Detailed History of the Internal Combustion Engine

Detailed history of the internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine has a long history of more than 150 years, and the internal combustion engine is a landmark invention in the automotive industry and in the history of mankind. From cars and motorcycles on the highway to airplanes in the air and ships at sea, the internal combustion engine is the heart of virtually every vehicle. This engine is the successor to the old steam or external combustion engine. However, this engine is undoubtedly much more efficient than its predecessor.

The fundamental difference between a steam engine and an internal-combustion engine is that in an internal-combustion engine the fuel is burned internally by repeated ignition, and the resulting gases push the pistons. In a steam engine, on the other hand, the fuel is burned externally and the resulting heat vaporizes a working fluid, such as water, which expands further and acts on the engine to produce motion and usable work. The development of the internal combustion engine has a long history of more than 150 years, and several great ideas have led to the development of the internal combustion engine to where it is today.

Inventions before 1860

1860 is a benchmark year in the history of the internal combustion engine because it was the year that Etienne Lenoir developed the first commercially successful internal combustion engine. Before that, however, several promising attempts were made by many engineers and scientists.

About 50 years before Lenoir, French engineers Nicéphore Niepce and Claude Niepce built an internal combustion engine fueled by a mixture of moss, coal dust, and resin. They named it the "Pyréolophore" and the engine was patented by Napoleon Bonaparte. Shortly after this engine, Francois Issac De Rivaz invented a hydrogen-oxygen-powered internal combustion engine that used an electric spark for ignition. Rivaz went a little further, mounting his engine on a horse-drawn carriage, which became the world's first internal combustion engine automobile.

A few years later, in 1823, Samuel Brown received a patent for the first industrially produced internal combustion engine, also known as a "gas vacuum engine," which operated at atmospheric pressure. He demonstrated its efficiency in driving horse-drawn carriages and boats, and in 1930 the engine successfully pumped water up the Croydon Canal in England.

These inventions attracted the interest of several innovators, and over the next few years a number of unique developments took place.In 1826, Samuel Morey of the U.S. developed an uncompressed gas or steam engine with a carburetor.In 1833, Lemuel Wellman of England Wright) again invented a table-top double-acting gas engine with water-jacketed cylinders. William Barnett's engine, developed in 1838, is considered the first engine to employ cylinder compression.

1860 and beyond: from two-stroke to four-stroke engines

Some other developments took place over the next few years, but a major breakthrough came in 1860 with Jean-Josef Etienne Lenoir. He invented a gas internal combustion engine, considered the first functional internal combustion engine.

In 1863, Lenoir installed the engine in a car he named the Hippomobile. He drove it nine kilometers from Paris to Joinville le Pont and back. He used turpentine derivatives as fuel, making it the first automobile with a liquid-fueled internal combustion engine. However, Lenoir's Hippomobile could not keep up with the demand for speed. Its two-stroke engine could only produce 100 rpm and an average speed of 6 kilometers per hour.

While Lenoir's engine was not a great success in the automobile industry, many were impressed by its reduced size and weight. Then German engineer Nicolaus August Otto took on the task of making this engine more efficient. He began exploring the potential of ethanol as a fuel and installed a four-stroke engine to improve engine efficiency.

After twelve years of rigorous experimentation and many failures, in 1872 Otto succeeded in developing a powerful four-stroke engine based on the principles of Alphonse Beau de Rochas and established the principles of intake, compression, combustion and exhaust. To date, all internal combustion engines in automobiles and motorcycles work according to the principles described by Otto.

The 1880s: the engine becomes ideal for vehicles

Otto's engine and its development were undoubtedly more powerful than Lenoir's, however, its weight became a concern for cars. They worked well at the factory, but were not the most suitable for vehicles. Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach then took on the task of optimizing this engine. , both of whom began their own experiments in 1881 to develop small, fast engines capable of powering both land and water vehicles.

Their first success came in 1883, when they developed a gasoline-gas engine with heat-pipe ignition that produced 1 horsepower at 650 revolutions per minute. It was small and relatively light, making it ideal for use in vehicles. The two men further improved its capabilities, developing a precursor to the motorcycle, which they named the "Retiwagen".

In 1886 they fitted a four-wheeled wagon with an engine called the "grandfather clock", and in 1889 they created the first fully self-propelled automobile with a 1.5-horsepower electric motor. By 1900, Daimler and Maybach had increased the power of the car's engine to 35 horsepower and a top speed of 90 kilometers per hour.

Following these groundbreaking inventions, the founding of many automobile companies played a major role. When the world experienced two devastating wars, the performance requirements of automobiles changed radically. This greatly contributed to the invention and development of land, water and air engines. After that, the perception of automobiles changed and people started buying more of them, which led to several innovations that made the internal combustion engine what it is today.