CHAPTER 1 PRODUCING POWER In In the th century people often traveled in horse-drawn carriages But they had to stop when their horses got tired Plus they could only carry as much as their horses could pull Many people wanted to travel faster and farther Inventors worked to create carriages moved by engines instead of horses An engine’s moving parts produce power 5
The engines needed power to run Three main power sources were possible One possibility was electricity By 1900 a company in New York City operated an entire fleet of electric taxis These taxis got power from batteries Most places however did not have electricity yet Charging the batteries was not practical Inventors looked for other fuel sources Some engines used steam instead Steam engines used common fuels such as kerosene and gasoline These fuels were burned in a boiler The boiler heated water and made steam which was used to 6
Some early vehicles such as this tricycle from got power from steam generate power But the technology was tricky to get right It never caught on The third power source was internal combustion fueled by gasoline By 1876 Nikolaus Otto designed a basic gasoline engine It was a four-stroke internal combustion engine 7
