Timeline: Engine Timeline

Mar 14, 1680

Thought of the engine

Christian Huygens had the thought of an internal combustion engine, but only toyed around with the idea. He never actually attempted to build it.

Mar 14, 1807

Steam Engine in Boats

Nicephore Niepce built the first steam powered engine in 1807. He was the first person to ever build an engine, and the engine was built to power boats.

Mar 2, 1859

First Internal Combustion Engine

Jean Joseph Lenoir created the first two-stroke internal combustion engine. The engine ran off of coal gas, and was a break through for the making of the combustion engines.

Mar 2, 1870

Inovation of the 2-Stroke Engine

Julius Hock improved the fuel that an internal combustion engine can use. Rather than using coal gas, he inovated the engine to be able to burn liquid gas, a much more reliable resorce.

Mar 2, 1877

4-Stroke Combustion Engine

Nikolaus Otto started to do research on the combustion engine and tried to make it better. He ended up inovating the 2-stroke engine into a 4-stroke engine that rendered Lenoir's models obsolete.

Mar 2, 1879

Patent on the first car

George Baldwin gets a patent on a horseless carriage that had an internal combustion engine. This is the event that led to American car companies like Ford or Chevy to be created.

Mar 9, 1885

Motorcycles with Engines

Motorcycles with internal combustion engines were built by Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. They built the first prototype for an internal combustion engine in a motorcycle.

Mar 12, 1885

First Gas Pump

The first gas pump was put in, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This was because of the mass production of cars.

Mar 2, 1888

A more powerful engine.

Gottlieb Daimler inovated a new V-shaped engine with more horsepower. This engine is said to be the prototype for all modern day engines

Mar 14, 1896

Carburetors

Fredrick Lanchester started putting carburetors on automobiles to get a good amount of oxygen and fuel in the pistons of a internal combustion engine. This invention was typical on cars until about 1980 when direct injected cars became popular.

Mar 14, 1898

The Diesel Engine

Rudolf Diesel invents the first internal combustion engine using diesel power. His engine was more fuel efficient than regular gas engines and steam engines which wasted more than half of their fuel.

Mar 9, 1903

The First Plane

Orville and Wilbur Wright built he first flying machine to sustain flight. They built a special, high power internal combustion engine to make the plane fly.

Mar 14, 1914