INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Internal-combustion engine

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Internal-combustion engine, Internal-combustion adj. (Mach.) Designating, or pertaining to, any engine (called an) in which the heat or pressure energy necessary to produce motion is developed in the engine cylinder, as by the explosion of a gas, and not in a separate chamber, as in a steam-engine boiler. The gas used may be a fixed gas, or one derived from alcohol, ether, gasoline (petrol), naphtha, oil (petroleum), etc. There are three main classes: (1) gas engines proper, using fixed gases, as coal, blast-furnace, or producer gas; (2) engines using the vapor of a volatile fluid, as the typical gasoline (petrol) engine; (3) oil engines, using either an atomized spray or the vapor (produced by heat) of a comparatively heavy oil, as petroleum or kerosene. In all of these the gas is mixed with a definite amount of air, the charge is composed in the cylinder and is then exploded either by a flame of gas (flame ignition now little used), by a hot tube (tube ignition) or the like, by an electric spark (electric ignition, the usual method is gasoline engines, or by the heat of compression, as in the Diesel engine. Gas and oil engines are chiefly of the stationary type. Gasoline engines are largely used for automobile vehicles, boats, etc. Most internal-combustion engines use the Otto (four-stroke) cycle, though many use the two-stroke cycle. They are almost universally trunk engines and single-acting. Because of the intense heat produced by the frequent explosions, the cylinders must be cooled by a water jacket (water-cooled) or by air currents (air cooled) to give the maximum thermodynamic efficiency and to avoid excessive friction or seizing.

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Etymology of 'Internal-combustion engine'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Internal-combustion engine" Quotes from Famous Books

... increase of itself, and is gradually becoming exhausted. On the other hand, within living memory, new sources of fuel, such as petroleum, have been made available, and old varieties of fuel have been used to better advantage, as witness the internal-combustion engine driven by smoke from sawdust. Moreover, in the ocean tides is a vast energy that one day may take the ...

— Birth Control • Halliday G. Sutherland

... of claims.—Very troublesome questions are constantly arising as to whether an invention should be classified in a combination class or an element class. The point will be illustrated by example: A describes and illustrates an automobile having an internal-combustion motor and a friction-clutch in the motor transmission-gear. He states that the clutch is in the usual relationship to the motor and gearing, but claims a new clutch for whatever it may be adapted. B discloses ...

— The Classification of Patents • United States Patent Office

... the relative efficiency, as power producers in internal-combustion engines, of the heavier distillates of petroleum, as well as of kerosene and gasoline, in order to ascertain the commercial value and relative efficiency of each product in ...

— Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXX, Dec. 1910 • Herbert M. Wilson

... all, for the man who would become an airplane mechanic, is a thorough knowledge of gasolene-engines. This should include not only a knowledge of such fundamentals as the theory of the internal-combustion engine, carburetion, compression, ignition, and explosion, but also a keen insight into the whims of the human, and terribly inhuman, thing—the gasolene-motor. Nothing can be sweeter when it is sweet, and nothing more devilish when it is cranky, ...

— Opportunities in Aviation • Arthur Sweetser

Words linked to "Internal-combustion engine" : self-starter, motor vehicle, radial engine, petrol engine, force-feed lubricating system, force feed, motorboat, cylinder block, pressure feed, gas engine, poppet, engine block, outboard, lubricating system, reciprocating engine, gasoline engine, powerboat, ice, diesel motor, block, poppet valve, four-stroke engine, pressure-feed lubricating system, outboard motor, valve-in-head engine, supercharger, rotary engine, four-stroke internal-combustion engine, automotive vehicle, heat engine, diesel engine

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