Combustion Engines

This principal would work by exploding a small amount of powder in a cylinder and the air would expel. This did not generate the power though. The power was generated when the cylinder would cool after the blast. A vacuum would be created which drew the piston down. He called it the "atmospheric principle." Papin soon found it more logical to use the blast to condense steam in the cylinder, which led to the high power steam engines in the future. (Stone).
             The first engine to come in to use was the engine built by Lenoir in 1860. The engine had a single cylinder, double-acting horizontal steam engine, and it had two power strokes per revolution. It had an electric spark ignition and bringing the air/gas mixture in and sliding valves controlled releasing the exhaust. The two steps of the combustion sequence were simple and involved the one cylinder. (Stone).
             Otto and Langen invented the free-piston engine in 1866, which used half as much fuel as the Lenoir engine. 10,000 of these engines were produced. Otto's major feat was in 1876 when the silent, four-stroke cycle was patented and produced. ft was quieter than the free-piston engine and it was three times more efficient. Beau de Rochas had thought of principals of the four-stroke engine before Otto and had three major points to the performance of the engine. He said "there should be a high volume-to-surface ratio; the maximum expansion of the gases should be achieved; and the highest possible mixture pressure should occur before ignition." These were some of the earliest example of combustion engines. (Stone).
             There are two main types of internal combustion engines. One type is the spark ignition (SI) engine where the fuel is ignited by a spark. This engine is also known as the petrol, gas engine because of its typical fuels or the otto engine because Otto was who developed the combustion engine as we know it today (Stone). Two stroke engines' main problem is ensuring that the induction and exhaust process occur efficiently, with out suffering charge dilution by the exhaust gas residuals (Stone).