In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a “New Rational Combustion Engine”. Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered automobiles competed for many years, with gasoline inside combustion engines attaining dominance in the 1910s. Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the traditional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda’s model of the Wankel engine has had greater than very restricted success.
Fuel cells are much like batteries in that they convert from chemical to electrical energy, but have their own advantages and drawbacks. External combustion engines can use nearly anything that burns as gas, while inside combustion engines and rocket engines are designed to burn a particular gas, usually gasoline, diesel or ethanol. It is important that a car have a supply of energy to drive it.
In 1801, Richard Trevithick constructed and demonstrated his Puffing Devil street locomotive, believed by many to be the … Read More
