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Internal combustion engines date back to between the 10th and 13th centuries, when the first rocket engines were invented in China. Following the first commercial steam engine (a type of external combustion engine) by Thomas Savery in 1698, various efforts were made during the 18th century to develop equivalent internal combustion engines.
1860 – Lenoir 2 cycle engine [8] 1872 – Brayton Engine; 1877 – Nicolaus Otto patents a four-stroke internal combustion engine (U.S. patent 194,047). [9] 1882 – James Atkinson invents the Atkinson cycle engine, now common in some hybrid vehicles. 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the first supercharger.
The so-called Otto engines were developed in Germany during the last quarter of the 19th century. The fuel for these early engines was a relatively volatile hydrocarbon obtained from coal gas . With a boiling point near 85 °C (185 °F) ( n -octane boils at 125.62 °C (258.12 °F) [ 1 ] ), it was well-suited for early carburetors (evaporators).
(Savery engines were re-introduced in the 1780s to recirculate water to water wheels driving textile mills, especially in periods of drought). c. 1705 ( 1705 ) : Thomas Newcomen develops the atmospheric engine , which, unlike the Savery pump, employs a piston in a cylinder; the vacuum pulling the piston down to the bottom of the cylinder when ...
A history of engineering in classical and medieval times (Routledge, 2013), on Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Arabs; Landels, John G. Engineering in the Ancient World (University of California Press, 2000, rev. ed.) ISBN 978-0-520-22782-8; Lawton, Brian, ed. The Early History of Mechanical Engineering - Vol. 1 (2004) online; vol 2 (2004) online
The largest internal combustion engine ever built is the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C, a 14-cylinder, 2-stroke turbocharged diesel engine that was designed to power the Emma Mærsk, the largest container ship in the world when launched in 2006. This engine has a mass of 2,300 tonnes, and when running at 102 rpm (1.7 Hz) produces over 80 MW, and ...
c. 50 AD – Hero of Alexandria's Engine, also known as Aeolipile. Demonstrates rotary motion produced by the reaction from jets of steam. [2] c. 10th century – China develops the earliest fire lances which were spear-like weapons combining a bamboo tube containing gunpowder and shrapnel like projectiles tied to a spear.
Over 100 Newcomen engines were installed around England by 1735, and it is estimated that as many as 2,000 were in operation by 1800 (including Watt versions). John Smeaton made numerous improvements to the Newcomen engine, notably the seals, and by improving these was able to almost triple their efficiency. He also preferred to use wheels ...