144 BULLETIN 173, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



where the mixture was ignited. The resulting flame issued in a 

 steady stream against the blades of a paddle wheel. The next en- 

 gine (1794), that of Kobert Street of England, might be called the 

 first of the modern idea of an internal-combustion engine. Tur- 

 pentine or petroleum was introduced into the cylinder, which was 

 warmed by an external fire. The fuel, vaporized by the heat, was 

 mixed with a quantity of fresh air drawn into the cylinder by the 

 upstroke of the piston. The mixture was ignited by a flame sucked 

 in from a burner outside the cylinder. The explosion drove up the 

 piston and forced down the piston of a pump for raising water. 

 Philippe Lebon of France in 1801 patented an engine in which the 

 mixture was ignited by an electric spark and had other admirable 

 features. Samuel Brown in 1823-1826 brought out his vacuum gas 

 engines, which were the first explosive engines to run in London. 

 William Barnett, of England, who brought out three engines in 

 1838, may be said to be the first to compress the explosive mixture 

 in the cylinder before ignition as is now done. Between the years 

 1838-1860 many engines were designed and patented in England, 

 France, and America, but few were built. Barsanti and Mattenci, 

 of Italy, patented engines in England in 1854 and 1857 that failed 

 through mechanical defects but contained many of the features later 

 found in the free piston engine of Otto and Langen. These engines 

 involved the fundamental principle of utilizing the whole force of 

 the explosion in as complete expansion as possible. The first prac- 

 tical working gas engine is credited to Jean-Joseph-fitienne Lenoir, 

 of Paris, who brought out his first engine in 1860. This engine was 

 double-acting and worked on a 2-stroke cycle without compression 

 before ignition. Air and gas were drawn into the cylinder during' 

 the first part of the forward stroke of the piston, the intake valves 

 then closed, and the mixture was exploded at the same time. Ex- 

 pansion took place to the end of tlie stroke when the exhaust valves 

 opened. The burned gases were exhausted on the back stroke. Igni- 

 tion was effected by an electric spark. During the first year one of 

 6 horsepower and another of 20 horsepower were built, and in the 

 first five years more than 300 were made in France and about 100 in 

 England. The first trials of any gas motors were made by Tresca 

 on the Lenoir engine. Insufficient expansion (or late ignition) and 

 the absence of compression resulted in a low economy, which with 

 certain difficulties of lubrication brought forth concerted condem- 

 nation of the engine. For silent, smooth, and regular working, how- 

 ever, it has seldom been surpassed, and its success was sufficient to 

 bring out a host of imitators as well as those who set up claims to 

 prior invention. Lenoir applied his motor to the propulsion of a 

 wagon and shares with Siegfried Marcus, of Vienna, and George B. 

 Brayton, of Boston, the recognition for having made the earliest 



