Date: 24 September 2017

ASSIGNMENT

Title:
Historical Development of Internal
Combustion Engine

Submitted To:
Engr. Dr. Javed Haider
Submitted By:
Mujahid Farooq
Roll No. 042
BSME 14-18

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Table of Contents
Historical Development of Internal Combustion Engine 3X

Introduction: 3X

Jean de Hautefeuille’s Gun Powder Engine Idea (1678): 3X

Huygen and Denis Pappin Gunpowder Engine (1680): 3X

Robert Street’s Engine (1794): 3X

Phillippe Lebon’s Engine (1800): 4X

Francois Isaac de Rivaz’ s Engine (1807): 4X

W.L.Wright’s Gas Engine (1833): 4X

William Barnett (1833): 5X

Barsanti-Matteucci Engine (1857): 5X

Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir Engine (1860): 6X

Beau de Rochas Four Cycles: 7X

Brayton’s Oil Engine (1873): 7X

Otto Engine (1877): 7X

Dougald Clerk 2-Stroke Engine (1876): 8X

References 8X
Historical Development of Internal Combustion Engine
Introduction:

An internal combustion engine is any engine that uses the explosive combustion of fuel to push a piston
within a cylinder - the piston's movement turns a crankshaft that then turns the car wheels via a chain or
a drive shaft. The different types of fuel commonly used for car combustion engines are gasoline (or
petrol), diesel, and kerosene.

Jean de Hautefeuille’s Gun Powder Engine Idea (1678):

In 1678 Hautefeuille proposed an early form of internal combustion engine, which was to
use gunpowder as a fuel, but it seems unlikely that any such machine was ever constructed
by him. He was, however, the first person to propose the use of a piston in a heat engine.

He described an engine for raising water, in which the motive power was obtained by
burning gunpowder in a cylinder and cooling the remaining gases with water. The idea
was similar to that expressed in the early forms of the steam engine, but it does not
appear that Hautefeuille had performed any actual experiments. [1]

Huygen and Denis Pappin Gunpowder Engine (1680):

A gunpowder engine, also known as an explosion engine or Huygens' engine, is a type

of internal combustion engine using gunpowder as its fuel. The concept of Gunpower
was first explored during the 1600s, most notably by famous Dutch polymath Christiaan
Huygens. Unlike ‘Jean de Hautefeuille’, Huygen and Denis Pappin actually performed
some experiments separately in 1680 but they failed.
Figure 1: Model Diagram of Gun-powder Engine

Robert Street’s Engine (1794):

patented in England in 1794. In this the bottom of
The first internal-combustion engine, according to a cylinder was heated by fire and a small quantity
our modern ideas, was that of Robert Street, of tar or turpentine was projected into the hot part
of the cylinder, forming a vapor. The rising of
the piston sucked in a quantity of air to form the explosion mixture and also flame for ignition. The
cycle was that which was used later by Lenoir in the first commercially successful engine. [2]

Phillippe Lebon’s Engine (1800):

In 1800 Phillippe Lebon patented in France an engine using compressed air, compressed
gas and electricity for ignition. In 1801, Philippe LeBon D'Humberstein comes up with the
use of compression in a two-stroke engine. All of the features, he mentioned, are necessary
to the highly efficient engines of today. Therefore, some authorities believe that his early
death retarded the development of the internal-combustion engine half a century.

Francois Isaac de Rivaz’ s Engine (1807):

In 1807 Swiss engineer François Isaac de Rivaz built an internal combustion engine
powered by a hydrogen and oxygen mixture, and ignited by electric spark but the engine
neither involved the in-cylinder compression, the crank, nor the connecting rod. In 1808, he
fitted it into a primitive working vehicle – "the world's first internal combustion powered
automobile", although his design was not a commercially successful design. [3]

Figure 2: Francois Isaac de Rivaz’ s Engine (1807):

W.L.Wright’s Gas Engine (1833):

W. L. Wright patented in England. In this engine, the gas and air were supplied by
separate pumps to a working cylinder. The charge was contained in the spherical bulbs
near the ends of the cylinder, ignition occurring while the piston was at the end of the
stroke. The engine was double acting, water jacketed, with poppet exhaust valves and a
fly-ball governor. It represented a great advance in design and was probably built,
though no records of its performance are known to exist.
William Barnett (1833):

In 1838 William Barnett patented in England an engine which was an advance upon preceding types
in that country. It compressed the gas and air separately, igniting the mixture when the piston was at
the end of its stroke. The third engine described by this inventor is shown in Fig. 3, and is interesting
because it embodies several features of the modern two-cycle engine. In the figure, the piston is
supposed to be moving upward, compressing a mixture of gas and air. Ignition occurs when the
piston has reached its highest position, and the piston driven down, expansion occurring until the
piston passes the exhaust port at the middle of the cylinder. During the latter half of the stroke the
pumps are forcing gas and air into space below the piston, the compression being completed by the
working piston and an explosion occurring when the piston reaches its lowest position. One of the
interesting features of this engine was the use of spongy platinum for ignition, though Barnett also
devised an exceedingly ingenious igniting cock of burning gas jets.

Barsanti-Matteucci Engine (1857):

Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci invented and patented an engine using the free-
piston principle in an atmospheric two cycle engine. In 1857 Eugenio Barsanti and Felice
Matteucci describe the principles of the free piston engine where the vacuum after the
explosion allows atmospheric pressure to deliver the power stroke. In this engine, Gas and
air were exploded under the piston, which was driven upward, finally coming to a rest when
all of the work of the explosion had been done. The piston, descending under the pressure
of atmosphere, did the work. But this engine was not a commercial success. [4]
Figure 3: Model of Barsanti-Matteucci Engine (1857):

Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir Engine (1860):

In 1860 Belgian Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir produced a gas-fired internal combustion
engine similar in appearance to a horizontal double-acting steam engine, with cylinders,
pistons, connecting rods, and flywheel in which the gas essentially took the place of the
steam. This was the first internal combustion engine to be produced in numbers.
In 1863, Lenoir attached an improved engine (using petroleum and a primitive carburetor) to
a three-wheeled wagon that managed to complete an historic fifty-mile road trip.

Figure 4: Model of Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir Engine (1860)

Beau de Rochas Four Cycles:

In 1862 Alphonse Beau de Rochas, a French scientist, patented but did not build a
four-stroke engine. [4]

Brayton’s Oil Engine (1873):

George Brayton, an American engineer, developed an unsuccessful two-stroke

kerosene engine (it used two external pumping cylinders). However, it was
considered the first safe and practical oil engine. [1]

Figure 5: Diagram of Brayton’s Oil Engine (1873)

Otto Engine (1877):

The well-known Otto engine was invented by Dr. Nicholas Otto, of Germany, and was
patented in this country in 1877. It follows the cycle that has been described by Beau
de Rochas, now known as the four-cycle, or sometimes as the Otto cycle. The engine
was first known as the Otto-Silent, to distinguish it from the free-piston engine, which
was rather noisy. It immediately established the internal-combustion engine on a firm
footing, and the engines of the four-cycle type sold today show merely minor
improvements. The sliding valve on 1876 has been replaced by poppet valves, and
the flame ignition has been replaced by the electric spark. Otherwise, the Otto cycle
of 1876 has persisted and at this time thousands of them are being manufactured. [5]
Dougald Clerk 2-Stroke Engine (1876):

Dougald clerk invented the first successful two stroke IC engine which is same as the
modern day engine. [5]

Figure 6: Dougald Clerk 2-Stroke Engine (1876)

References

[Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_internal_combustion_engine.

[Online]. Available: S. RAŢIU, “THE HISTORY OF THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE,” ANNALS OF

THE FACULTY OF.

[Online]. Available: Bright Hub Engineering,” [Online]. Available:

http://www.brighthubengineering.com/machinedesign/8250-history-and-development-of-the-lenoir-
engine/#imgn_0..

[Online]. Available: “Wiki- Knowledge Base,” [Online]. Available: http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/A-Brief-

Historyof-the-Internal-Combustion-Engine.ashx..

[Online]. Available: http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/A-Brief-History-of-the-Internal-Combustion-

Engine.ashx.