An internal combustion engine for providing a linear reciprocating movement of an output shaft along a longitudinal axis. The engine has a double sided cylinder that is bounded by an engine head at each side of the cylinder. An exhaust unit is positioned at each side of the cylinder. A piston is positioned within a cylinder inner space and freely slides with respect to the cylinder along the longitudinal axis. Two piston rods are aligned with the longitudinal axis. Each piston rod is connected at a different side of the piston. Each of the piston rods has exhaust openings.

A reciprocating engine having a fixed body and at least one rotating and reciprocating member. The engine also has at least one combustion chamber, and the or each combustion chamber is defined between at least a fixed member connected to the fixed body and at least one rotating and reciprocating member. The or each rotating and reciprocating member is coupled to the fixed body in such a manner that reciprocating motion of the or each rotating and reciprocating member produces rotation of the or each rotating and reciprocating member. The or each rotating and reciprocating member is coupled to an output shaft in such a manner that the rotational motion only of the or each rotating and reciprocating member is transferred to the output shaft.

An internal combustion engine may include an engine block, a cylinder defining a combustion chamber, and a piston in the cylinder. The piston may travel in a first stroke from one end to an opposite end of the cylinder, and may be sized relative to the cylinder to enable an expansion stroke portion of the first stroke while the piston travels under gas expansion pressure, and a momentum stroke portion of the first stroke for the remainder of the first stroke following the expansion stroke portion. A piston rod portion may be connected to the piston and extend from a location within the combustion chamber to an area external to the cylinder. A recess in the piston rod portion may form a passageway to continuously communicate gas flow between the combustion chamber and the area external to the cylinder when the piston is in the momentum stroke portion.

An internal combustion engine may include an engine block, a cylinder defining a combustion chamber, and a piston in the cylinder. The piston may travel in a first stroke from one end to an opposite end of the cylinder, and may be sized relative to the cylinder to enable an expansion stroke portion of the first stroke while the piston travels under gas expansion pressure, and a momentum stroke portion of the first stroke for the remainder of the first stroke following the expansion stroke portion. A piston rod portion may be connected to the piston and extend from a location within the combustion chamber to an area external to the cylinder. A recess in the piston rod portion may form a passageway to continuously communicate gas flow between the combustion chamber and the area external to the cylinder when the piston is in the momentum stroke portion.

A linear reciprocating engine may include a cylinder having a first combustion chamber at one end and a second combustion chamber at an opposing end, first and second cylinder heads located at an end of the first and second combustion chambers, respectively, and a double-faced piston slidably mounted within the cylinder. The engine may further include a first piston rod portion extending from a first face of the double-faced piston through the first combustion chamber, and a second piston rod portion extending from a second face of the piston through the second combustion chamber. Passageways in the piston rod portions may be configured to communicate gases between the combustion chamber and a location outside the cylinder and configured to prevent gases from being exchanged between the cylinder and a location outside the cylinder via a path that crosses both face of the piston.

A linear reciprocating engine may include a cylinder having a first combustion chamber at one end and a second combustion chamber at an opposing end, first and second cylinder heads located at an end of the first and second combustion chambers, respectively, and a double-faced piston slidably mounted within the cylinder. The engine may further include a first piston rod portion having a first recess extending from a first face of the double-faced piston through the first combustion chamber, and a second piston rod portion having a second recess extending from a second face of the piston through the second combustion chamber. The engine may further include at least one port in a peripheral wall of the cylinder, for alternatively communicating gases between at least one region external to the cylinder and at least one of the first combustion chamber and the second combustion chamber.

A linear reciprocating engine may include a cylinder having first and second combustion chambers at opposing ends, first and second cylinder heads at an end of the first and second combustion chambers, respectively, and a double-faced piston slidably mounted within the cylinder. The engine may further include an exhaust port located in a peripheral cylinder wall and at least one combustion gas inlet in a location other than the peripheral cylinder wall. The combustion gas inlet and the exhaust port may be configured to cooperate such that combustion gases introduced through the inlet are evacuated from the cylinder through the exhaust port. The double-faced piston may have an axial length from one face to an opposite face of the piston less than or equal to of a distance from at least one of the first cylinder head and the second cylinder head to the exhaust port.

An internal combustion engine may include an engine block, a cylinder within the engine block, and a piston within the cylinder. The piston may have an outer peripheral wall, and a groove in the outer peripheral wall of the piston may have a first edge and a second edge spaced from the first edge. The piston may have a piston ring in the groove, and the piston ring may have a shape that meanders within the groove, such that the shape of the piston ring differs from a shape of the groove and such that the piston ring does not substantially fill the groove. The piston ring may be constructed of a material that when subjected to heat causes a shape of the meanderings to change, thereby enabling the piston ring to expand in an axial direction of the piston, between the edges of the groove.

A linear reciprocating engine may include an engine block, a cylinder having combustion chambers at opposing ends, cylinder heads located at an end of the respective combustion chambers, respectively, and a double-faced piston. The engine may further include piston rod portions extending from both faces of the piston through the combustion chambers. The engine may further include an exhaust outlet in a peripheral cylinder wall and elongated channels in the piston rod portions being configured to serve as an intake inlet for gas from a location external to the cylinder. When the piston is in a combustion stage in a first combustion chamber, the piston blocks the exhaust outlet from communicating with the first chamber with the first channel access opening outside the first chamber, while simultaneously the exhaust outlet is in communication with a second combustion chamber with the second channel access opening within the second chamber.

An engine may include a cylinder having a first combustion chamber at one end thereof and a second combustion chamber at an opposing end thereof, first and second cylinder heads at an end of the first combustion chamber and the second combustion chamber, respectively, and a double-faced piston slidably mounted within the cylinder. The piston may be configured to move in a first stroke from the first end to the second end of the cylinder. The piston and the cylinder may be configured such that the first stroke includes an expansion stroke portion during which chemical energy from combustion in the first combustion chamber is converted into mechanical power of the piston, and a momentum stroke portion during which the piston continues to move to the second end of the cylinder and gases are exchanged between the first combustion chamber and a location outside the cylinder.