Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Invention

The Internal Combustion Engine

Also Known As ICE Common abbreviation for internal combustion engine.
Mechanical Engineering

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 Date
1876-01-01 1
Year of Nikolaus Otto's compressed-charge four-cycle engine patent; exact day not stated in source.
Significance
The 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
Disputed
Year
1876 2
Connections

Associated With

Mechanical Engineering, Fields

In Field

Mechanical Engineering, Fields
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

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.

Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

Invented By

Nikolaus Otto, Engineers
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

Preceded By

The Steam Engine, Inventions
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors

Predecessor Of

The Automobile, Inventions
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
Sources
1. Internal Combustion Engine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundation
  • History section
    In 1876, Nicolaus Otto began working with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, patented the compressed charge, four-cycle engine.
  • 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.
View the Source
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
Frequently Asked Questions

Was Nikolaus Otto really the first to invent the four stroke engine?

Otto built the first working engine; Beau de Rochas had patented the theory in 1862.

Otto built the first working four stroke cycle engine in 1876, which is why it is called the Otto cycle. Alphonse Beau de Rochas had patented the same cycle in theory in 1862 but never built an engine on it. When that fact surfaced in 1886 it cost Otto his own German patent, though his engine kept the name as the first one actually built.
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.