GB Patent: GB-179,401,983
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| Inflammable vapour engine
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Patentee:
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| Robert Street (exact or similar names) - London, England |
| Manufacturer: |
| Not known to have been produced |
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Patent Dates:
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| Granted: |
May 07, 1794 |
Espacenet patent
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Jeff Joslin
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Description: |
| This is perhaps the first patent for an internal combustion engine that used a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, although it does not strongly resemble a modern internal combustion engine.The inventor was a maker of varnish and the fuel he used was "coal tar, spirit or turpentine rendered gaseous and then ignited by a flame burning outside the cylinder.".One website describes this invention as "a single vertical cylinder surrounded by a coal-fired preheating furnace at the lower end and a water cooling jacket at the upper end. Vertical motion of the piston was transmitted via a connecting rod and pivoted rocking beam for driving de-watering pumps in the coal mines. Prior to each power stroke a small quantity of liquid spirits was poured into a fuel hopper connected by a supply tube to the lower end of the cylinder. A hand-operated air pump was then used to charge the cylinder with air, causing the piston to rise about 25% of its stroke. Thereafter, heat from the furnace evaporated the fuel/air mixture and produced ignition, driving the piston to the upper end of the cylinder to complete its power stroke and exert an upward push to the rocking beam. As cylinder pressure and temperature dropped, accelerated by the cooling jacket, gravity pulled the piston back down to its original position, exerting a pull on the rocking beam, which in turn, operated a plunger type pump at the other end." |
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