Automobile Technology

By Austin William Lynn Jean J. Lenoir Built first successful internal combustion engine in 1858 in Belgium.

This single cylinder engine burnt a mixture of coal gas and air ignited by a spark. He later improved the design by using petroleum and a primitive carburetor. Lenoir’s improved version of his engine was put on this 3 wheel wagon which made a historic 50 mile trip.

1885 Gottlieb Daimler invented what is recognized as prototype of the modern gasoline engine. It had a vertical cylinder and fuel injected through a carburetor. Daimler first built a two-wheeled vehicle the "Reitwagen" (Riding Carriage) with this engine and a year later built the world's first four-wheeled motor vehicle. Mass production

• By the early 1900’s mass production of cars was started in the United States by companies Ford and Oldsmobile • By 1914 Ford was producing the “Model T” every 15 minutes, so fast that they had to paint them all black with one kind of paint or else they wouldn’t dry fast enough. Model T specs

• 4 cylinder engine • 20 horse power • Top speed:45mph • No gas pedal, had throttle lever on steering column. Modern Automobile Engine

•Air and fuel mixture goes into cylinder. •When mixture ignites the explosion forces the piston to move up and down. •The piston is connected to a crank that it turns. •The crank goes out to the transmission where the energy is transferred to the drive train and then to the wheels. Advancements

• Over the last century auto technology has advanced greatly. • Some advancements include -Fuel injection -Variable Valve timing. -ABS -Stability/Traction control Today’s engines are much more powerful. - A 4 cylinder engine today can put out up to 190 hp on Avg. - the Model T 4 cylinder engine only put out 20! Fuel economy • With the engine being controlled by a computer engines start working “smarter” and using fuel more sparingly. • With fuel injection only the fuel that is needed goes into the cylinder, saving gas. • VVT allows valves to open and close on extremely precise timing so the engine only does the work is has to. • The old Ford model T got 13-20 MPG • The 2012 Ford focus gets about 28 city Safety Cars have added many safety features -Seatbelts didn’t even become standard til the late 1960’s -Cars started having airbags in the 70’s -FWD -Today’s cars have backup cameras and alarms to warn you if you are about to hit something. Future • Unfortunately, Gasoline is a fossil fuel that we cannot use forever, then what? • Hybrid cars Many manufacturers have hybrid cars on the market. They use a regular engine as well as a powerful electric battery to power the car. This is great for fuel economy. The Prius can get up to 51 MPG. Future • Cars driving themselves.

- Based on Google’s self-driving car, Toyota and Audi have concepts. “Google has the software part down, and we work on the safety features.” –Jim Pisz, Toyota North America CEO. • Audi Engineers say they envision a on-off switch that used in traffic jams will set all the cars to a same constant speed to free the jam. • Energy Storing Body Panel - Sources

• http://auto.howstuffworks.com/5-ways-modern-car-engines-differ-from- older-car-engines.htm#page=3 • http://www.hybridcars.com/ford-focus/ • http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarsgasa.htm • http://voices.yahoo.com/advantages-disadvantages-front-wheel-drive- 3223565.html • http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hc4HKCQksslc- yNxcm- AGgezCFPg?docId=CNG.18cf9693d120b604560b6f91a16ca433.171 • http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/trends-innovations/5-future- car-technologies.htm#page=5