On October 23, 1877, a patent was issued for a gas-motor engine to Nicolaus Otto, and Francis and William Crossley. They submitted a model of the engine (shown in image below) with the patent office.
Nikolaus August Otto was the German engineer of the first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber.
Patent Information
Publication number: US196473 A
Patent Title: Improvement in gas-motor engines
Publication type: Grant
Publication date: 23 Oct 1877
Filing date: 26 Jul 1877
Inventors: Nicolaus A. Otto
Abstract: Our invention relates to that class of gas-motor engines wherein the gaseous pressure inside a cylinder resulting from the combustion of a mixture of inflammable gas or vapor and air causes a piston to perform its stroke, the products of combustion being expelled by the return-stroke of the piston. According to one arrangement of such. engines heretofore employed, the mixture of gas and air in the cylinder was of an explosive nature, so that on ignition the piston was propelled rapidly forward without doing work, the work being done by the return-stroke oi the piston, effected by the pressure of the atmosphere against a par tial vacuum formed behind the piston. Ac cording to another arrangement, described in the specification to N. A. Otto’s patent, dated August 14, 1877, No. 194,047, a charge of air was first introduced into the cylinder, and then a charge of combustible mixture of gas and air, so that, the latter charge becoming more and more dispersed in the air at points more and more distant from the inlet-port, the combustion took place rapidly on first igniting the charge, and then proceeded more and more slowly as it extended to the front part of the charge, the object being to obtain a more gradual development of pressure, suited for imparting motion to a piston connected to a crankshaft.
