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Thomas Savery's steam engine
Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor who in 1698, patented the first crude steam engine, it was based on a pressure cooker from 1678. -
The Newcomen engine
The Newcomen steam engine used the force of atmospheric pressure to do the work. Thomas Newcomen's engine pumped steam into a cylinder. The steam was then condensed by cold water which created a vacuum on the inside of the cylinder. The resulting atmospheric pressure operated a piston, creating downward strokes. In Newcomen's engine the intensity of pressure was not limited by the pressure of the steam, unlike what Thomas Savery had patented in 1698. -
James Watt
He was given the task of repairing the Newcomen engine, while he was working for the University of Glasgow. The Newcomen engine was deemed to inefficient, but it was the best engine of it's time. -
Watts Engine
Most notable was Watt's 1769 patent for a separate condenser connected to a cylinder by a valve. Unlike Newcomen's engine, Watt's design had a condenser that could be cool while the cylinder was hot. Watts engine design become the dominant design of the time. Because of his design, it helped start the Industrial Revolution. -
Internal Combustion Engine
The principle behind any reciprocating internal combustion engine: If you put a tiny amount of high-energy fuel (like gasoline) in a small, enclosed space and ignite it, an incredible amount of energy is released in the form of expanding gas. For example, if you can create a cycle that allows you to set off explosions like this hundreds of times per minute, and if you can harness that energy in a useful way, what you have is the core of a car engine. -
Wlliam Sturgeon
William Sturgeon was an English physicist and inventor who made the first electromagnets, and invented the first practical English electric motor. -
Robert Anderson
Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first electric car in the 1830's. American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen Robert Davidson improved the motor in 1842. They were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells. -
Etienne Lenoir
Jean J. Lenoir was a Belgian engineer who developed the internal combustion engine in 1858. His engine was the first patented engine that was commercially successful. -
Four-Stroke Combustion Cycle
Almost all cars these days use a four-stroke combustion cycle engine. It converts gasoline into motion. The four-stroke approach is also known as the Otto cycle, in honor of Nikolaus Otto, who invented it in 1867. -
Nicolaus Otto
Nikolaus August Otto was the German inventor of the first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. Although other internal combustion engines had been invented, these were not based on four separate strokes. -
Rotary Engine
The rotary engine was an early type of internal-combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration, in which the crankshaft remained stationary and the entire cylinder block rotated around it. Its main application was in aviation, although it also saw use in a few early motorcycles and automobiles. Its a type of piston engine with a rotating cylinder block. -
Felix Wankel
The rotary engine was invented in 1957 by Felix Wankel of Germany. When Wankel was just 17, he had a dream that he went to a concert in his own handmade car. That dream led to the invention of the rotary engine.
