History of the internal combustion engine
Encyclopedia
Although various forms of internal combustion engine
s were developed before the 19th century, their use was hindered until the commercial drilling and production of petroleum began in the mid-1850s. By the late 19th century, engineering advances led to their widespread adoption in a variety of applications.
s and engineer
s contributed to the development of internal combustion engine
s:
As noted later in the timeline, the oldest confirmed patent of a four-cycle engine is from 1861 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas.
Electric starters are now almost universal for small and medium-sized engines, while compressed-air starting is used for large engines.
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s were developed before the 19th century, their use was hindered until the commercial drilling and production of petroleum began in the mid-1850s. By the late 19th century, engineering advances led to their widespread adoption in a variety of applications.
Timeline of development
Various scientistScientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s and engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
s contributed to the development of internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s:
Prior to modern era
- 13th century: The rocket engineRocket engineA rocket engine, or simply "rocket", is a jet engineRocket Propulsion Elements; 7th edition- chapter 1 that uses only propellant mass for forming its high speed propulsive jet. Rocket engines are reaction engines and obtain thrust in accordance with Newton's third law...
, an internal-combustion engine, was developed by the Chinese, Mongols and Arabs.
1600 to 1860
- 17th century: Christiaan Huygens designs gunpowderGunpowderGunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...
to drive water pumpWater PumpWater Pump is one of the neighbourhoods of Gulberg Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is near main Water Pump that supplies fresh water to the city of Karachi....
s, to supply 3000 cubic meters of water/day for the Versailles palace gardens, essentially creating the first idea of a rudimentary internal combustion piston engine. - 1780s: Alessandro VoltaAlessandro VoltaCount Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta was a Lombard physicist known especially for the invention of the battery in 1800.-Early life and works:...
built a toy electric pistol in which an electric sparkElectric sparkAn electric spark is a type of electrostatic discharge that occurs when an electric field creates an ionized electrically conductive channel in air producing a brief emission of light and sound. A spark is formed when the electric field strength exceeds the dielectric field strength of air...
exploded a mixture of airEarth's atmosphereThe atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
and hydrogenHydrogenHydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
, firing a cork from the end of the gun. - 1791: John BarberJohn Barber (engineer)John Barber was an English coalmaster and inventor. He was born in Nottinghamshire, but moved to Warwickshire in the 1760s to manage collieries in the Nuneaton area. For a time he lived in Camp Hill House, between Hartshill and Nuneaton, and later lived in Attleborough...
receives BritishKingdom of Great BritainThe former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
patent #1833 for A Method for Rising Inflammable Air for the Purposes of Producing Motion and Facilitating Metallurgical Operations. In it he describes a turbine. - 1794: Robert Steele built a compressionless engine whose principle of operation would dominate for nearly a century.
- 1798: Tippu Sultan, the ruler of the city-state of Mysore in IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, uses the first ironIronIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
rockets against the British Army. - 1807: Nicéphore NiépceNicéphore NiépceNicéphore Niépce March 7, 1765 – July 5, 1833) was a French inventor, most noted as one of the inventors of photography and a pioneer in the field.He is most noted for producing the world's first known photograph in 1825...
installed his 'moss, coal-dust and resin' fueled PyréolophorePyréolophoreThe Pyréolophore was probably the world's first internal combustion engine. It was invented in the early 19th century in Chalon-sur-Saône, France, by the Niépce brothers: Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude....
internal combustion engine in a boat and powered up the river SaôneSaôneThe Saône is a river of eastern France. It is a right tributary of the River Rhône. Rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department, it joins the Rhône in Lyon....
in France. A patent was subsequently granted by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on 20 July 1807. - 1807: Swiss engineer François Isaac de RivazFrançois Isaac de RivazFrançois Isaac de Rivaz was a French politician, chancellor, Deputé , entrepreneur and inventor. In retirement, as a Swiss citizen, circa 1807, he invented a hydrogen powered internal combustion engine with electric ignition...
built an internal combustion engine powered by a hydrogen and oxygen mixture, and ignited by electric spark. (See 1780s: Alessandro VoltaAlessandro VoltaCount Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta was a Lombard physicist known especially for the invention of the battery in 1800.-Early life and works:...
above.)
- 1823: Samuel BrownSamuel Brown (engineer)This article is about the English engineer and inventor. See Samuel Brown for other persons of the same name.Samuel Brown was an English engineer and inventor credited with developing one of the earliest examples of an internal combustion engine, during the early 19th century.Brown, a cooper by...
patented the first internal combustion engine to be applied industrially. It was compressionless and based on what Hardenberg calls the "Leonardo cycle," which, as the name implies, was already out of date at that time.
- 1824: FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
physicist Sadi CarnotNicolas Léonard Sadi CarnotNicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot was a French military engineer who, in his 1824 Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, gave the first successful theoretical account of heat engines, now known as the Carnot cycle, thereby laying the foundations of the second law of thermodynamics...
established the thermodynamic theory of idealized heat engines. This scientifically established the need for compression to increase the difference between the upper and lower working temperatures. - 1826 April 1: American Samuel MoreySamuel MoreySamuel Morey was an American inventor, who worked on early internal combustion engines and was a pioneer in steamships who accumulated a total of 20 patents.-Early life:...
received a patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for a compressionless "Gas or Vapor Engine."
- 1833: Lemuel Wellman WrightLemuel Wellman Wright- Name :Lemuel Wellman Wright is the name recorded in the British patent index for the patents listed below, however some texts use Lemuel Willman Wright to refer to the author of the same patents, and there are contemporary references to an American from Massachusetts, Lemuel William Wright, who...
, UK patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
6525, table-type gas engine. Double acting gas engine, first record of water jacketed cylinder.
- 1838: A patent was granted to William BarnettWilliam Barnett (engineer)William Hall Barnett was born in Bradford in 1802, and died in Brighton in August 1865. He is described as a 'founder' in his 1836 patent, and an 'ironfounder' in his 1838 patent, and later as an engineer and gas engineer, working in Brighton, UK...
(English). According to Dugald Clerk, this was the first recorded use of in-cylinder compression.
- 1854-57: Eugenio BarsantiEugenio BarsantiFather Eugenio Barsanti , also named Nicolò, was an Italian engineer, who invented a form of the internal combustion engine. It is not known whether he was the first to develop such an engine, as the patent request in question has been lost.Barsanti was born in Pietrasanta, Tuscany...
& Felice MatteucciFelice MatteucciFelice Matteucci was an Italian hydraulic engineer who co-invented an internal combustion engine with Eugenio Barsanti. It is not known whether they were the first to do so, as the patent in question was lost....
invented an engineBarsanti-Matteucci EngineIn late 1851 or early 1852 Eugenio Barsanti, a professor of mathematics, and Felice Matteucci, an engineer and expert in mechanics and hydraulics, joined forces on a project to exploit the explosion and expansion of a gaseous mix of hydrogen and atmospheric air to transform part of the energy of...
that was possibly the first 4-cycle engine, but the patent was lost.
As noted later in the timeline, the oldest confirmed patent of a four-cycle engine is from 1861 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas.
- 1856: in FlorenceFlorenceFlorence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
at Fonderia del Pignone (now Nuovo Pignone, later a subsidiary of General ElectricGeneral ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
), Pietro Benini realized a working prototype of the Italian engine supplying 5 HPHorsepowerHorsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...
. In subsequent years he developed more powerful engines—with one or two pistons—which served as steady power sources, replacing steam engines.
- 1857: Eugenio BarsantiEugenio BarsantiFather Eugenio Barsanti , also named Nicolò, was an Italian engineer, who invented a form of the internal combustion engine. It is not known whether he was the first to develop such an engine, as the patent request in question has been lost.Barsanti was born in Pietrasanta, Tuscany...
& Felice MatteucciFelice MatteucciFelice Matteucci was an Italian hydraulic engineer who co-invented an internal combustion engine with Eugenio Barsanti. It is not known whether they were the first to do so, as the patent in question was lost....
describe the principles of the free piston engine where the vacuum after the explosion allows atmospheric pressure to deliver the power stroke (British patent No 1625). Otto and Langen were the first to make a marketable engine based on this concept 10 years later.
1860-1910
- 1860: Belgian Jean Joseph Etienne LenoirEtienne Lenoir-Sources:* Georgano, G.N. Cars: Early and Vintage 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal, 1990 . ISBN 0-9509620-3-1....
(1822–1900) produced a gas-fired internal combustion engine similar in appearance to a horizontal double-acting steamSteamSteam is the technical term for water vapor, the gaseous phase of water, which is formed when water boils. In common language it is often used to refer to the visible mist of water droplets formed as this water vapor condenses in the presence of cooler air...
engine, with cylinderCylinder (engine)A cylinder is the central working part of a reciprocating engine or pump, the space in which a piston travels. Multiple cylinders are commonly arranged side by side in a bank, or engine block, which is typically cast from aluminum or cast iron before receiving precision machine work...
s, pistonPistonA piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...
s, connecting rodConnecting rodIn a reciprocating piston engine, the connecting rod or conrod connects the piston to the crank or crankshaft. Together with the crank, they form a simple mechanism that converts linear motion into rotating motion....
s, and flywheelFlywheelA flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to store rotational energy. Flywheels have a significant moment of inertia, and thus resist changes in rotational speed. The amount of energy stored in a flywheel is proportional to the square of its rotational speed...
in which the gas essentially took the place of the steam. This was the first internal combustion engine to be produced in numbers. - 1861 The earliest confirmed patent of the 4-cycle engine, by Alphonse Beau de Rochas. A year earlier, Christian Reithmann made an engine which may have been the same, but it's unknown since his patent wasn't clear on this point.
- 1862: GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
inventor Nikolaus Otto was the first to build and sell the engine. He designed an indirect-acting free-piston compressionless engine whose greater efficiency won the support of Eugen LangenEugen LangenEugen Langen was a German entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the petrol engine and the Wuppertal monorail. In 1857 he worked in his father's sugar factory, JJ Langen & Söhne, after an extensive technical training at the Polytechnic institute in Karlsruhe.-Otto and...
and then most of the market, which at that time was mostly for small stationary engines fueled by lighting gas. - 1865: Pierre Hugon started production of the Hugon engine, similar to the Lenoir engine, but with better economy, and more reliable flame ignition.
- 1867: Otto and Langen introduced their free piston engine at the Paris Exhibition. It had less than half the gas consumption of the Lenoir or Hugon engines.
- 1870: In Vienna, Siegfried MarcusSiegfried MarcusSiegfried Samuel Marcus was a German-born Austrian inventor and automobile pioneer.Marcus was born in Malchin in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He moved to Vienna, the capital of the Austrian Empire, in 1852....
put the first mobile gasoline engine on a handcart. - 1872: In America George BraytonGeorge BraytonGeorge Brayton was born in Rhode Island, son of William H. and Minerva Brayton. He was an American mechanical engineer who lived with his family in Boston, and who is noted for introducing the continuous combustion process that is the basis for the gas turbine, and which is now referred to as...
invented Brayton's Ready Motor and went into commercial production, this used constant pressure combustion, and was the first commercial liquid fuelled internal combustion engine. - 1876: Nikolaus Otto, working with Gottlieb DaimlerGottlieb DaimlerGottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...
and Wilhelm MaybachWilhelm MaybachWilhelm Maybach was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of constructors"....
, started the genesis of the four-cycle engine. The GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
courts, however, did not hold his patent to cover all in-cylinder compression engines or even the four-stroke cycle, and after this decision, in-cylinder compression became universal. - 1878: Dugald Clerk designed the first two-stroke engine with in-cylinder compression. He patented it in England in 1881.
- 1879: Karl BenzKarl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...
, working independently, was granted a patentPatentA patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
for his internal combustion engine, a reliable two-stroke gas engine, based on the same technology as De Rochas's design of the four-stroke engine. Later, Benz designed and built his own four-stroke engine that was used in his automobiles, which were developed in 1885, patented in 1886, and became the first automobileAutomobileAn automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s in production. - 1882: James AtkinsonJames Atkinson (inventor)James Atkinson of Hampstead was a British engineer who invented the Atkinson cycle engine in 1882. By use of variable engine strokes from a complex crankshaft, Atkinson was able to increase the efficiency of his engine, at the cost of some power, over traditional Otto-cycle engines...
invented the Atkinson cycleAtkinson cycleThe Atkinson cycle engine is a type of internal combustion engine invented by James Atkinson in 1882. The Atkinson cycle is designed to provide efficiency at the expense of power density, and is used in some modern hybrid electric applications.-Design:...
engine. Atkinson’s engine had one power phase per revolution together with different intake and expansion volumes, potentially making it more efficient than the Otto cycle, but certainly avoiding Otto's patent. - 1884: British engineer Edward ButlerEdward Butler (inventor)Edward Butler was an English inventor who produced an early three-wheeled automobile, the Butler Petrol Cycle, which is accepted by many as the first British car....
constructed the first petrol (gasoline) internal combustion engine. Butler invented the spark plug, magneto, coil ignition and spray jet carburettor, and was the first to use the word petrol. - 1885: GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
engineer Gottlieb DaimlerGottlieb DaimlerGottlieb Daimler was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf , in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development...
received a German patent for a superchargerSuperchargerA supercharger is an air compressor used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.The greater mass flow-rate provides more oxygen to support combustion than would be available in a naturally aspirated engine, which allows more fuel to be burned and more work to be done per cycle,... - 1891: Herbert Akroyd StuartHerbert Akroyd StuartHerbert Akroyd-Stuart was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.-Life:...
built his oil engine, leasing rights to HornsbyRichard Hornsby & SonsRichard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart and marketed under the Hornsby-Akroyd name. The company developed an early track system...
of England to build them. They built the first cold-start compression-ignition engines. In 1892, they installed the first ones in a water pumping station. In the same year, an experimental higher-pressure version produced self-sustaining ignition through compression alone. - 1892: Dr. Rudolf DieselRudolf DieselRudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine.-Early life:Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Theodor and Elise Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris. Theodor...
developed his Carnot heat engineCarnot heat engineA Carnot heat engine is a hypothetical engine that operates on the reversible Carnot cycle. The basic model for this engine was developed by Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot in 1824...
type motor . - 1887: Gustaf de LavalGustaf de LavalKarl Gustaf Patrik de Laval was a Swedish engineer and inventor who made important contributions to the design of steam turbines and dairy machinery.-Life:De Laval was born at Orsa in Dalarna...
introduces the de Laval nozzleDe Laval nozzleA de Laval nozzle is a tube that is pinched in the middle, making a carefully balanced, asymmetric hourglass-shape... - 1893 February 23: Rudolf DieselRudolf DieselRudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine.-Early life:Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Theodor and Elise Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris. Theodor...
received a patent for his compression ignition (diesel) engineDiesel engineA diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
. - 1896: Karl BenzKarl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...
invented the boxer engine, also known as the horizontally opposed engineEngineAn engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
, or the flat engine, in which the corresponding pistonPistonA piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from...
s reach top dead center at the same time, thus balancing each other in momentum. - 1900: Rudolf DieselRudolf DieselRudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine.-Early life:Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Theodor and Elise Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris. Theodor...
demonstrated the diesel engine in the 1900 Exposition UniverselleExposition Universelle (1900)The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...
(World's FairWorld's FairWorld's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...
) using peanut oil fuel (see biodieselBiodieselBiodiesel refers to a vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids with an alcohol....
). - 1900: Wilhelm MaybachWilhelm MaybachWilhelm Maybach was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of constructors"....
designed an engine built at Daimler Motoren GesellschaftDaimler Motoren GesellschaftDaimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a German engine and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, it was based first in Cannstatt...
—following the specifications of Emil JellinekEmil JellinekEmil Jellinek, known after 1903 as Emil Jellinek-Mercedes was a wealthy European entrepreneur who sat on the board of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft between 1900 and 1909. He specified an engine designed there by Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler for the first 'modern' car...
—who required the engine to be named Daimler-Mercedes after his daughter. In 1902 automobiles with that engine were put into production by DMG. - 1903 - Konstantin TsiolkovskyKonstantin TsiolkovskyKonstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was an Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory. Along with his followers the German Hermann Oberth and the American Robert H. Goddard, he is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics...
begins a series of theoretical papers discussing the use of rocketRocketA rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
ry to reach outer space. A major point in his work is liquid fueled rockets. - 1903: Ægidius EllingÆgidius EllingJens William Ægidius Elling was a Norwegian researcher, inventor and pioneer of gas turbine who is considered to be the father of the gas turbine. He built the first gas turbine that was able to produce more power than needed to run its own components.Elling was born in and grew up in Oslo, Norway...
builds a gas turbine using a centrifugal compressorCentrifugal compressorCentrifugal compressors, sometimes termed radial compressors, are a sub-class of dynamic axisymmetric work-absorbing turbomachinery.The idealized compressive dynamic turbo-machine achieves a pressure rise by adding kinetic energy/velocity to a continuous flow of fluid through the rotor or impeller...
which runs under its own power. By most definitions, this is the first working gas turbine. - 1905 Alfred Buchi patents the turbochargerTurbochargerA turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
and starts producing the first examples. - 1903-1906: The team of Armengaud and Lemale in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
build a complete gas turbine engine. It uses three separate compressors driven by a single turbine. Limits on the turbine temperatures allow for only a 3:1 compression ratioCompression ratioThe 'compression ratio' of an internal-combustion engine or external combustion engine is a value that represents the ratio of the volume of its combustion chamber from its largest capacity to its smallest capacity...
, and the turbine is not based on a Parsons-like "fan", but a Pelton wheelPelton wheelThe Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine which is among the most efficient types of water turbines. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to its weight like traditional overshot water wheel...
-like arrangement. The engine is so inefficient, at about 3% thermal efficiencyThermal efficiencyIn thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, a boiler, a furnace, or a refrigerator for example.-Overview:...
, that the work is abandoned. - 1908: New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
inventor Ernest GodwardErnest GodwardErnest Godward was born in Marylebone, London on April 7, 1869. His working life began as an apprentice in London for a firm of hydraulic engineers and fire engine manufacturers. Here he trained as a mechanic....
started a motorcycle business in InvercargillInvercargillInvercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff,...
and fitted the imported bikes with his own invention – a petrol economiser. His economisers worked as well in cars as they did in motorcycles. - 1908: Hans Holzwarth starts work on extensive research on an "explosive cycle" gas turbine, based on the Otto cycleOtto cycleAn Otto cycle is an idealized thermodynamic cycle which describes the functioning of a typical reciprocating piston engine, the thermodynamic cycle most commonly found in automobile engines....
. This design burns fuel at a constant volume and is somewhat more efficient. By 1927, when the work ended, he has reached about 13% thermal efficiency. - 1908: René LorinRené LorinRené Lorin , a graduate of the Ecole Centrale Paris, invented the ramjet. In 1908 he patented a subsonic ramjet design.Lorin published the principles of a ramjet in articles in the journal L'Aérophile from 1908 to 1913, expressing the idea that the exhaust from internal combustion engines could be...
patents a design for the ramjetRamjetA ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...
engine.
1910-1960
- 1916: Auguste Rateau suggests using exhaust-powered compressors to improve high-altitude performance, the first example of the turbochargerTurbochargerA turbocharger, or turbo , from the Greek "τύρβη" is a centrifugal compressor powered by a turbine that is driven by an engine's exhaust gases. Its benefit lies with the compressor increasing the mass of air entering the engine , thereby resulting in greater performance...
. - 1920: William Joseph SternWilliam Joseph SternWilliam Joseph Stern OBE was a physicist who worked closely with the early development of the jet engine.In 1920 Stern reported to the Royal Air Force that there is no future for the turbine engine in aircraft. He based his argument on the extremely low efficiency of existing compressor designs...
reports to the Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
that there is no future for the turbine engine in aircraft. He bases his argument on the extremely low efficiency of existing compressor designs. Due to Stern's eminence, his paper is so convincing there is little official interest in gas turbine engines anywhere, although this does not last long. - 1921: Maxime GuillaumeMaxime GuillaumeIn aerospace, Maxime Guillaume held a French patent for a turbojet engine in 1921.The first patent for using a gas turbine to power an aircraft was filed in 1921 by Frenchman Maxime Guillaume. His engine was to be an axial-flow turbojet, but was never constructed, as it would have required...
patents the axial-flow gas turbine engine. It uses multiple stages in both the compressor and turbine, combined with a single very large combustion chamberCombustion chamberA combustion chamber is the part of an engine in which fuel is burned.-Internal combustion engine:The hot gases produced by the combustion occupy a far greater volume than the original fuel, thus creating an increase in pressure within the limited volume of the chamber...
. - 1923: Edgar Buckingham at the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
National Bureau of Standards publishes a report on jets, coming to the same conclusion as W.J. Stern, that the turbine engine is not efficient enough. In particular he notes that a jet would use five times as much fuel as a piston engine. - 1925: The Hesselman engineHesselman engineThe Hesselman engine is a hybrid between a petrol engine and a Diesel engine introduced by Swedish engineer Jonas Hesselman in 1925. It represented the first use of direct gasoline injection on a spark-ignition engine...
is introduced by SwedishSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
engineer Jonas HesselmanJonas HesselmanJonas Hesselman , was a Swedish engineer. He built the first spark ignition engine with direct injection of fuel into the cylinder.Hesselman worked from 1899 to 1916 for AB Diesel Engines in Sickla in Nacka just outside Stockholm, from 1901 as Head of Construction...
represented the first use of direct gasoline injectionGasoline direct injectionIn internal combustion engines, gasoline direct injection , also known as petrol direct injection or direct petrol injection, is a variant of fuel injection employed in modern two-stroke and four-stroke gasoline engines...
on a spark-ignition engine. - 1925: Wilhelm Pape patents a constant-volume engine design.
- 1926: Alan Arnold GriffithAlan Arnold GriffithAlan Arnold Griffith was an English engineer, who, among many other contributions, is best known for his work on stress and fracture in metals that is now known as metal fatigue, as well as being one of the first to develop a strong theoretical basis for the jet engine.-Early work:A. A...
publishes his groundbreaking paper Aerodynamic Theory of Turbine Design, changing the low confidence in jet engines. In it he demonstrates that existing compressors are "flying stalled", and that major improvements can be made by redesigning the blades from a flat profile into an airfoilAirfoilAn airfoil or aerofoil is the shape of a wing or blade or sail as seen in cross-section....
, going on to mathematically demonstrate that a practical engine is definitely possible and showing how to build a turbopropTurbopropA turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
. - 1926 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid fueled rocket
- 1927: Aurel StodolaAurel StodolaAurel Boleslav Stodola was an engineer, physicist, and inventor. He was an ethnic Slovak. He was a pioneer in the area of technical thermodynamics and its applications and published his book Die Dampfturbine in 1903...
publishes his "Steam and Gas Turbines" - basic reference for jet propulsion engineers in the USA. - 1927: A testbed single-shaft turbo-compressor based on Griffith's blade design is tested at the Royal Aircraft EstablishmentRoyal Aircraft EstablishmentThe Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...
. - 1929: Frank WhittleFrank WhittleAir Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...
's thesis on jet engines is published - 1930: Schmidt patents a pulse-jet engine in Germany.
- 1936: FrenchFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
engineer René LeducRené LeducRené Leduc was a French engineer who is much acclaimed for his work on ramjets. In 1949 he created the first aircraft to fly under the power of ramjets alone, the Leduc 0.10....
, having independently re-discovered René LorinRené LorinRené Lorin , a graduate of the Ecole Centrale Paris, invented the ramjet. In 1908 he patented a subsonic ramjet design.Lorin published the principles of a ramjet in articles in the journal L'Aérophile from 1908 to 1913, expressing the idea that the exhaust from internal combustion engines could be...
's design, successfully demonstrates the world's first operating ramjetRamjetA ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...
. - 1937: The first successful run of Sir Frank WhittleFrank WhittleAir Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS was a British Royal Air Force engineer officer. He is credited with independently inventing the turbojet engine Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, OM, KBE, CB, FRS, Hon FRAeS (1 June 1907 – 9 August 1996) was a British Royal Air...
's gas turbine for jet propulsion. - March, 1937: The Heinkel HeS 1Heinkel HeS 1The Heinkel HeS 1 was Germany's first jet engine, which was a stationary test item that ran on hydrogen.-History:In 1933, Hans von Ohain wrote his PhD thesis at the University of Göttingen on the topic of an optical microphone that could be used to record sound directly to film. Siemens bought the...
experimental hydrogenHydrogenHydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
fueled centrifugal jet engine is tested at Hirth. - 27 August, 1939: The Heinkel He 178Heinkel He 178|-See also:*List of firsts in aviation-Bibliography:* Warsitz, Lutz: The First Jet Pilot - The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz, Pen and Sword Books Ltd., England, 2009, ISBN 9781844158188.-External links:...
V1 pioneer turbojet aircraft prototype makes its first flight, powered by an He S 3Heinkel HeS 3The Heinkel HeS 3 was the world's first operational jet engine to power an aircraft. Designed by Hans von Ohain while working at Heinkel, the engine first flew as the primary power of the Heinkel He 178, piloted by Erich Warsitz on 27 August 1939...
engine. - July 18, 1942: The Messerschmitt Me 262Messerschmitt Me 262The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems prevented the aircraft from attaining operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944...
first jet engine flight - 1946: Sam Baylin develops the Baylin Engine a three cycle internal combustion engine with rotary pistons. A crude but complex example of the future Wankel engine.
- 1954: Felix WankelFelix WankelFelix Heinrich Wankel was a German mechanical engineer and inventor after whom the Wankel engine was named. He is the only twentieth century engineer to have designed an internal combustion engine which went into production.-Early life:Wankel was born in Lahr, Baden, in the upper Rhine Valley...
's first working prototype DKM 54 of the Wankel engineWankel engineThe Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into a rotating motion instead of using reciprocating pistons. Its four-stroke cycle takes place in a space between the inside of an oval-like epitrochoid-shaped housing and a rotor that...
1960 to present
- 1986 Benz Gmbh files for patent protection for a form of Scotch yokeScotch yokeThe Scotch yoke is a mechanism for converting the linear motion of a slider into rotational motion or vice-versa. The piston or other reciprocating part is directly coupled to a sliding yoke with a slot that engages a pin on the rotating part...
engine and begins development of same. Development subsequently abandoned. - 1999: Brothers, Michael and Peter Raffaele file patent application seeking protection for new form of Scotch yoke engine known as the Slider Engine.
- 2004 Hyper-X first scramjetScramjetA scramjet is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow...
to maintain altitude - 2004 Toyota Motor Corp files for patent protection for new form of Scotch yoke engine.
Engine starting
Early internal combustion engines were started by hand cranking. Various types of starter motor were later developed. These included:- An auxiliary petrol engine for starting a larger petrol or diesel engine. The Hucks starterHucks starterA Hucks starter is an auxiliary power unit, almost always a motortruck, that provides initial power to start up piston aircraft engines. Such Hucks starter trucks can be considered a mechanical replacement for a member of the groundcrew who would have spun an aircraft's propeller by hand...
is an example - Cartridge starters, such as the Coffman engine starterCoffman engine starterThe Coffman engine starter was a starting system used on many piston engines in aircraft and armored vehicles of the 1930s and 1940s. The Coffman system was one of the most common brands; another was the Breeze cartridge system, which was produced under Coffman patents...
, which used a device like a blank shotgunShotgunA shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
cartridge. These were popular for aircraft engineAircraft engineAn aircraft engine is the component of the propulsion system for an aircraft that generates mechanical power. Aircraft engines are almost always either lightweight piston engines or gas turbines...
s - Pneumatic startersAir start systemAn air-start system is a power source used to provide the initial rotation to start large diesel and gas turbine engines.Compared to a gasoline engine, diesel engines have very high compression ratios to provide for reliable and complete ignition of the fuel without spark plugs...
- Hydraulic starters
- Electric starters
Electric starters are now almost universal for small and medium-sized engines, while compressed-air starting is used for large engines.
Modern vs. historical piston engines
The first piston engines did not have compression, but ran on an air-fuel mixture sucked or blown in during the first part of the intake stroke. The most significant distinction between modern internal combustion engines and the early designs is the use of compression and, in particular, in-cylinder compression.See also
- Bertha Benz Memorial RouteBertha Benz Memorial RouteThe Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage...
, commemorating the world's first long distance journey with an automobile propelled by an internal combustion engine in 1888. - Harry RicardoHarry RicardoSir Harry Ricardo was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine....
- Timeline of heat engine technologyTimeline of heat engine technologyThis Timeline of heat engine technology describes how heat engines have been known since antiquity but have been made into increasingly useful devices since the seventeenth century as a better understanding of the processes involved was gained...
- Timeline of motor vehicle brandsTimeline of motor vehicle brandsThis is a chronological index for the start year for motor vehicle brands . For manufacturers that went on to produce many models, it represents the start date of the whole brand; for the others, it usually represents the date of appearance of the main model that was produced.This also gives an...