BRIEF HISTORY OF INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES

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1770 First steam carriage – Cagnot, French. It kept turning over at corners.

1794 Crude Gas Engine – Robert Steel, English.

1801 Gas Engine from wood – Lebon d’Humberstien, French. Basic 2 stroke.

1805 First Internal Combustion Engine vehicle. Voltaic spark, kick open exhaust –

Issac de Rivaz, Swiss.

1826 Forty litre Gas Engine. Poor power/weight ratio – David Gordon.

1858 First proper 2 stroke. Coal gas using platinum spark plug – Joseph Lenoir

Belgium.

1877 Niklaus Otto tried to patent the 4 stroke but Karl Benz fought the patent, and

in 1886 the patent was made invalid and Benz was in charge of the 4-stroke

development. The actual designer of the 4 stroke was Otto’s Chief Engineer –

Gotlieb Daimler. (Hence the Daimler cycle).

1884 Engines were mass produced by Benz.

1892 Rudolph Diesel designed a heat engine. (Compression Ignition Engine).

1897 First Great British Diesel Engine – Mirlees.

1900 Engines followed two paths – Spark Ignition Engine (SIE) and Compression

Ignition Engine (CIE).