ORIGIN OF THE PISTONCOMBUSTION ENGINE

OR HOW IT ALL BEGAN

 Abbe Hautfeuille, Frenchman. Usually credited

with origin of piston-combustion engine.
Proposed using explosive power of gunpowder in
cylinder in 1678.
Huyghen and Papin, Frenchmen. Built the above
engine in 1680.
Robert Street, Englishman. Built earliest gas
engine on record using turpentine vapor and air
as fuel, in 1794.
Lenoir, Frenchman.
Developed
a
noncompression gas engine (Lenoir cycle) in 1860
and lasted till about 1909

 Proposals to compress mixture prior to

combustion have been given since 1799.
Beau de Rochas, Frenchman. In 1862, set forth in
a paper, the fundamental principles underlying
the economical operation of the pistoncombustion engine, namely,
1. Largest possible cylinder volume with
minimum boundary surface, that is, smallest
surface-to-volume ratio.
2. Greatest possible working speed.
3. Greatest possible expansion ratio.
4. Greatest possible pressure at beginning of
expansion.

 He also indicated the desired method of

operation of the engine:
1. Induction during the outward stroke of piston.
2. Compression during the inward stroke of
piston.
3. Ignition of charge at inward dead center
followed by combustion and expansion during
next outward stroke of piston.
4. Exhaust of burned products during next
inward stroke of piston.

He did not actually build an engine but invented

the four-cycle principle. He also proposed the use
of the poppet valve.
Nicholas Agustus Otto, German. In 1876 built the
first engine following the four-stroke principle
which followed the Otto cycle.
Priestman, Englishman. In 1885, built the first oil
engine.
Dugald Clerk, Englishman. In 1881 invented the
two-cycle engine using an air pump to transfer
charge to cylinder.

 Gottileb Diamler, German. In 1886 was the first

to use a light liquid or petrol type fuel.
Rudolph Diesel, German. In 1893 constructed the
first compression ignition engine. It followed the
Diesel cycle. In 1895 he used powdered coal to
run the engine and later also used a liquid fuel.
Other famous names are Carl Benz, German,
Herbert Ackroyd-Stuart and Butler, Englishmen.
This list is hardly complete..

HEAT ENGINE AND

COMBUSTION ENGINE
PROCESS
ALSO REFERED TO AS
EXTERNAL AND
INTERNAL COMBUSTION
ENGINES RESPECTIVELY

 PRINCIPAL SOURCES OF
ENERGY TO OBTAIN WORK
ARE COAL, OIL AND GAS
THESE REACT WITH OXYGEN
IN AIR TO LIBERATE ENERGY.

IN THE HEAT ENGINE PROCESS, HEAT IS

TRANSFERRED FROM PRODUCTS OF
CHEMICAL REACTION TO A
THERMODYNAMIC MEDIUM, NAMELY A
FLUID WHICH CAN VAPORIZE (LIKE
WATER) OR MOLTEN METAL LIKE
MERCURY, WHICH WILL EXERT A FORCE
ON A MOVING PISTON OR GLIDE OVER
TURBINE BLADES TO PRODUCE WORK.

IN THE COMBUSTION-ENGINE PROCESS,

THE PRODUCTS OF COMBUSTION ARE
THEMSELVES THE THERMODYNAMIC
MEDIUM WHICH WILL EXERT A FORCE
ON A MOVING PISTON OR GLIDE OVER
TURBINE BLADES TO PRODUCE WORK

Some Definitions
of the Cylinder Geometry