The glorious years

The year 1860 is a very important one in the history of the motor car; in that year the French civil engineer, Alphonse Beau de Rochas, described the 'four-stroke combustion cycle', the principle on which almost all future internal combustion engines would function. As we have seen, Lenoir's engine exploited the kinetic effects of the mixture's explosion in a three stroke cycle: induction, explosion, expansion. Beau de Rochas added the fourth phase, that of compression, which held the key to the development of the power of the internal combustion engine.

In this same period, Nikolaus August Otto, of Cologne, began to take an interest in the problems of the internal combustion engine based on the studies of Lenoir. After a series of experiments conducted in collaboration with his brother, Wilhelm, he requested a patent from the Prussian government, in 1861, for the use of 'a mixture of gas contained in the cylinder of an engine ignited by an electric spark', making it clear 'that this does not concern a combination of gas and air, but of vapour emanating from a hydrocarbon and from liquids'. The patent was not granted, as no fundamental difference was recognised between Otto's and Lenoir's engine, which used gas as fuel.

Nevertheless, Otto persevered in his studies, and after the construction of two unsuccessful engines he was able to enter into a profitable partnership with a German engineer and businessman, Eugen Langen.

During the first phases of his studies, Otto became interested in Beau de Rochas' cycle, patenting and producing his first four-stroke motor in 1866-67, which proved to be defective. Unfortunately, he then abandoned this line of development and for more than a decade his studies and his industrial activity were concentrated on engines similar to those of Lenoir and Barsanti-Matteucci, that is, the so-called 'atmospheric' type — without compression.

These first 'atmospheric' engines, deriving in 1866 from the partnership between Otto and Langen, were uncommonly heavy and noisy, but they displayed many advantages over the Lenoir motor: the fuel consumption, for example, was reduced to exactly one half. Within a few years, however, the characteristics of the Otto-Langen engine had been considerably improved, and a regular series production — if one can call it that — began in the factories at Deutz, near Cologne. These engines were still fed by gas and were constructed for stationary purposes.

When Gottlieb Daimler, an engineer with wide production experience, joined the Otto-Langen company, a new impetus was given to research and design in the Deutz factory. Daimler had already approached Lenoir with the proposition of building an improved version of the latter's engine, but the old Frenchman was not convinced. Later, Daimler was impressed by de Rochas' treatise and together with Wilhelm Maybach, who had been his assistant before he moved to Deutz, he reorganised the company's production, creating considerably increased capacity. By 1875 over 2,000 Otto-Langen motors had been sold in Europe and many more had been built under licence. In the meantime, however, Daimler and Maybach had made a series of studies on the four-stroke cycle and the first paper was granted in 1876. One year later, their first engine of this type was built and showed an enormous improvement over early engines in silence and reliability. Ignition in this single cylinder horizontal engine was by two jets of flame alternately exposed. The engine was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1878, and may be considered the basis for the mainstream of subsequent internal combustion engine development.

There were others, of course, experimenting with internal combustion engines.

Interest in the internal combustion engine was not limited to Europe. Indeed, one of the world's first self-moving vehicles with an internal combustion engine was built by George Brayton, a young engineer of Boston who subsequently showed a later engine at the Philadelphia Centennial⁴, in 1876, after being encouraged by the reception of his earlier, cruder version. Five different Otto gas engines were in the exhibition, including the latest and most advanced one. But in respect to carburation — effected by means of air passing over a felt pad fed with petrol—Brayton's engine had certain advantages over the European models.

This Philadelphia show marked the beginning of the rapid conversion of the Americans to the internal combustion engine. Up to that time, steam vehicles had dominated the scene. But now considerable numbers of Otto's and Brayton's motors were built and they were quickly put to a variety of uses in agriculture and industry and even for powering small fishing boats, their first application for locomotion in America.

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WHAT IS ENGINEERING?

In general, engineering is a science that deals with design, construction and operation of structures, machines, engines and other devices. Engineer is a person who has received technical education and has a basic knowledge of other engineering fields, because most engineering problems are complex and interrelated. The term engineering is difficult to translate into Ukrainian because it has a lot of meanings. Most often it is translated as: інженерна справа,
технічний дизайн, будівництво, виробництво. There exist the following main branches of engineering:

Civil Engineering.

Civil engineering deals with the design of large buildings, roads, bridges, dams, canals, railway lines, airports, tunnels and other constructions. A civil engineer must have a thorough knowledge of the properties and mechanics of construction materials, the mechanics of structures and soils, and of hydraulics and fluid mechanics. Among the main subdivisions in this field are construction engineering, transports engineering and hydraulic engineering.
Mechanical Engineering.

Engineers in this field design, test, build, and operate machinery of all types. The field is divided into:

machine-tools, mechanisms, materials, hydraulics and pneumatics

heat as applied to engines, work and energy, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. A mechanical engineer must be trained in mechanics and hydraulics, metallurgy and machine design. A mechanical engineer designs not only the machines that make products but the products themselves.

Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
This is the widest field of engineering, concerned with systems and devices that use electric power and signals. Among the most important subjects in the field are electric power and machinery, electronic circuits, control systems, computer design, superconductors, solid-state electronics, robotics, lasers, radar, consumer electronics, and fibre optics.

Electrical engineering can be divided into four main branches: electric power and machinery, electronics, communications and control, and computers.

Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering
Aeronautics deals with the whole field of design, manufacture, maintenance, testing, and use of aircraft for both civil and military purposes. It involves the knowledge of aerodynamics, structural design, propulsion engines, navigation, communication, and oilier related areas.