The Automobile in American History and Culture - Essay Example

The Automobile in American History and Culture Introduction Cars have operated on the same principle ever since their invention as early as 1807. Steam engines had existed since 1768 but with the invention of an internal combustion engine in 1807, steam engine automobiles became redundant. The principle behind the development of modern day car engines has remained that of harnessing energy. Burning gasoline in an enclosed space produces high amount of energy that the engine harnesses and uses in propelling the car. Subsequent inventions have perfected the combustion of gasoline with the view of minimizing wastage thereby improving the efficiency of modern car engines. Cars operate on the four-stroke combustion cycle to convert the gasoline into motion (Gottlieb, 1997). The four-stroke combustion cycle is also known as the Otto cycle a name that honors Nikolaus Otto who invented the technology in 1867. Successive improvements on both the technology and other features of a car have resulted in the near perfect modern car that boasts of increased efficiency. Development of the car engine readily manifests in the features of the contemporary car engine most of which portray dedicated technological improvements that succeeded in the modern day engine from the traditional engine invented hundreds of years ago. Among the features that prove the difference are engine sizes, efficiency, power and supporting components among many others. Efficiency in the modern car engines arises from the completeness of combustion. Engines emit smoke through the exhaust pipes depicting the incompleteness of the combustion (Brain, 2014). Old engines for example emitted more smoke and thus consumed more gasoline per mile. This arose from particular features of the engine that inventors improved progressively thereby resulting in the modern day engine. Direct injection for example is a major invention that has increased the efficiency of combustion thereby reducing the fuel consumption of cars while increasing the power that engines produce. Additionally, the reduced amount of smoke that modern engines emit has reduced the amount of pollution, which was a major concern with the traditional engines (Norman, 1902). Other features of the modern engine that improves its efficiency include mechanisms of compressing air and cylinder deactivation. Air compression ensures that the gasoline receives adequate air to sustain efficient combustion of the fuel. The completeness of the combustion ensures efficient use of fuel in modern cars unlike the partial combustion that contributed to wastage of fuel in traditional cars. Cylinder deactivation is an equally exciting new feature in modern cars that ensures efficient use of fuel (Georgano, 1985). The technology deactivates the cylinder thereby stopping the combustion of fuel whenever the car does not require energy. At times during a journey, a car rolls on the force of gravity which when combined with the momentum of the car is often adequate to propel the car for substantial distances. During such situations, the modern cars deactivate the cylinder thereby stopping the unnecessary combustion of fuel. This improves the efficiency in the consumption of fuel a feature that lacked in old engines. Cylinders constitute a car engine; different engines have varying number of cylinders, which contribute to the horsepower of an engine. Through technological advances, modern cars can vary their functions thereby firing a specific number of cylinders to produce energy adequate for particular functions. The ability to alter functions is a major feature in modern car that influences the car’s fuel consumptions unlike in the old V8s that fired at full capacity all the time, a feature that resulted in wastage of fuel. Additionally, the increased efficiency in fuel consumption is a major feature in the modern engines that influences the sizes of modern engines. Modern engines are smaller than old engines owing to the fact that the old engines required adequate space to sustain the large-scale combustion of fuel a feature that increased fuel efficiency eliminated (Halberstam, 1986). Despite the smaller sizes, modern engines produce more horsepower than their older counterparts did in the 1980s. The history of automobile engines dates back to 1672 when Ferdinand Verbiest built a steam-powered toy in China. The toy provided vital knowledge on the operation of engines thus influencing the creation of a self-propelled and steam powered vehicle in the late 18th century by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot. The steam-powered vehicles were large owing to the fact that the steam boilers were of the engines and required strategic placements on the vehicles. Efforts to develop an electric car began in the early 1800s with Thomas Davenport, a Vermont blacksmith installing a motor in his model of a car in 1834. The resultant model was thus a portrayal of such success thereby influencing the development of internal combustion engines. Lack of an effective fuel curtailed the development of internal combustion technique that would hasten the development of cars. In 1889, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach designed a car that employed a similar technology owing to the discovery of fossil fuels in yester years. Following myriad successful discoveries in the 1800s, the successive century began with production of automobiles. The mass production of cars began in 1900 in both France and Germany as Karl Benz set numerous of the automobile manufacturing companies (Stock, 2013). The engines at the time had advanced following the invention of the four cylinder engines. The engines produced adequate horsepower to propel the cars at top speeds of up to 20Km/hr. the engines were large and consumed a lot of fuel. The car produced more noise owing to the strenuous process of combustion. The difficulty in obtaining fuel coupled with the lack of roads curtailed the spread of automobiles back then. Back then, cars were features of novelty. While they remained so for long, research on different features of the engine continued. The modern engine is a result of more than 100, 000 patents a feature that epitomizes the magnitude of research and studies done on the car engine to date. Modern day super cars such as the Rolls Roys Phantom and the Bugatti Veyron can reach speeds of up to 500Km/hr., speeds that are as fast as a jet taking off. This portrays the developments of car engines thereby enabling them to produce as much horsepower. Despite such large horsepower, the principle of internal combustion through the four-stroke combustion cycle remains the same. An engine makes four strokes including the intake stroke, compression stroke, combustion stroke and the exhaust stroke. Just as the name suggests, the intake stroke permits the cylinder to open up and take in both air and gasoline. The stroke further permits the two to mix effectively in order to enhance combustion. An intake valve opens while the piston moves down thereby creating space in the cylinder (Kay, 1997). Gasoline and air rush in to occupy the vacuum thus mixing as they rush in to occupy the void. The compression stroke serves to compress the mixture, the piston moves up the cylinder thereby compressing the mixture of gasoline and air. The compression makes the explosion during combustion powerful thereby producing more energy. Modern engines have effective compression mechanisms that enable them to produce such high horsepower as discussed above. The compression initiates the ignition thereby resulting in the combustion stroke (Berger, 2001). As the piston reaches the top of the cylinder in its compression, the ignition plug sparks thereby producing the flame that sparks the combustion of the mixture. As the mixture explodes, the piston rushes downward again thus permitting the exhaust to leave the cylinder through the exhaust valve thereby creating a vacuum and the cycle begins all over again. The linear combustion thus produces both rotational and linear motion. The engine thus converts the linear motion through the crankshaft into rotational motion thus propelling the automobiles. Specific fuel consumption features of modern engines contribute to the efficiency of the engines. As explained earlier, the efficiency of a car engine arises from the effectiveness of the combustion. Modern engines have particular features that ensure that the mixture of the gasoline and air burns completely thereby producing more power. Among such features is size of the valve that permits both gasoline ad air to rush into the cylinder. The valve is smaller in modern engines a strategic feature that permits sizable amounts of fuel to enter the cylinder. This way, the amount of air becomes adequate to burn the fuel completely (Krarup, 1906). Furthermore, the engines have effective compression mechanisms. This implies that the compression strokes in modern engines is effective and compresses the mixture of the gasoline and air effectively. The explosion resulting from the efficient combustion of the fuel produces more horsepower than in previous engines. Additionally, engine efficiency refers to the effective use of fuel in modern engines. Such strategic features as cylinder deactivation stop the engine from functioning whenever the automobile does not require energy a feature that saves fuel. Engines are among the most fundamental features of a vehicle. The material used in the development of engines must withstand the pressure in order to avoid accidents. Engine manufactures therefore use strong metals that safeguard the pressure build-ups besides the high temperatures (Deaton, 2012). Additionally, the manufactures must often consider the weight of the metal used in developing an engine. Heavy engines reduce the efficiency of the cars. Among the most common materials used in the development of engines, include aluminum a light but equally string metal. Aluminum can withstand high pressures besides its high boiling point that ensures that it withstands the high temperatures. Modern super cars such as Bugatti have engines made from such strong metals as tungsten and titanium. In a summary, the development of a car engine has been progressive with a series of perfections done on a common knowledge. The discovery of fossil fuel made transportation of fuel in cars easier thereby influencing the development of the internal combustion engines. The engines produce adequate horsepower to propel the cars at varied speeds. The increase in the efficiency of modern cars portrays the increase in knowledge thus sustaining the creation of such efficient cars. The four-stroke combustion cycle remains the principle that propels cars but with progressive modifications, engines currently boast increased efficiency and the production of higher horsepower. References Berger, M. (2001). The automobile in American history and culture: a reference guide. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Brain, M. (2014). HowStuffWorks "How Car Engines Work" [online] Available at: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm [Accessed: 8 Apr 2014] Deaton, J. (2012) HowStuffWorks "5 Ways Modern Car Engines Differ from Older Car Engines" [online] Available at: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/5-ways-modern-car-engines-differ from-older-car-engines.htm [Accessed: 13 Apr 2014] Georgano, G.N. (1985). Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal. Gottlieb, R. J. (1997). "Nash 600 coupe". Motor Trend 29: 109. Halberstam, D. (1986). The Reckoning. New York: Morrow. Kay, J. H. (1997). Asphalt nation: how the automobile took over America, and how we can take it back. New York: Crown Publishers. Krarup, M. C. (November 1906). "Automobiles for Every Use". The World's Work: A History of Our Time XIII: 8163–8178. Norman, H. (April 1902). "The Coming of the Automobile". The World's Work: A History of Our Time V: 3304–3308. Retrieved 2009-07-10. Stock, K. (2013) How Good Old Car Engines Got So Efficient [online] Available at: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-18/how-good-old-car-engines-got-so efficient [Accessed: 13 Apr 2014. Read More