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Gunpowder engine
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Gunpowder engine
A gunpowder engine, also known as an explosion engine or Huygens' engine, is a type of internal combustion engine using gunpowder as its fuel. The concept was first explored during the 17th century, most notably by famous Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens. George Cayley also experimented with the design in the early 19th century as an aircraft engine, and claims to have made models that worked for a short time. There is also a persistent claim that conventional carboretted gasoline engine can be run on gunpowder, but no examples of a successful conversion can be documented.
The gunpowder engine is based on many previous ideas and scientific discoveries, developed by multiple people independently.
Early devices just aimed at lifting and/or holding weight (usually to study and demonstrate the physics), while engines aim at doing work continuously (usually with the intention of doing something useful).
Leonardo da Vinci described in 1508 a device to "lift heavy weight with fire" using a cannon barrel and gunpowder.
Galileo Galilei made thorough experiments about lifting weight using vacuum. Otto von Guericke researched vacuum practically, but used pumps to create the vacuum.
Robert Hooke did hide a phrase that translates to The ‘vacuum’ left by fire lifts a weight. in his 1676 book Description of Helioscopes and Other Instruments.
The earliest references to a gunpowder engine appear to be those of Samuel Morland in 1661. This consists solely of a letter of patent written by King Charles the Second that was received at Whitehall on 11 December 1661. No other information about this "engine" remains, but the description involves the use of vacuum and powder to draw water.
The next known reference is by Jean de Hautefeuille in 1678, suggested as a solution to the problem of raising water from the Seine to supply Versailles. He presented two ideas, one using the vacuum like Morland's idea, and a second that used a U-shaped tube with water in one side and air in the other. When the gunpowder was lit in the air-filled side, the rise in pressure would drive the water up the other side.
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Gunpowder engine
A gunpowder engine, also known as an explosion engine or Huygens' engine, is a type of internal combustion engine using gunpowder as its fuel. The concept was first explored during the 17th century, most notably by famous Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens. George Cayley also experimented with the design in the early 19th century as an aircraft engine, and claims to have made models that worked for a short time. There is also a persistent claim that conventional carboretted gasoline engine can be run on gunpowder, but no examples of a successful conversion can be documented.
The gunpowder engine is based on many previous ideas and scientific discoveries, developed by multiple people independently.
Early devices just aimed at lifting and/or holding weight (usually to study and demonstrate the physics), while engines aim at doing work continuously (usually with the intention of doing something useful).
Leonardo da Vinci described in 1508 a device to "lift heavy weight with fire" using a cannon barrel and gunpowder.
Galileo Galilei made thorough experiments about lifting weight using vacuum. Otto von Guericke researched vacuum practically, but used pumps to create the vacuum.
Robert Hooke did hide a phrase that translates to The ‘vacuum’ left by fire lifts a weight. in his 1676 book Description of Helioscopes and Other Instruments.
The earliest references to a gunpowder engine appear to be those of Samuel Morland in 1661. This consists solely of a letter of patent written by King Charles the Second that was received at Whitehall on 11 December 1661. No other information about this "engine" remains, but the description involves the use of vacuum and powder to draw water.
The next known reference is by Jean de Hautefeuille in 1678, suggested as a solution to the problem of raising water from the Seine to supply Versailles. He presented two ideas, one using the vacuum like Morland's idea, and a second that used a U-shaped tube with water in one side and air in the other. When the gunpowder was lit in the air-filled side, the rise in pressure would drive the water up the other side.