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first ever constructed piston/heat engine
Dutch scientist Christian Huygens produces the first know heat engine from his inspiration of a cannonn. what he did was place a cannon vertically, and used a piston instead of a cannonball. The cannon had exhaust valves near the top and the piston was attached to a weight by means of rope and pulley. He calculated that a .5 kg of gun powder could lift 1360 kg piston over nine meters. But the absence of a reliable fuel hampered its development. -
fire piston makes a movie
The Malayan fire piston, originally from southeast Asia, is brought to Europe. It was a air pump type tube, when compressed would heat up the air and ignite a small clump of tinder. -
engine to run continuously
William Cecil, 28 year old Fellow of Madeleine College, Cambridge, is the first to build an engine to run continuously. It uses a mixture of hydrogen and air (1:3) but soon abandons it when he is ordained in the Anglican church. -
thermodynamic cycle of the heat engine
Sadi Carnot published his theory on the thermodynamic cycle of the heat engine. From it, Rudolph Diesel would design his engine. -
first mass production engine
The first production engine is patented in Paris. Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir builds around 500 of these 7:1 air gas ratio engine. But they were prone to problems, due to their electric uced ignition. -
new speedy engine
February 17, Diesel's experimental engine runs at 88 rpm for about one minute, the first time ever, about 9 months after first "test firing". -
Rudolph Diesel becomes the first to patent a diesel engine design
Rudolph Diesel draws his theories into a design, but it is decline a patent in Europe, at first. On appeal his "not original" idea is patented. Patent # 67027 is issued to Rudolph Diesel by the Imperial Patent Office in Germany. the diffenence between the not acsepted plain between the eceped plan was was a design using much higher pressure to achieve another inventor Carnot’s ideal heat cycle concept. -
new and inproved engine
the Diesel’s engine runs on its own. The water cooled, ringed piston, fuel injection, single cylinder engine ran on cheap kerosene. It was considered a total success. It produced 13.1 kW at 154 rpm, and achieved 26.2% efficiency