Inventions
The Internal Combustion Engine
Also Known As ICE Common abbreviation for internal combustion engine.
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
The internal combustion engine burns a fuel and air mixture inside a cylinder to drive a piston directly, in contrast to a steam engine's external boiler. Nikolaus Otto built the first working four stroke cycle engine in 1876, offering the first practical alternative to the steam engine as a power source. Alphonse Beau de Rochas had patented the same four stroke cycle theoretically in 1862 but never built an engine on it, a fact that surfaced in 1886 and cost Otto his own German patent, though his engine kept the name Otto cycle as the first one actually built.
Otto is credited as the internal combustion engine's practical inventor for building the first working engine, while Beau de Rochas holds theoretical priority for patenting the four stroke cycle's description fourteen years earlier without ever constructing a device.
Facts
Patent or First-Use DateYear of Nikolaus Otto's compressed-charge four-cycle engine patent; exact day not stated in source. SignificanceThe internal combustion engine succeeded the steam engine as the dominant prime mover for transportation, powering the automobile, the motorcycle, most ships and, until the jet engine, most powered flight. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
In Field
Held Differently
Alphonse Beau de Rochas, Engineers Why this is disputed. Beau de Rochas patented the four stroke cycle theoretically in 1862, fourteen years before Otto built a working engine on it; the German patent office revoked Otto's own patent in 1886 once the earlier pamphlet was found, though Otto's engine remains the first one actually built.
Invented By
Preceded By
Predecessor Of
Sources
1. Internal Combustion Engine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationHistory sectionQuote, History section
In 1876, Nicolaus Otto began working with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, patented the compressed charge, four-cycle engine.
1. Internal Combustion Engine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead sectionQuote, Lead section
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit.
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.