Route 1, Box 110, Prairie du Sac, WI 53578 submitted the
following table reprinted from the November 1911 issue of Gas
Power.
The following table of leading dates in the history of gas
engine progress is taken from the fifth edition of ‘Gas, Oil
and Air Engines,’ by Byran Donklin. Approximate dates are
given.
First horizontal Lenoir French engine, water jacketed, with slide valve (40 cubic feet of gas per I. h. p. hour.) Electric ignition………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1861 Hugon Gas Engine. First with ignition slide valve………………………………………………………………………………….1863 Otto and Laugen’s atmospheric engine……………………………………………………………………………………………….1886 Practically very few English makers of gas engines, perhaps one or two……………………………………………………1870 Bisschop engine, made by Andrews…………………………………………………………………………………………………..1877 Robson, compression on one side of piston and ignition on the other………………………………………………………..1877 First Clerk engine with air pump and compression………………………………………………………………………………..1877 First horizontal Otto engine, Crossley (25 cu ft gas per I. h. p. hour)………………………………………………………..1879 Robson, first starter of compressed gas in reservoir………………………………………………………………………………1879 Firms making gas engines in England-Simon, Andrews, Tangle, Robson and others………………………………….1880 Dowson first gas producer………………………………………………………………………………………………………1878-1880 First porcelain tube ignition, Watson…………………………………………………………………………………………………..1881 Heat efficiency of the best engines 10 to 15 per cent……………………………………………………………………………..1882 Best heat efficiency of Otto engine (5 to 15 I. h. p.), 15% (taking indicated work)………………………………………1887 First Otto-Crossley without slide……………………………………………………………………………………………………….1888 Society of Arts’ trials-Otto-Crossley engine, 22% heat efficiency (taking B. h. p.)…………………………………….1888 First Daimler gas engine…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1889 First timing valve, Otto-Crossley engine over 100 B. h. p………………………………………………………………………1889 Expiration of Otto patent in England…………………………………………………………………………………………………..1890 Maximum power 200 to 300 I. h. p. engines in England, France and Germany………………………………….1890-1894 Approximate number of firms making gas engines-England 30, Germany 30, France 20, Switzerland 5………. 1895 Power gas ?-lb. to 1-lb. good anthracite coal per B. h. p., 50 to 200 h. p. …………………………………………….. 1895 Heat efficiency, 16% to 25% in best engines (taking B. h.p.)…………………………………………………………………..1895 Maximum initial pressure in cylinder about 200 lbs………………………………………………………………………………..1895 Largest engines made about 300-400 I. h. p……………………………………………………………………………………….1895 First application of blast furnace gases………………………………………………………………………………………………..1895 Largest gas engine made 1,500 I. h. p………………………………………………………………………………………………..1899 Heat efficiency of the best engines per B. h. p., 25% 23 B. h. p………………………………………………………………1899 Number of firms making gas engines-about 50 in Great Britain……………………………………………………………..1899 Mean pressure in latest engines about 110 lbs. per square inch……………………………………………………………….1905 Largest gas engine made, 5,400 h. p………………………………………………………………………………………………….1905 Heat efficiency of the best engines per B. h. p., 29?% (65 B. h. p.)…………………………………………………………1905 Largest gas engine made, 5,400 h. p………………………………………………………………………………………………….1909 |