Timeline of motor and engine technology facts for kids

This article is about the amazing history of how motors and engines were invented and improved over time. These machines help us do so many things, from moving cars and planes to generating electricity. Let's explore the timeline of these cool inventions!

Long, long ago, around 30–70 AD, a smart inventor named Hero of Alexandria described the very first known device powered by steam. It was called the aeolipile, and it spun around using steam.

Much later, in the 13th century, Chinese records tell us about solid-rocket motors. These were used in battles and were an early form of engine.

In 1698, Thomas Savery built a steam-powered pump. It was used to pump water out of mines, which was a big help for miners. Then, in 1712, Thomas Newcomen made an even better steam pump. It used a piston and cylinder to move water.

A very important step happened in 1769 when James Watt patented his improved steam engine. His design made steam engines much more efficient and useful.

The 19th Century: New Power Sources

The 1800s were a time of huge progress for engines. People started looking beyond steam to new ways of creating power.

Early Internal Combustion Engines

• In 1806, François Isaac de Rivaz invented a hydrogen-powered engine. This was the first successful internal combustion engine. Internal combustion means the fuel burns inside the engine itself.
• Just a year later, in 1807, Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude built the Pyréolophore. This was a fluid piston internal combustion engine that they used to power a boat up a river!
• In 1816, Robert Stirling invented his hot air Stirling engine. He also created something called a "regenerator" to make it more efficient.
• A big step for electric power happened in 1821. Michael Faraday built the first motor powered by electricity.
• In 1824, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot explained an important idea. He showed that how well a heat engine works depends on the temperature difference between the engine and its surroundings.
• The first American patent for an electric motor was given in 1837 (U.S. Patent 132 ).
• In 1850, Rudolf Clausius clearly stated the basic rules of how energy works. These are known as the first and second law of thermodynamics.

More Engine Innovations

• The Lenoir 2-cycle engine came out in 1860.
• The Brayton Engine was developed in 1872.
• In 1877, Nicolaus Otto patented a four-stroke internal combustion engine (U.S. Patent 194,047 ). The four-stroke engine became very common in cars.
• James Atkinson invented the Atkinson cycle engine in 1882. This type of engine is still used today in some hybrid cars.
• In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler patented the first supercharger. This device helps an engine get more air, making it more powerful.
• The Hot-bulb engine was created by Herbert Akroyd Stuart in 1886. In the same year, Gottlieb Daimler invented the Petrol engine, which uses gasoline.
• An important electric motor, the AC induction motor, was shown in a paper by Galileo Ferraris in 1888. It was also patented in the U.S. by Nikola Tesla.
• In 1892, Rudolf Diesel patented the Diesel engine (U.S. Patent 608,845 ). Diesel engines are known for being strong and fuel-efficient.
• Finally, in 1899, Ferdinand Porsche created the Lohner–Porsche. This was the very first hybrid vehicle, meaning it used both an engine and an electric motor.

The 20th Century: Rockets, Jets, and Modern Cars

The 1900s brought even more amazing engine inventions, including those that helped us fly faster and even go to space!

First ion engine, NASA, 1964

• In 1903, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published a paper called "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices" [1]. This work was very important for understanding how rockets could travel in space.
• Alfred Büchi patented the turbocharger in 1905. Like a supercharger, a turbocharger helps an engine get more air, making it more powerful.
• René Lorin invented the ramjet in 1913. Ramjets are a type of jet engine used for very fast flight.
• In 1915, Leonard Dyer invented a six-stroke engine. This design was later reinvented by Bruce Crower and is now known as the Crower six-stroke engine.
• A huge moment for space travel happened in 1926. Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket.
• Felix Wankel patented the unique Wankel rotary engine in 1929 (U.S. Patent 2,988,008 ). This engine uses a spinning rotor instead of pistons.
• In the late 1930s, Hans von Ohain and Frank Whittle separately built the first gas turbine engines. These led to the first turbojet powered flights in Germany (1939) and England (1941).
• The BMW company's BMW 801 aviation radial engine in 1939 was one of the first to use an early form of an engine control unit, called the Kommandogerät. This unit helped manage how the engine worked.
• In the 1940s, Ralph Miller patented his Miller cycle engine, another way to make engines more efficient.
• Felix Wankel created the first working Wankel engine in 1954.
• In 1957, the Rambler Rebel announced an electronic fuel injection option called Electrojector [2]. This was an early step towards computer-controlled engines.
• The Ion engine was invented in 1964. These engines use electricity to create thrust and are used for spacecraft.
• In 1966, the RD-0410 nuclear thermal rocket engine was tested on the ground.
• During the 1960s, alternators started to replace older generators in car engines. Alternators are better at producing electricity for the car's systems.
• In the 1970s, electronically controlled ignition systems started appearing in car engines. This made engines run more smoothly.
• To help reduce pollution, Catalytic converters were widely introduced in cars in the US in 1975.
• In the 1980s, electronically controlled ignition systems were improved even more to reduce pollution.
• Also in the 1980s, electronic fuel injection became common in gasoline car engines. This system precisely controls how much fuel goes into the engine.
• The Bajulaz Six-Stroke Engine was invented in 1989 by a company in Switzerland (U.S. Patent 4,809,511  and U.S. Patent 4,513,568 ).
• By the 1990s, Hybrid vehicles became more common. These cars use both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. The electric motor can even be charged by regenerative braking, which captures energy when the car slows down.

See also

• Timeline of heat engine technology for more about how people learned about heat and work.