1908

Internal Combustion Engine

The first widely adopted internal combustion engine was found in the Model T Ford starting in 1908. The Model T engine was based on the Otto cycle engine, also known as the four-stroke engine, patented in 1861 by Alphonse Beau de Rochas. An incredible amount of engineering went into making the Model T engine cheap, reliable, and long-lasting, given the materials and manufacturing processes available at the time. Over fifteen million Model Ts had been manufactured when production ended in 1927.

The engine contained a number of engineering marvels. Materials engineers improved on the Bessemer Process to create vanadium steel, which is so strong that some Model T engines still run today. Electrical engineers created the trembler coil ignition system that helped the engine run on gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol. Engineers also created the thermosiphon system, which moved water through the radiator without a water pump. But the real heroes were the manufacturing engineers, who made it possible to eventually produce two million cars per year with amazing efficiency, keeping prices low.

But if you compare the Model T engine with today’s engines, you can see that engineers since have been able to achieve a galaxy of improvements. The Model T engine had four cylinders displacing 2.9 liters, yet it produced only 20 horsepower. There are motorcycles today that produce 200 horsepower from one-liter engines. How is this possible? Engineers created overhead valve trains and high compression ratios to replace the flathead design on the Model T. They increased the redline and created fuel injection systems to replace carburetors. They designed much more powerful and precise ignition systems. They created tuned intake and exhaust systems.

Few technologies are in such widespread use and have been so highly refined without a reconceptualization. After over one hundred years of change, all of the core principles of the Model T engine—pistons, valves, spark plugs, water cooling, gasoline—are still in place. But each one has been fine-tuned and highly optimized by engineers to create the compact, reliable, high-power engines of today.

SEE ALSO Bessemer Process (1855), Wamsutta Oil Refinery (1861), Turbojet Engine (1937), Formula One Car (1938), Bugatti Veyron (2005).

Technician working on an internal combustion engine, possibly at Ford Motor Company, in 1949.