additional information when it comes in, hopefully by next month.

KeelyNet Email (David Hall)

I have read your pages on the Clem engine and thought you might like to have this. Idiscussed this article with my brother in law and he said he knew Richard from work.Richard was a dozer operator at the Dallas city landfill and my brother in law was asanitation truck driver.

He said he had seen the engine and had rode in the car, however the engine was in aFord Falcon body at that time. He said Richard later built the pictured body because ofpressure from Ford.

This engine is for real and works as stated; please dont give up on this one! If thescanned image is not good enough quality let me know and I will send you aphotocopy by snail mail.
http://www.rexresearch.com/clem1.htmhttp://www.rexresearch.com/clem1.htmhttp://www.rexresearch.com/clem1.htmhttp://www.rexresearch.com/clem1.htm


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discovered what french fries and hashbrowns have know for years -- that vegetable oilis a hot product.

He said his motor -- much of which he won't divulge -- uses eight gallons of vegetableoil for fuel.

"Engineers have told me this can't work," Clem said, laughing. "I only know it does. Itwill do someone some good and will help keep the air clean."His motor is mounted in a bright red car but he said if it is made large enough, "thistype of engine could power ships, aircraft, even provide enough power to produceenough energy for large cities.

Vegetable Oil Best ~

"I use vegetable oil because right now the engine is running at 300 degrees," said

Clem, 43. "Water would boil and evaporate and conventional motor oil would breakdown."

The only apparent outside source of power in his car is a 12 volt battery, which Clemsaid "is used only to start the engine. Once started you can throw the battery away."He said, however, the battery is also used to power the car's lights and horn.

His power plant and car, both financed through his regular earnings, are not thepicture of Detroit designing.

"I'm not an engineer, I'm an inventor," he said. "When I get this done I'll turn it overto the engineers and they can develop the finished product."

He said he once attempted to get financial backing, but "is now playing the waitinggame."

"I've had offers recently" he said. "But I don't know, I don't want to be obligated toanyone."

Seven Stage Pump ~

Outside the meager electrical portion of the system used to start the motor and run thelights and horn, the power plant consists of a seven stage pump and a "converter."

The pump, as he described it, is used to move the oil, under pressure, from a storagearea to the converter from where the energy is converted into enough power to turn


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the motor, move the oil back to the storage area and power the pump, which in turncontinues the cycle.

One hint as to the contents of the converter is "it acts like a turbine but isn't a turbine"in the normal sense of the word, Clem said.

He said his car has "some bugs in it," but said it has been driven as fast as 103 milesper hour. And when he gets the bugs worked out, he plans to take it on a test trip 600miles to El Paso, Texas.

The success or failure of that trip might decide if vegetable oil is good for more thanfrying potatoes.


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from newspaper and individual sources, gave an anecdotal account of the motorinvented in 1972 by Richard Clem of Flower Mound, Texas. New information hassince been added and can be found on KeelyNet.com at CLEM1.HTM.

Richard Clem worked with heavy machinery for the city of Dallas. He used asphalt-

spraying equipment, which pumped liquid asphalt. He noticed the asphalt pumpwould continue to run for up to 30 minutes after the power was turned off. It was thisdiscovery that led to the development of the motor. Modifications he made eventuallyresulted in a substantial 350 horsepower output from a 200-pound motor. Clem is saidto have often driven a car, powered by this motor, up and down Central Expresswayin Dallas. He claimed it didn't use any fuel, and only needed a change of oil every150,000 miles.

The motor had only one moving part, a cone shaped rotor mounted vertically on ahollow shaft. Spiral channels cut into the cone wound around its length and feed into

peripheral nozzles at its large end. When fluid flowed through the spiral channels itwas ejected out the nozzles and caused the cone to spin. At a certain velocity, therotating cone became independent of the starter pump and began to operate by itself.At an operating speed of 1800 to 2300 RPM the fluid heated up to 300 F, requiring aheat exchanger. Vegetable oil was used because at 300 F water boils andconventional engine oil breaks down. A 12-volt battery was the only other powersource.

Clem never applied for a patent because his motor design was derived from theasphalt pump that was already patented. Fifteen companies turned him down before alarge coal company offered to back him and signed contracts to sell the motor. Soonafter the deal was signed, Richard Clem died of a heart attack

The above account contains only what I considered to be relevant for analysis of theClem motor. The gear pumps, typically used for asphalt spaying, do not match thedescription of the pump used by the city of Dallas back in 1972. There should bepublic records showing what equipment manufacture the asphalt sprayer waspurchased from. Since the asphalt pump was patented, I searched for a pump patentthat met the following criteria:

1) Patent issued on or before 19722) Delivered pressure equivalent to a positive displacement gear pump.3) Cone shaped rotor with spiral channels.4) Self-propelling action.5) Capable of pumping a viscous fluid like asphalt.6) Large heat transfer to pumped fluids.


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The following illustration is from US Patent 3,697,190 (Truncated Conical DragPump). The patent was issued October 10, 1972 (criteria 1) and appears to match thedescription of the asphalt pump that Clem converted into his motor.

Housing 11, Conical interior wall 12, Conical rotor 13, Inlet chamber 14, Inlet pipe15, Outlet chamber 16, Outlet pipe 17, Support feet 19, Detachable end cap 20, Rotorshaft 21, End cap wall 22, Boss 23, Packing 24, Adjustable gland nut 25, Bracketarms 27, Bearing boss 29, Bearing 30, Snap ring 31, Inner race 32, Sleeve 33,Shoulder 34, Retainer nut 35, Reduced diameter outer end 36, Coupling 37, Packing

39, Retainer 40, Gland nut 41, Bearing boss 43, Integrally formed bracket 44, Shaftreduced diameter 45, Bearing sleeve 46, Bearing 47, Snap ring 48, Inner flanged 49,Inner race 50, Nut 51,Shaft reduced diameter 53, Lock nut 55, Flat faces 56, Snap ring57, Washer 59, Nut 60, Helical channel 61, Channel base 63, Channel sidewalls 64

This is a high-pressure, low volume drag pump that can be used in place ofconventional positive displacement pumps (criteria 2). It has a conical rotor that has aclose fit clearance with the stationary housing wall. Delivered pressure is limited byback flow across the radial clearance and is inversely proportional to the square of theclearance. As a result, even a small increase in radial clearance would rapidly reduce

pressure. The rotor is cone shaped so that the clearance can be controlled by axialadjustment of the rotor relative to the housing wall.

The conical rotor has two helical channels (criteria 3), in the form of square threads,spaced 180 apart for balance. The channel depth decreases as the rotor diameterincreases. Fluid enters the channels at the small end of the rotor. The fluid is inducedto rotate with the channel by boundary layer drag. The boundary layer is the thin layer


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of fluid adhering to the channel surface. Molecular cohesion tends to drag the adjacentfluid with the boundary layer. The fluid is also in contact with the housing wall. Theboundary layer drag against this stationary wall slows the rotation of the fluid in thechannels. Because the fluid rotates slower than the rotor, it is forced through thechannels towards the large end of the rotor. In addition the fluid is forced towards the

large end by centrifugal force.

The above drawing illustrates the proportional decrease in channel depth as the rotordiameter increases. Why was this done? Note that as the diameter doubles so does thecircumference. This means the fluid has to travel twice as far in the same time tomaintain a constant slip velocity. By reducing the channel depth in half (cross-sectionarea = depth x width) the fluid velocity is doubled thereby keeping the slip constant.

The spiral channels could be thought of as very long convergent nozzles. The increasein fluid velocity is in the opposite direction of the rotor spin. We should expect areaction force from the acceleration of the fluid. This thrust would be directed tangentto the circumference and would increase the spin torque on the rotor. Even without theperipheral nozzles, that Clem later added, the pump rotor experiences a thrust force ina direction that would self-propel it (criteria 4).

Because fluid drag is the primary pumping force, it is well suited for viscous fluidslike asphalt (criteria 5). The long channels also represent a large sliding surface area

with frictional losses that would transfer heat to the pumped fluid (criteria 6).

All six of the patent search criteria have now been met. Of course this doesntprove that it is the asphalt pump Richard Clem worked with.A peculiar condition indicated by the patent is that as the velocity increases in thechannels the pressure also increases. Bernoullis Law requires the pressure to dropproportionally as the velocity increases. Assuming an ideal fluid without losses, whenthe channel depth is reduced in half, the cross section area is also half and this doubles


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discharge velocity. Assuming the reaction thrust as the only propelling force, thiswould give efficiency greater than 100%. So, as the slip increases the reaction thrustdecreases, but the efficiency increases.

Assuming the Conical Drag Pump is the pump Clem used, can it answer the

following?

1) Why was a hollow shaft used?2) Why was the cone mounted vertically?3) Why was a starter pump needed?4) How were the peripheral nozzles added?5) How was the motor RPM regulated?6) How did a large coal company get involved?7) Was this kind of pump ever used in asphalt sprayers?

(Red arrows show oil flow)

The above drawing shows a hypothetical Clem motor based on the Conical DragPump. The motor is mounted vertically so that the check valve on the hollow shaft issubmerged down in the oil tank. The hollow shaft (shown in blue) extends from theoil tank through the rotor into the inlet chamber. The start pump draws oil from the


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tank and forces it up the external feed line connected to the inlet chamber at the smallend of the rotor. This fills the hollow shaft and forces the check valve closed. The oilflows into the spiral channels and out the peripheral nozzles. The reaction thrust of thenozzles spins the rotor. The oil flows through the return line, through the valve, filter,and heat exchanger and back into the tank. The start pump is most likely a standard

hydraulic gear pump. It continues to pump until the rotor spins up to its operatingspeed. The combinations of a start pump and check valve would be a simple way toboth prime the motor and spin up the rotor.

Once the start pump is shut off the check valve is free to open. Oil is drawn up intothe hollow shaft (shown in blue) to the inlet chamber at the small end of the rotor. Thespiral channels pump the oil down towards the large end of the rotor. A plate isattached to the large end of the rotor and fits with a close clearance with the housingwall. Nozzles attached to the outer edge receive high-pressure oil from the spiral

channels. The jet reaction thrust from the nozzles delivers shaft horsepower to thepower takeoff at the shaft top. Adjusting the valve to create hydraulic backpressureregulates the motor RPM. Closing the valve stops the motor.

When I first read about the Clem Motor I found it odd that a deal had been made witha coal company. Was there a connection with the pump? After finding the ConicalDrag Pump patent, I wanted to contact the inventor Walter D. Haentjens of Barrett,


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Haentjens & Co., Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Otto Haentjens founded Barrett Haentjens& Co., in 1916. The business began in the coalmines of Pennsylvania with OttoHaentjens original patent on the balanced opposed impeller multi-stage volute pump.The company still supplies pumps to the coal industry. They have expanded to othermarkets and their pumps are installed in many industries worldwide. It's now known

as Hazleton Pumps Inc., after its acquisition by The Weir Group.

I contacted Peter Haentjens, the VP/General Manager of Hazleton Pumps, by e-mailto find out if this pump had ever been put into production. He replied that they had notdone anything with the patent:

Email to: Peter Haentjens, VP/General Manager Hazleton Pumps (11/18/2001)

Hi Peter,

I'm interested in a pump developed by Barrett Haentjens & Co. (now Hazleton PumpsInc.?). During a patent search I found a 1972 patent (# 3,697,190) for a "TruncatedConical Drag Pump" invented by Walter D. Haentjens of Sugarloaf, PA. The attachedimage is the front page from this patent. Did your company ever manufacture thispump? If so, is it still available?

I appreciate any information you can provide.

Thanks,Robert Koontz

E-mail from: Peter Haentjens, VP/General Manager Hazleton Pumps (01/19/2002)

Dear Robert,

Sorry for the late reply to your email. We have not done anything with this patent. Iwould be interested to know the nature and extent of your interest in this design.

Peter

An unusual pump design would have a tough time competing in the market with anindustry standard like gear pumps. The Dallas asphalt sprayer may have been a one ofa kind field test of the pump design. Or the pump manufacturer offered it for testing toan asphalt equipment company in the hopes of generating interest in it.


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US Patent # 3,697,190

Truncated Conical Drag Pump

US Cl. 415/73 (October 10, 1972)

Walter D. Haentjens

Abstract --- High pressure low volume rate drag pump having a frusto-conical rotorcooperating with a frusto-conical stator wall and having close clearance with the statorwall. The rotor has a helical channel extending therealong, in which the base o root ofthe channel is formed along a different angle than the cone angle of the rotor. Thehigh pressure is attained by the maximum drag surface along the relatively smallpassageways together with the centrifugal force of the fluid sue to increasing linearvelocity of the rotor from its inlet to its discharge end. The rotor is axially adjustable

to maintain a close clearance and a high pressure capability of the pump.

The Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to low capacity high pressure rotary pumps.

Background, Summary and Objects of Invention

The pump of the present invention operates on the principles of a dynamic shaft sealin which a shaft is provided with square threads on its ends to be seals, which

threaded end rotates within a closed chamber. The effectiveness of the seal is directlydependent upon the radial clearance and the pressure delivered is inverselyproportional to the square of the radial clearance. While such seals generate highpressure and are in effect a pump operating against a shut-off condition, it has notbeen possible to provide a means for compensating for wear or for reducing theclearance between the rotor and stator to maintain the efficiency required by a highpressure pump. As is evident from the above relationship, an increase in radialclearance, as would occur with wear, rapidly reduces the pressure available.

The present invention utilizes but improves upon the features of the dynamic seal, in

that it places the channels or threads at an angle, which matches a correspondingstator angle. The rotor may thus be a cone or the frustrum of a cone. Axial adjustmentmeans are provided to axially adjust the rotor relative to the conical wall of the stator,to enable the clearance between the rotor and stator to be controlled. The rotor maythus be operated with very close clearances between the rotor and stator wall and thecentrifugal force created by the increasing diameter of the rotor from its inlet adds a


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pressure component to the pressure attained by the drag of the fluid along the walls ofthe channel.

The pump, therefore, operates on the principle of maintaining a constant slip velocitybetween channel walls of the rotor and the fluid, in which the channel depth varies, so

that the velocity of the fluid changes in accordance with the peripheral velocity of thechannel walls of the rotor.

A principal object of the present invention is to provide a more efficient and practicalhigh pressure low capacity pump by the use of a conical channeled rotor having closeclearance with the conical wall of a stator.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved form of lowvolume high pressure rotary pump of the truncated conical variety, in which thepressure available is a combination of that produced by the hydraulic drag and the

centrifugal action on the fluid resulting from the increase in peripheral speed of therotor due to the change in radius of the truncated conical rotor of the pump.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simplified form of pump having aconical rotor cooperating with a frusto-conical stator with helical channels extendingalong the rotor, in which the bases or roots of the channels are formed along adifferent angle than the angle of the rotor, to provide a constant volume of fluid in thepassageways from the inlet to the discharge end of the pump with a substantiallyconstant hydraulic drag as the fluid progresses from the inlet to the outlet end of therotor.

A still further object of the invention is to utilize a conical drag pump in place of theconventional positive displacement reciprocating pump for attaining a high pressure,by providing a frusto-conical rotor having at least one helical channel extendingtherealong from the inlet to the outlet end of the rotor, in which the efficiency of thepump is maintained by the reduction in clearance between the rotor and stator wall,and the clearance may be controlled within fine limits by axially adjusting the rotorrelative to the stator wall.

A further improvement is the use of two or more helical channels, arranged so that

radial hydraulic balance exists, thus permitting an extremely close operating clearancebetween the rotor and stator.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent fromthe following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be


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effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of thedisclosure.

Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through a pump constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention, with the rotor shown in solid;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along line II-II of Figure 1;


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Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along line III-III of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the difference between the cone angleand thread angle at the base of the channels, compensating for increased drag velocity

and increased diameters and peripheral speed from the inlet to the outlet end of therotor.

Description of a Preferred Embodiment of Invention

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, I have shown in Figure1, a conical drag pump 10 including a housing 11 having a frusto-conical interior wall


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portion 12 forming a pumping chamber and cooperating with a frusto-conical rotor 13to produce a high pressure of the fluid as discharged through the outlet of the pump.An inlet chamber 14 is provided at the small diameter end of the frusto-conical wallportion 12 and is shown as having an outlet pipe 17 leading therefrom. The housing11 is supported on feet 19, which may be bolted or otherwise secured to a

conventional foundation or base (not shown).

The outlet chamber 16 is closed by a detachable end cap 20, suitably sealed theretoand removable to afford access to the frusto-conical wall 12, to accommodatemachining thereof and assembly of the rotor 13 and a rotor shaft 21 within saidhousing with the wall of said rotor in close clearance with the internal frusto-conicalwall 12.

The end cap 20 has a wall portion 22, closing the outlet end of the housing, andhaving a cup-like boss 23 extending outwardly therefrom. The cup-like boss 23

contains packing 24, contained to said cup-like boss as by an adjustable gland nut 25threaded in said boss. The end cap 20 also has a pair of bracket arms 27 extendingaxially outwardly therefrom. The bracket arms 27 may be formed integrally with theend cap 20 and are spaced apart to afford access to the gland nut 25, to take up on thepacking 24. The bracket members 27 form a support at their outer edges for a bearingboss 29 for an anti-friction bearing 30. The bearing 30 is shown as retained against ashouldered position of said bearing boss as by a snap ring 31.

The bearing 30 may be a conventional form of ball bearing and has an inner race 32mounted on a sleeve 33 and retained against a shouldered portion 34 of said sleeve asby a retainer nut 35 threaded on the outer end of said sleeve and suitable lockedthereto. The shaft 21 has a reduced diameter outer end portion 36 extending throughthe sleeve 33, with a close sliding fit extending outwardly therefrom. The sleeve 33may be feather keyed on the reduced diameter end of the shaft 36 and sufficientclearance may be provided between the shaft and the sleeve 33 to accommodate axialmovement of said shaft relative to said sleeve when taking up on clearance betweenthe frusto-conical wall 12 and frusto-conical face of the rotor 13. The reduceddiameter end portion 36 of the shaft 21 is shown as having a coupling 37 mountedthereon, coupling said shaft to a suitable motor (not shown) for driving said shaft andthe rotor 13. The coupling 37 may be of a conventional form, of a type which willpermit some axial movement of the shaft 21 relative to the motor shaft uponadjustment of clearance between the rotor and the frusto-conical wall 12, and whichwill also compensate for temperature changes. It should be understood that thecoupling 37 may be at either end of the shaft, although the present location of saidcoupling is preferred to facilitate axial adjustment of said shaft and the rotor 13relative to the frusto-conical wall 12.


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The opposite end of the shaft 21 from the coupling 37 extends through the inletchamber 14 and is sealed by packing 39 contained within a cup-like retainer 40extending outwardly of the inlet end wall portion of the housing 11. The packing 39may be taken up by a gland nut 41 threaded within the interior wall portion of saidcup-like retainer 40.

A bearing boss 43 is spaced outwardly of the packing nut 41 and is supported byintegrally formed bracket arms 44, extending axially outwardly of the inlet end of thehousing 11 and shown as being formed integrally with said housing. The spacedbracket arms 44, like the bracket arms 27, afford access to the gland nut 41, toaccommodate adjustment of the packing 39.

The end of the shaft 21 extending outwardly of the gland nut 41 has a reduceddiameter portion 45 having sliding fit with a bearing sleeve 46, for a bearing 47mounted in the bearing boss 43. The bearing 47 may be a suitable form of anti-friction

bearing, such as a ball bearing and is shown as retained against an inner shoulderedposition of the bearing boss 43, as by a snap ring 48.

The sleeve 46 has an inner flanged portion 49 forming a shoulder abutted by an innerrace 50 of the bearing 47. A nut 51 threaded on said sleeve is provided to lock saidinner race to said sleeve and against the shoulder formed by the flange 49.

The outer end portion of the sleeve 46 is internally threaded, and is threaded on areduced diameter outer end portion 53 of the shaft 21. A lock nut 55 locks said sleeveto said shaft to effect rotation of said sleeve upon rotation f said shaft. The threaded

end portion 53 of the shaft 21 may have opposite flat faces, one of which is indicatedby reference numeral 56, to accommodate axial adjustment of said shaft relative to thesleeve 46 by loosening the lock nut 55 and holding the shaft from rotation by awrench engaging the flat portions 56 thereof, and then turning the sleeve 46 along saidshaft, to achieve the desired radial clearance between the face of the rotor 13 and theinterior cylindrical wall 12.

The rotor 13 may be keyed or otherwise secured to the shaft 21 and is held on saidshaft by a split or snap ring 57 snapped on said shaft and engaging the small diameterend of the rotor 13, and by a washer 59 abutting the large diameter end of said rotor,

and held thereto as by a nut 60 threaded on said shaft and suitably locked thereto.

The rotor 13 has at least one helical channel 61 cut or otherwise formed therein andleading from the inlet to the outlet end of said rotor. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, twodiametrically opposed channels are shown as being in the form of double squarethreads, each of which threads or channels have a root or base 63 and parallel side


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walls 64. The channels, however, need not necessarily be formed like square threadsbut may have rounded bases or may be of various other forms.

While I have shown two helical channels herein, it should be understood that thepump is not restricted to one or two helical channels but that the rotor may have three

or more helical channels, provided they are spaced equal distances apart to effect abalance of the changes in pressure as fluid progresses along the channels to thedischarge end of the pump.

In order to compensate for the increasing diameter of the rotor from the inlet to theoutlet thereof, the channels 61 are cit at a different angle from that of the rotor. As forexample, in Figure 4, this angle is diagrammatically illustrated by reference characterA and the angle of the frusto-conical face of the rotor is designated by referencecharacter B. The difference in cone angle from the thread angle thus adjusts thegeometry of the threads according to the radius of the cone and the channels or

threads 61 are of the same width throughout the length of the cone. The depth,however, decreases as the radius increases, to maintain a substantially constant slipvelocity between the passage walls of the rotor and the fluid.

As previously mentioned, the pressure obtainable by the pump is basically due to thedrag of the fluid along the walls of the channel, and the decreasing depth of thechannel as it approaches its discharge end adjusts the geometry according to the radiusto provide a constant hydraulic drag, as the fluid progresses from the inlet to the outletend of the rotor.

The pressure generated from the present truncated conical drag pump, therefore, is acombination of that produced by a dynamic seal and the centrifugal force resultingfrom the increase in peripheral speed due to the increasing radius of the truncatedconical rotor from its inlet to its discharge end.

The pressure produced by the unit is, therefore, controllable by the rotative speed ofthe rotor, the thread diameter and the thread length and the pressure obtainable isexponentially dependent upon close radial clearance between the periphery of therotor and internal frusto-conical wall of the stator, which can be adjusted andmaintained by holdig the shaft 21 stationary and turning the sleeve 46along the

threaded end portion of the shaft and then locking the sleeve to the shaft by the locknut 55.

It should be understood that while I herein show the channels cut at a different anglefrom that of the face of the cone, and show what are in effect square threads, that thechannel may be cut in the same angle as the cone angle and the desired thread


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geometry may be attained by varying the width or shape of the channels from the inletto the outlet end of the rotor.

I claim as my invention: [Claims not included here]

The Richard Clem Engine

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