13. The Reciprocating, or Internal Combustion Engine, a technology unchanged since 1794
It is truly an extraordinary fact that for over 200 years, barring one or two refinements, the essential design of the internal combustion engine remains unchanged. As a technology, it developed along parallel lines in various parts of the world, and in the 1970s, a number of unrelated patents were filed in the United States and Europe covering various components and aspects of what would later become the standard operating system of every car on the road.
The first fully functioning and practical liquid fuel engine was patented by Italian engineer Eugenio Barsanti in 1853. Others, of course, were quick to follow, and the first gasoline engine to be produced in the United States was in 1872, by George Brayton. Rudolf Diesel, needless to say, invented the first heavy fuel compression firing engine thereafter known as the ‘diesel’ engine. How did this revolutionize the world? Well one need only imagine how many horses, and much horse poop we would be dealing with if someone had not thought to replace the horse with horsepower.
There have been numerous variations over the years, but to date, the combination of a piston and a cylinder, with the addition of gas and air, all connected to a crankshaft has yet to be beat.