Internal combustion engines

While the steam engine remained dominant in industry and transportation during much of the 19th century, engineers and scientists began developing other sources and converters of energy. One of the most important of these was the internal-combustion engine. In such a device a fuel and oxidizer are burned within the engine and the products of combustion act directly on piston or rotor surfaces. By contrast, an external-combustion device, such as the steam engine, employs a secondary working fluid that is interposed between the combustion chamber and power-producing elements. By the early 1900s the internal-combustion engine had replaced the steam engine as the most broadly applied power-generating system not only because of its higher thermal efficiency but also because it provided a low-weight, reasonably compact, self-contained power plant.The German engineer Nikolaus August Otto is generally credited with having built the first practical internal-combustion engine (1876), though several rudimentary devices had appeared earlier in the century.

In 1885 Gottlieb Daimler, another German engineer, modified the four-cycle Otto engine so that it burned gasoline (instead of coal powder) and built the first successful high-speed internal-combustion engine. Within several decades the gasoline engine found wide application in motorcycles, automobiles, and small trucks. Another type of internal-combustion engine was introduced by Rudolf Diesel, also of Germany, in the early 1890s.Named for its inventor, the diesel engine was more efficient than engines of the Otto variety and was fueled by heavy oil, which is cheaper and less volatile than gasoline. As a result, it was adopted as the primary power plant for submarines, railway locomotives, and heavy machinery.

II. Look through the text again and answer the following questions:

1. What is the difference between the internal-combustion engine and an external-combustion device?

2. Why had the internal-combustion engine replaced the steam engine By the early 1900s?

3. Who is generally credited with having built the first practical internal-combustion engine?

4. How did Gottlieb Daimler, another German engineer, modify the four-cycle Otto engine?

5. Why was the diesel engine more efficient than engines of the Otto variety?

III. Match the words with their definitions and make up your own sentences with these words:

1. steam	a) the hot gas that water changes into when it boils;
2. chamber	b) to combine with oxygen;
3. fluid	c) a hard black mineral found below the ground, used for burning;
4. to oxidize	d) an enclosed space in certain types of machinery;
5. efficiency	e) any liquid substance;
6. to modify	f) the ability to work well and without wasting time or resources;
7. coal	g) to change smth slightly;
8. volatile	h) an enclosed ship that can operate under water as well as on the survace;
9. motorcycle	i) changing rapidly into a gas;
10. submarine	g) a road vehicle with two wheels, driven by an engine;

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Fuel and lubrication	\|	IV. Find the information about new engine performance. While looking for information you are free to use the internet sites given below as well as any other online resources.

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