The Internal Combustion Engine and Early Gas-Powered Cars
The very first self-powered road vehicles
were powered by steam engines and by that definition Nicolas Joseph Cugnot
of France built the first automobile in 1769 - recognized by the British
Royal Automobile Club and the Automobile Club de France as being the first.
So why do so many history books say that the automobile was invented by
either Gottlieb Daimler or Karl Benz? It is because both Daimler and Benz
invented highly successful and practical gasoline-powered vehicles that
ushered in the age of modern automobiles. Daimler and Benz invented cars
that looked and worked like the cars we use today. However, it is unfair
to say that either man invented "the" automobile.
History of the Internal Combustion Engine - The Heart of the Automobile
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.
A brief outline of the history of the
internal combustion engine includes the following highlights:
1680 - Dutch physicist, Christian Huygens
designed (but never built) an internal combustion engine that was to be
fueled with gunpowder. 1807 - Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland invented an internal combustion
engine that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Rivaz designed
a car for his engine - the first internal combustion powered automobile.
However, his was a very unsuccessful design. 1824 - English engineer, Samuel Brown adapted an old Newcomen steam engine
to burn gas, and he used it to briefly power a vehicle up Shooter's Hill
in London. 1858 - Belgian-born engineer, Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir invented
and patented (1860) a double-acting, electric spark-ignition internal
combustion engine fueled by coal gas. 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. (See
image at top) 1862 - Alphonse Beau de Rochas, a French civil engineer, patented but
did not build a four-stroke engine (French patent #52,593, January 16,
1862). 1864 - Austrian engineer, Siegfried Marcus*, built a one-cylinder engine
with a crude carburetor, and attached his engine to a cart for a rocky
500-foot drive. Several years later, Marcus designed a vehicle that briefly
ran at 10 mph that a few historians have considered as the forerunner
of the modern automobile by being the world's first gasoline-powered vehicle
(however, read conflicting notes below). 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. 1866 - German engineers, Eugen Langen and Nikolaus August Otto improved
on Lenoir's and de Rochas' designs and invented a more efficient gas engine. 1876 - Nikolaus August Otto invented and later patented a successful four-stroke
engine, known as the "Otto cycle". 1876 - The first successful two-stroke engine was invented by Sir Dougald
Clerk. 1883 - French engineer, Edouard Delamare-Debouteville, built a single-cylinder
four-stroke engine that ran on stove gas. It is not certain if he did
indeed build a car, however, Delamare-Debouteville's designs were very
advanced for the time - ahead of both Daimler and Benz in some ways at
least on paper. 1885 - Gottlieb Daimler invented what is often recognized as the prototype
of the modern gas engine - with a vertical cylinder, and with gasoline
injected through a carburetor (patented in 1887). Daimler first built
a two-wheeled vehicle the "Reitwagen" (Riding Carriage) with
this engine and a year later built the world's first four-wheeled motor
vehicle.
1886 - On January 29, Karl Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435)
for a gas-fueled car. 1889 - Daimler built an improved four-stroke engine with mushroom-shaped
valves and two V-slant cylinders. 1890 - Wilhelm Maybach built the first four-cylinder, four-stroke engine.
Further Reading - The Mechanics of Internal Combustion Engines - What
is a 2-stroke? 4-stroke?
Engine design and car design were integral activities, almost all of the
engine designers mentioned above also designed cars, and a few went on
to become major manufacturers of automobiles. All of these inventors and
more made notable improvements in the evolution of the internal combustion
vehicles.
The Importance of Nicolaus Otto
One of the most important landmarks in engine design comes from Nicolaus
August Otto who in 1876 invented an effective gas motor engine. Otto built
the first practical four-stroke internal combustion engine called the
"Otto Cycle Engine," and as soon as he had completed his engine,
he built it into a motorcycle. Otto's contributions were very historically
significant, it was his four-stoke engine that was universally adopted
for all liquid-fueled automobiles going forward. (Learn more about Nicolaus Otto)
The Importance of Karl Benz
In 1885, German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz designed and built the
world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion
engine. On January 29, 1886, Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435)
for a gas-fueled car. It was a three-wheeler; Benz built his first four-wheeled
car in 1891. Benz & Cie., the company started by the inventor, became
the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles by 1900. Benz was the
first inventor to integrate an internal combustion engine with a chassis
- designing both together. (Learn more about Karl Benz)
The Importance of Gottlieb Daimler
In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler (together with his design partner Wilhelm Maybach)
took Otto's internal combustion engine a step further and patented what
is generally recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine. Daimler's
connection to Otto was a direct one; Daimler worked as technical director
of Deutz Gasmotorenfabrik, which Nikolaus Otto co-owned in 1872. There
is some controversy as to who built the first motorcycle Otto or Daimler.
The 1885 Daimler-Maybach engine was
small, lightweight, fast, used a gasoline-injected carburetor, and had
a vertical cylinder. The size, speed, and efficiency of the engine allowed
for a revolution in car design. On March 8, 1886, Daimler took a stagecoach
and adapted it to hold his engine, thereby designing the world's first
four-wheeled automobile. Daimler is considered the first inventor to have
invented a practical internal-combustion engine.
In 1889, Daimler invented a V-slanted
two cylinder, four-stroke engine with mushroom-shaped valves. Just like
Otto's 1876 engine, Daimler's new engine set the basis for all car engines
going forward. Also in 1889, Daimler and Maybach built their first automobile
from the ground up, they did not adapt another purpose vehicle as they
had always been done previously. The new Daimler automobile had a four-speed
transmission and obtained speeds of 10 mph.
Daimler founded the Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft
in 1890 to manufacture his designs. Eleven years later, Wilhelm Maybach
designed the Mercedes automobile. (Learn more about Gottlieb Daimler &
Wilhelm Maybach)
*If Siegfried Marcus built his second
car in 1875 and it was as claimed, it would have been the first vehicle
powered by a four-cycle engine and the first to use gasoline as a fuel,
the first having a carburetor for a gasoline engine and the first having
a magneto ignition. However, the only existing evidence indicates that
the vehicle was built circa 1888/89 - too late to be first.
