This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with application for Patent no. 140021, issued to Louis Charles Errani and Richard Anders, of Liege, Belgium, June 17, 1873.
This is the first oil engine patented in the United States in which the fuel was vaporized within the cylinder. It is also the first to inject the oil into the cylinder in the form of a spray. It was provided with electric ignition.
In construction the engine resembles a steam engine, including a horizontal single-acting cylinder in which is a reciprocating piston, a crank deriving its motion from the piston, a flywheel on the main shaft, and a valve gear for operating a main valve connected with the engine cylinder. It was actuated by the combustion of a mixture of sprayed petroleum and air during a portion of the stroke. The petroleum was sprayed by means of a jet of air from a rubber bulb, acted upon by a sliding plunger, in combination with a tube and nozzle rising from the oil reserve in the base of the engine, somewhat in the manner of a common household atomizer. The quantity of petroleum supplied to the cylinder was regulated by a bypass cock in the air line from the rubber bulb.
Reference:
This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.