automobile
ALTERNATIVE NAME/S: Car
DETAILS/DESCRIPTION:
In 1867, Nicolaus Otto* and Eugen Langen improved on work done earlier by French engineers Etienne Lenoir and Alphonse de Rochas, and created a more efficient internal combustion engine.
Automobiles use an internal combustion engine to provide motive power. This is achieved by burning vaporized gasoline inside a piston cylinder. The petroleum is ignited by an electric spark. The gas explodes, creating pressure that moves a piston up and down. Through the use of cams, the piston powers the drive-shaft which moves the wheels.
In 1885, the engine was used in a vehicle developed by Gottlieb Daimler* invented what is generally believed to be the prototype of the modern gasoline engine, followed in 1886 by Karl Benz’s developments and, in 1890, the Wilhelm Maybach* first 4-stroke, 4-cylinder engine.
ONE LINER: The automobile
OTHER CONNECTIONS: Dymaxion Car by Buckminster Fuller, grandnephew of Transcendentalist Margaret.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Encyclopedia Britannica
http://www.auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm
http:// www.inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcar.htm
History of the Car includes VW Beetle, Ford Model T, Mustang, theJeep, Jaguar, and other Cars of the Century