For more than two centuries, the progress of mankind has been inextricably linked with various machines, especially vehicles. Which helped to quickly move goods from suppliers to consumers. Those who invented the internal combustion engine (ICE) made a significant contribution to the development of human civilization. Since cars, ships and planes still remain the main engine in the history of mankind. The first commercially successful ICE is considered the engine of the French inventor from Belgium, Jean Etienne Lenoir.
First step
At the end of the 18th century, the French mechanic Philippe Lebon first obtained luminous gas and patented a method for its production in the pyrolysis of wood or coal. A mixture of methane, hydrogen and carbon monoxide has become widely used to illuminate the streets of European cities. Inventors of many countries of the world set about designing an engine using this relatively inexpensive and efficient fuel.
Then many engineers understood that the efficiency of the engine would increase if the fuel was not burned in the furnace, as in a steam engine. And directly in the cylinder.
However, the one who invented the first internal combustion engine was the same Philip Lebon. In 1801, two years after the discovery of light gas, Lebon received a patent for an engine running on a mixture of compressed gas and air. They pumped into the working cylinder and ignited there. However, the invention remained only on paper, in 1804 Lebon was killed. He remained one of many engineers in the history of creating an internal combustion engine, who invented but did not put his invention into practice.
First commercial success
In the subsequent period, the mechanics of many European countries tried to create a normally working model of ICE using lighter gas. However, all these efforts for a long time did not lead to the emergence of an engine that could compete in efficiency with a steam engine.
The inventor of an internal combustion engine that achieved commercial success was Jean-Etienne Lenoir, a Belgian mechanic of French origin. He was the first to decide to ignite a gas-air mixture by means of an electric spark. Perhaps such an idea came to him because the engineer worked at a galvanic plant. However, success did not come to him immediately. The first model worked quite a bit and stopped, because of the high temperature the piston expanded, and it got stuck in the cylinder. Lenoir supplemented his ICE with a water cooling system. And after the second unsuccessful launch, he designed a lubrication system. By 1864, he had sold more than 1,400 of his engines and made a fortune.
The first engine in mass production
Among those who invented the internal combustion engine is the German engineer Nicholas Otto. He improved the gas-fired machine, and in 1864 received a patent for his ICE model. Which was sold in quantities of more than 5,000 pieces.
In 1877, Otto received a patent for a four-cycle engine. This principle still lies at the basis of the operation of a large part of gas and gasoline engines. Over the next twenty years, more than 42,000 such ICEs were produced. However, the use of gas lighting greatly reduced the possibility of their use.
Diesel Invention
At the beginning of the 19th century, a description of the Carnot process was formulated. They argued that in a heat engine, a rapid change in gas volume (rapid compression) would allow the working fluid to be heated to a combustion temperature.
In 1890, Rudolph Diesel invented a method for the practical use of the Carnot cycle. He was the first to invent a diesel internal combustion engine. For several years, a German engineer patented several design options. The first, practically working model, was assembled in 1897 and called the diesel engine. Since 1889, the mass production of diesel engines has begun.
In search of a new fuel
Along with the improvement of ICE, there was an active search for the most efficient fuel. Engines using coal dust, hydrogen, a mixture of turpentine and alcohol, and oil have already been tested. Some of them worked, but were not widely used due to the high price. However, the most promising area for engineers saw the use of vaporized liquid fuel instead of gas.
In 1872, the American Brighton tried to work with kerosene. However, it did not evaporate very intensively, and he switched to gasoline of a lighter fraction. To work on new fuel, it was necessary to develop an additional device that converted the new fuel into a gaseous state. After that, gasoline vapors had to be mixed with air. Brighton also invented the first evaporative carburetor, which, however, was not very successful. But it was he who set the trend in the use of fuels and lubricants as fuel.
Gas engine
When the most efficient type of fuel for the internal combustion engine was determined, many engineers began working on a gasoline-powered machine. Among those who came up with a gasoline internal combustion engine, Gottlieb Daimler made the greatest contribution . Together with his partner Wilhelm Maybach, he created workshops in Stuttgart. They began to produce gasoline-fueled gas engines.
The Hungarian engineer Donat Banki is also one of those who invented an internal combustion engine. In 1893, he was given a patent for a carburetor with a jet, the principle of which is still used in modern cars. The first ICEs were with one cylinder, two-cylinder appeared at the end of the 19th century, and four-cylinder with the beginning of the 20th century.