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The internal combustion engine burns fuel within the cylinders and
converts the expanding force of the combustion or "explosion" into
rotary force used to propel the vehicle. There are several types of
internal combustion engines: two and four cycle reciprocating piston
engines, gas turbines, free piston, and rotary combustion engines.
The four cycle reciprocating engine has been refined to such a degree
that it has almost complete dominance in the automotive field.
The engine is the heart of the automobile. It converts fuel into the
energy that powers the automobile. To operate, it requires clean air
for the fuel, water for cooling, electricity (which it generates) for
igniting the fuel, and oil for lubrication. A battery and electric
starter get it going.
Charles and Frank Duryea built the first American automobile in 1892.
In the winter of 1895/96 they produced 13 Duryeas, which became the
first horseless carriages regularly manufactured in the United
States.
In 1900, at the first National Automobile Show in New York City,
visitors overwhelmingly chose the electric car. Most people thought
the gasoline engine would never last. One critic of the engine wrote
that it was noisy, unreliable, and elephantine; that it vibrated so
violently as to "loosen one's dentures." He went on to give the
opinion that the gasoline motor would never be a factor in America's
growing automobile industry. People were afraid that gasoline engines
would explode. Motorweek magazine referred to them as "explosives."
At the show, a bucket brigade was standing by every time an
"explosive," was cranked. However, just three years later, at the
same show, the number of cars with four-stroke internal combustion
gasoline engines had risen sharply.
Each "cylinder" of the typical car engine has a "piston" which moves
back and forth within the cylinder (this is called "reciprocating").
Each piston is connected to the "crankshaft" by means of a link known
as a "connecting rod".
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