Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Timeline of motor and engine technology
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|None}} '''[[Timeline]] of [[Electric motor|motor]] and [[engine]] [[technology]]''' * (c. 30–70 AD) – [[Hero of Alexandria]] describes the first documented steam-powered device, the ''[[aeolipile]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aeolipile {{!}} Steam Turbine, Invention & Usage {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/aeolipile |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 13th century – Chinese [[chronicle]]s wrote about a [[solid-fuel rocket|solid-rocket motor]] used in warfare. * 1698 – [[Thomas Savery]] builds a steam-powered water [[pump]] for pumping water out of mines.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=Henry Winram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQU6AAAAIAAJ |title=a short history of the steam engine |date=1963 |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}}</ref> * 1712 – [[Thomas Newcomen]] builds a [[Newcomen steam engine|piston-and-cylinder steam-powered water pump]] for pumping water out of mines.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-08-01 |title=Thomas Newcomen {{!}} Biography, Steam Engine, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Newcomen |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1769 – [[James Watt]] patents his first improved [[steam engine]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=H. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7xZEAAAQBAJ |title=A Short History of the Steam Engine |date=2022-01-26 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-75104-2 |language=en}}</ref> ==19th Century== * 1806 – [[François Isaac de Rivaz]] invented a [[de Rivaz engine|hydrogen powered engine]], the first successful [[internal combustion engine]]. * 1807 – [[Nicéphore Niépce]] and his brother Claude build a fluid piston internal combustion engine, the [[Pyréolophore]] and use it to power a boat up the river [[Saône]]. * 1816 – [[Robert Stirling]] invented his hot air [[Stirling engine]], and what we now call a "[[regenerative heat exchanger|regenerator]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Stirling {{!}} Heat engine, Renewable energy, Air engine {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Stirling |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Stirling engine |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100533419 |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en }}</ref> * 1821 – [[Michael Faraday]] builds an [[electric motor|electricity-powered motor]]. * 1824 – [[Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot]] first publishes that the efficiency of a [[heat engine]] depends on the temperature difference between an engine and its environment. * 1837 – First American patent for an electric motor ({{US patent|132}}). * 1850 – The first explicit statement of the [[first law of thermodynamics|first]] and [[second law of thermodynamics]], given by [[Rudolf Clausius]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rudolf Clausius {{!}} Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Entropy {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudolf-Clausius |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1860 – Lenoir 2 cycle engine<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-31 |title=Étienne Lenoir {{!}} Internal Combustion Engine, Automobile, Gas Engine {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Etienne-Lenoir |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1872 – Brayton Engine * 1877 – [[Nicolaus Otto]] patents a four-stroke [[internal combustion engine]] ({{US patent|194047}}).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-06-06 |title=Nikolaus Otto {{!}} Internal Combustion, Automobile Engines & Inventor {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nikolaus-Otto |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1882 – [[James Atkinson (inventor)|James Atkinson]] invents the [[Atkinson cycle]] engine, now common in some hybrid vehicles. * 1885 – [[Gottlieb Daimler]] patents the first [[supercharger]]. * 1886 – [[Hot-bulb engine]] was established by [[Herbert Akroyd Stuart]], [[Gottlieb Daimler]] invents the [[Petrol engine]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gottlieb Daimler {{!}} Automotive Pioneer, Internal Combustion Engine & Industrialist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gottlieb-Daimler |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1888 – An AC [[induction motor]] is featured in a paper published by [[Galileo Ferraris]] and is patented in the U.S. by [[Nikola Tesla]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vDQHzeEmSfUC&dq=tesla+Ferraris+induction&pg=PR14 Bill Drury, Control Techniques Drives and Controls Handbook, page xiv]</ref> * 1892 – [[Rudolf Diesel]] patents the [[Diesel engine]] ({{US patent|608845}}).<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-12-19 |title=How Rudolf Diesel's engine changed the world |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38302874 |access-date=2024-08-02 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> * 1899 – [[Ferdinand Porsche]] creates the [[Lohner–Porsche]], the first [[hybrid vehicle]]. ==20th Century== [[File:SERT-1 spacecraft.jpg|thumb|First ion engine, NASA, 1964]] * 1903 – [http://epizodsspace.airbase.ru/bibl/dorev-knigi/ciolkovskiy/issl-03st.html The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices] was published by [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]] * 1905 – Alfred Büchi patents the [[turbocharger]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Turbochargers – USC Viterbi School of Engineering |url=https://illumin.usc.edu/turbochargers/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=illumin.usc.edu}}</ref> * 1913 – [[René Lorin]] invents the [[ramjet]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-12 |title=Ramjet {{!}} Supersonic, Jet Engines, Propulsion {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/ramjet |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1915 – [[Leonard Dyer]] invents a [[six-stroke engine]], now known as the [[Crower six stroke|Crower six-stroke engine]] named after his reinventor [[Bruce Crower]]. * 1926 – [[Robert H. Goddard]] launched the first [[Liquid-propellant rocket|liquid-fueled rocket]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-03-17 |title=95 Years Ago: Goddard's First Liquid-Fueled Rocket - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/95-years-ago-goddards-first-liquid-fueled-rocket/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=seanm |date=2012-09-14 |title=Robert H. Goddard: American Rocket Pioneer |url=https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/robert-h-goddard-american-rocket-pioneer |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Smithsonian Institution Archives}}</ref> * 1929 – [[Felix Wankel]] patents the [[Wankel engine|Wankel rotary engine]] ({{US patent|2988008}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wankel engine {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Wankel-engine |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * Late 1930s – [[Hans von Ohain]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jet Engines |url=https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/ww2/projects/jet-airplanes/planes.html |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=cs.stanford.edu}}</ref> and [[Frank Whittle]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Frank Whittle {{!}} Jet engine pioneer, RAF officer, engineer {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frank-Whittle |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> separately build pioneering [[gas turbine]] engines intended for aircraft propulsion, leading to the pioneering [[turbojet]] powered flights in 1939 Germany and 1941 England. * 1939 – The BMW company's [[BMW 801]] aviation [[radial engine]] pioneers the use of an early form of an [[engine control unit]], the [[Engine control unit|''Kommandogerät'']]. * 1940s – Ralph Miller patents his [[Miller cycle]] engine. * 1954 – [[Felix Wankel]] creates the first working [[Wankel engine]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Wankel rotary engine |encyclopedia=World Encyclopedia |date=2004 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-12309 |access-date=2024-08-02 |publisher=Philip's |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-954609-1|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * 1957 – Rambler Rebel announced [http://www.oldcarsweekly.com/restoration/restoration-tips/1957_amc_rambler_rebel Electrojector] electronic fuel injection option, however no production models were offered with the option. * 1964 – [[Ion engine]] invented.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Webb-Mack |first=Zoë |title=A Brief History of Ion Propulsion |url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/723/a-brief-history-of-ion-propulsion |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=NASA Solar System Exploration}}</ref> * 1966 – [[RD-0410]] [[nuclear thermal rocket]] engine was ground-tested. * 1960s – [[alternator (auto)|alternator]]s replace generators on automobile engines.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-07-12 |title=Alternator {{!}} Generator, Voltage Regulator & AC Power {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/alternator |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> * 1970s – [[Electronic ignition#Electronic ignition|electronically controlled ignition]] appears in automobile engines. * 1975 – [[Catalytic converter]]s are first widely introduced on production automobiles in the US to comply with tightening EPA regulations on auto exhaust. * 1980s – electronically controlled ignition improved to reduce pollution. * 1980s – electronic [[fuel injection]] appears on gasoline automobile engines. * 1989 – [[Six-stroke engine#Bajulaz six-stroke engine|The Bajulaz Six-Stroke Engine]] was invented by the Bajulaz S A company, based in [[Geneva]], Switzerland; it has {{US patent|4809511}} and {{US patent|4513568}}. * 1990s – [[Hybrid vehicle]]s that run on an internal combustion engine (ICE) and an electric motor charged by [[regenerative braking]]. ==See also== * [[Timeline of heat engine technology]] for a view of the human understanding of the interchangeability of work and heat. ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Technology timelines|Motor]]
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Pages transcluded onto the current version of this page
(
help
)
:
Template:Citation
(
edit
)
Template:Cite book
(
edit
)
Template:Cite news
(
edit
)
Template:Cite web
(
edit
)
Template:Digits
(
edit
)
Template:Reflist
(
edit
)
Template:Replace
(
edit
)
Template:Short description
(
edit
)
Template:US patent
(
edit
)