This interesting History Channel documentary talks about the development of all types of engines, including steam engines, sterling engines, electric motors, internal combustion engines, jet engines, rockets, microtechnology and nanotechnology motors, hybrid engines, and hydrogen fuel powered engines.

Following are points the video makes:

— Steam engines are responsible for the launch of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700’s.  STEAM PISTON ENGINES work by steam pressure entering alternate sides of a piston chamber in a cyclical fashion, and STEAM TURBINES work somewhat like a windmill that is driven by steam pressure, and in fact most electricity today is ultimately generated by steam turbines in power plants.

— A Greek scientist known as “Hero Of Alexandria” invented the first steam engine about two thousand years ago, where he devised a metal ball on an axle that spun around being propelled by steam that exited two kettle-like spouts.

— In 1705, two British engineers Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen invented a large piston-and-cylinder steam powered pump to be used to remove water from coal mines.

— The early implementations of steam engines were rather crude, and they were not significantly improved upon until the 1770’s when James Watt implemented a “governor” mechanism that automatically regulates the amount of the pressure in engines to create steady uniform motion.

— By 1800, more than 1,500 steam engines were being employed in Britain, Europe, and the U.S., where they were used mines and they also powered factory machines.  Britain was the first nation in the world to be industrialized, and it was powered by steam.

— Steamships were making regular crossings of the Atlantic by 1830, although they initially still also has sails.  The initial steamships implemented large paddle wheels on their sides that looked similar to traditional Mississippi riverboats.

— Steam locomotives opened up the American West in the 1800’s.  In the 1860’s there were more than 30,000 miles of railroad tracks in the U.S., and in 1869 the transcontinental railroad was completed, which radically reduced the amount of time it took to travel across the country.

— Steam engines were also used to power farm tractors, which transformed agriculture in the late 1800’s.

— In the mid-1800’s George Henry Corliss developed design improvements to further smooth out the output of steam engines, which enabled their use in running textile mills and other types of factories, such as for large-scale food processing.  A sugar mill in Santa Ana, California was using still one of the engines until 1978 when the factory was torn down.

— In the late 1800’s, Charles Parsons of Britain and Carl de Laval of Sweden invented the steam turbine engine that does not use pistons, and it is the only type of steam engine that is still widely used today.  Such engines are commonly used in power plants.

— In the early 1900’s, ocean liners that were powered by steam turbines were utilized, eliminating the older steam-piston type engines that were previously used.  Large trans-Atlantic ocean liners were commonly used in the first half of the 1900’s.  Even today, warships and submarines are powered by nuclear-powered steam turbines.

— Steam power was dangerous due to pressurized boilers often exploding, which prompted the genius inventor Robert Sterling to devise a “Sterling Engine” that utilizes only a differential between hot and cold air to move a piston (as opposed to using steam to do so), and more modern materials increasingly make his concept be even more effective.  [NOTE: See the article “Sterling engine” solar collectors are a most ideal method for harnessing solar energy that explains how Sterling Engines can work as extremely effective solar energy collectors.]

— ELECTRIC MOTORS were the next technology that was developed, where they work by rotating an axle by using powerful electronic magnets that are turned on and off on opposing sides in phase with the rotation of the motor.  Michael Faraday patented his DC motor in 1824, and Nicola Tesla invented an AC motor in 1888.

— In 1891, George Westinghouse implemented the first high-voltage AC power transmission lines in California, connecting San Antonio Canyon with Pomona and San Bernardino.  In 1894, Westinghouse began implementing Tesla’s AC motor technology, and electric motors were used to power some of the very first cars.

— For a time, the initial automobiles were made that operated either as electric, internal combustion, or steam, and at first people were not sure about which engine type would win out.  However, in 1912 the internal combustion engine won out once electric starters were implemented with them, which eliminated the need for people to manually crank the engine by hand to start it.

— Electric motors for cars made a comeback in the 1990’s, but they haven’t been successful due to technical limitations such as having a limited range.  [Note: This is an older documentary that was made before Tesla cars.]

— INTERNAL COMBUSTION engines work through exploding gasoline vapors causing pistons to move inside the cylinders of the engine.  The concept was first successfully implemented in 1858 by Étienne Lenoir, who created an engine that burned a mixture of coal gas and air.  Lenoir initially manufactured it to pump water out of coal mines, and it became widely adopted.  Then in 1876, Nicholas Auto patented the first four-stroke internal combustion engine, which is a concept that is still used in cars today.

— In 1872, Rudolph Diesel invented the concept of the Diesel engine, which doesn’t use spark plugs to ignite the compressed fuel vapors but rather it is ignited simply due to the high pressure that is created in the cylinder.  Diesel engines are rugged and they create a lot of power, so they are often used to power large trucks and heavy equipment.

— Engines significantly contributed to World War II, where they powered the massive industrialization that was needed to manufacture weapons of war that of course also often made use of engines.

— Large automobile engines were starting to create a lot of smog in the air in the 1950’s, prompting a move toward creating cleaner engines.

— In 1924, the Geman inventor Felix Wankel came up with a radically new idea for an internal combustion engine, and in 1957 he built his first true “Wankel Rotary Engine” which is a radically different concept than a traditional piston engine, and it was recently implemented in a Mazda RX-8 sports cars.  The Wankel Engine uses many fewer moving parts than a traditional engine.

— JET ENGINES were developed during World War II, but they were mostly not implemented until afterwards.  They work by pouring a fuel and air mixture stream through the engine, causing an exhaust flame that creates thrust for propulsion.  ROCKETS are similar to jet engines, but they carry their own oxygen supply rather than taking it from the surrounding atmosphere as jet engines do.

— MICROTECHNOLOGY is creating extremely tiny engines that are also very efficient, which can be used for new types of uses.  NANOTECHNOLOGY motors are even much smaller— sometimes being only a few atoms in size.

— HYBRID engines combine electric and gasoline motors, converting gasoline power into electric power and harnessing energy from “regenerative braking.”  Diesel trains have actually always been “hybrids” that use diesel combustion to power electric motors to turn the wheels.

— HYDROGEN powered cars are being developed by BMW which only emit water vapor from their tailpipe.  However, creating hydrogen gas requires energy.  [Note: Hydrogen fuel could be thought of as being a “battery” in that it stores energy, but it has drawbacks such as being difficult to transport and it is also highly explosive.]