  4U 1822-371 is one of the proto-type accretion disk coronal sources with an
orbital period of about 5.6 hours. The binary is viewed almost edge-on at a
high inclination angle of 83 degrees, which makes it a unique candidate to
study binary orbital and accretion disk dynamics in high powered X-ray sources.
We observed the X-ray source in 4U 1822-371 with the Chandra High Energy
Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) for almost nine binary orbits. X-ray
eclipse times provide an update of the orbital ephemeris. We find that our
result follows the quadratic function implied by previous observations;
however, it suggests a flatter trend. Detailed line dynamics also confirm a
previous suggestion that the observed photo-ionized line emission originates
from a confined region in the outer edge of the accretion disk near the hot
spot. Line properties allow us to impose limits on the size of accretion disk,
the central corona, and the emission region. The photo-ionized plasma is
consistent with ionization parameters of log(xi) > 2, and when combined with
disk size and reasonable assumptions for the plasma density, this suggests
illuminating disk luminosities which are over an order of magnitude higher than
what is actually observed. That is, we do not directly observe the central
emitting X-ray source. The spectral continua are best fit by a flat power law
with a high energy cut-off and partial covering absorption (N_H ranging from
5.4-6.3x10^{22} cm^{-2}) with a covering fraction of about 50%. We discuss some
implications of our findings with respect to the photo-ionized line emission
for the basic properties of the X-ray source.
