The oldest gas engine in the Americas running- the 1869 Otto Langen

[JRD77VET]

Bill took a video today of the 1869 Otto Langen atmospheric engine start up and running today at Rough and Tumble.

This is the oldest running engine in the Americas and the third oldest in the entire world. The two older engines are in Germany where these were manufactured. To the best of our knowledge, this is serial number 31. When we did the cosmetic restoration of it during the winter of 2016/2017, there was the number 31 and "N.A.O" written in paint of the flywheel when we removed the green paint.

He lights the hydrogen gas and turns the flywheel to start the engine. Once it's running, he adjusts the amount of fuel at the center of the base. The valve on the exhaust pipe is actually the throttle. Fully opened runs it faster and restricted slows it down.

The piston is on the end of the rack that "jumps" with each igniting of the fuel. As the power stroke ends ( comes down ) , a tab on the right side of the rack trips the lever which activates the two rods with the slide valves at the bottom. The larger one on the right side literally "cuts" a piece of the flame off and transfers it to the combustion chamber. The smaller left one gives a precise fuel charge.

When it fires, the piston is driven up and a combination of of gravity and cooling gases draw it down. That engages the clutch ( circular device ) which rotates the flywheel and the pulley.

This was the first successful gas fired engine to work. All that for about 1/3 of a horsepower.

Otto & Langen Engine No. 31 at Rough and Tumble - YouTube

[Dave]

That is friggin cool!

Hey Jim, I have this idea, but I can't seem to find any spark plugs.
Because they haven't been invented yet.
How am I going to get fire inside of my engine?
Just take some fire from outside and put it inside.
I can do that...

[SQUIRMIN VERMIN 84]

That is really, really cool!!!!
Inertia free run cycle engines are fascinating. Really nice shape!
Thanks for another great video!

[OddBall]

Has anyone tried to stick their finger in the flywheel yet?

[Kerrmudgeon]

Flywheel's got a bend in it.....just like I would if I was over a hunnert!

Very cool......thanks for posting.

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Dave

That is friggin cool!

Hey Jim, I have this idea, but I can't seem to find any spark plugs.
Because they haven't been invented yet.
How am I going to get fire inside of my engine?
Just take some fire from outside and put it inside.
I can do that...

That's the advantage of a hydrogen based fuel. In addition to burning well whether the mixture is rich or lean, it also burns slowly due to the lesser amount of BTU's.

Originally Posted by OddBall

Has anyone tried to stick their finger in the flywheel yet?

Not that I know of. We try to keep the visitors out of moving machinery.

Originally Posted by Kerrmudgeon

Flywheel's got a bend in it.....just like I would if I was over a hunnert!

Very cool......thanks for posting.

This engine is the oldest running with the original flywheel. The two older engines in Germany "lost" the flywheels during one of the world wars. The engines were hidden during the scrap metal drives even though it was a capital offense not to turn over all metal during WWII.

Plus the flywheel casting is not exactly "high quality". There is a large void where the keyway is on the crankshaft bore.

[Dave]

No governor on that thing?

[Black94lt1]

That is really cool, thanks for sharing!

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Dave

No governor on that thing?

Speed is controlled by how fast you allow the exhaust gas to go thru the pipe ( as seen on left side during start up ).

The piston is slowed by restricting gas flow or allowed to move faster by how fast the combustion chamber is evacuated.

There isn't a crankshaft as a modern engine has. The piston moves up when the fuel charge is ignited. The rack ( "connecting rod" ) engages the clutch as it drops back down to spin the countershaft. Both gravity and the cooling of the ignited fuel charge draw the piston down.

Below are pictures of the piston and rack plus the clutch. The pipe with the valve to control speed is shown too.

[OddBall]

So power is delivered from the piston "rack" on the downstroke?

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by OddBall

So power is delivered from the piston "rack" on the downstroke?

Correct

If you watch the video again, you will see Bill light the hydrogen gas. ( it's already turned on ) Then he spins the flywheel which draws in a fuel charge.

The piston and rack assembly drops which compresses the fuel charge and as it gets close to the bottom, the slide valve cuts a piece of the flame and it ignites the fuel charge, sending the piston and rack assembly up.

After it reaches it's peak and starts back down, the clutch engages turning the flywheel and counter shaft assembly.

Notice how much faster the rack comes down right in the beginning until he restricts the exhaust flow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although this was the first commercially successful compressed fuel engine, the workings are not what we have today. They discovered a crankshaft was much more efficient for transferring power. I watched the Otto Langen run a number of times before the workings made sense.

It is truly a milestone and quite a leap from what was being used at the time. A few inventors were trying to use fuel to power an engine but Nicolaus A Otto was the first to make it work well.

[Dave]

The rack engages and spins the flywheel on the way DOWN? I didn't catch that. Need to look again....

[mrvette]

Has the EPA done an examination of this machine for pollution?? and when they DO, you know the will want a CAT ASS TROPHY Converter on there.....

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Dave

The rack engages and spins the flywheel on the way DOWN? I didn't catch that. Need to look again....

[Dave]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

Cool engine, but that's messed up. LOL

What stops the piston/rack from over-travelling on the way up and simply pounding the crap out of itself. Is it just a matter of Otto picking a stroke that was beyond the capability of the fuel to lift it that high?

[JRD77VET]

Originally Posted by Dave

Cool engine, but that's messed up. LOL

What stops the piston/rack from over-travelling on the way up and simply pounding the crap out of itself. Is it just a matter of Otto picking a stroke that was beyond the capability of the fuel to lift it that high?

You have the piston and rack assembly which is quite heavy ( 50-70 lbs I'm guessing -- I'll check ) and the only readily available gas ( not liquid ) fuel was "city gas" . That was made by heating up coal and capturing the gas. City gas was high in hydrogen.

Hydrogen gas has a BTU value of 325 while natural gas has a value of 1000 BTU and propane is 2500 BTU.

What is required is a controlled explosion to raise the piston assembly without hitting the stops at the top of the casting or blowing it out of the top of the engine.*

With the correct amount of a suitable fuel, the engine can be safely run today as it is quite impractical to produce city gas in enough volume to run the engine.

One of the volunteers at Rough & Tumble designed a hydrogen system so we can run the engine. It's a pretty impressive system and works great. Due to the low pressure, a gas bag is used to create enough volume to properly feed the engine. That is the red "water bottle" bag seen on the stand.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The Smithsonian Institute also has an Otto and Langen engine. The guys from Rough and Tumble went down to share the hydrogen system with them so they could run their priceless engine too.

Evidently those in DC folks are much smarter and discounted the warning of NOT using natural gas or especially propane as the BTU values were too high to safely run the engine.

They hooked it to propane and proceeded to launch the piston rack assembly right out their engine. They now have a "static display" that has no chance of ever running.

[OddBall]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

You have the piston and rack assembly which is quite heavy ( 50-70 lbs I'm guessing -- I'll check ) and the only readily available gas ( not liquid ) fuel was "city gas" . That was made by heating up coal and capturing the gas. City gas was high in hydrogen.

Hydrogen gas has a BTU value of 325 while natural gas has a value of 1000 BTU and propane is 2500 BTU.

What is required is a controlled explosion to raise the piston assembly without hitting the stops at the top of the casting or blowing it out of the top of the engine.*

With the correct amount of a suitable fuel, the engine can be safely run today as it is quite impractical to produce city gas in enough volume to run the engine.

One of the volunteers at Rough & Tumble designed a hydrogen system so we can run the engine. It's a pretty impressive system and works great. Due to the low pressure, a gas bag is used to create enough volume to properly feed the engine. That is the red "water bottle" bag seen on the stand.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The Smithsonian Institute also has an Otto and Langen engine. The guys from Rough and Tumble went down to share the hydrogen system with them so they could run their priceless engine too.

Evidently those in DC folks are much smarter and discounted the warning of NOT using natural gas or especially propane as the BTU values were too high to safely run the engine.

They hooked it to propane and proceeded to launch the piston rack assembly right out their engine. They now have a "static display" that has no chance of ever running.

Ouch!!!

[Dave]

Originally Posted by JRD77VET

You have the piston and rack assembly which is quite heavy ( 50-70 lbs I'm guessing -- I'll check ) and the only readily available gas ( not liquid ) fuel was "city gas" . That was made by heating up coal and capturing the gas. City gas was high in hydrogen.

Hydrogen gas has a BTU value of 325 while natural gas has a value of 1000 BTU and propane is 2500 BTU.

What is required is a controlled explosion to raise the piston assembly without hitting the stops at the top of the casting or blowing it out of the top of the engine.*

With the correct amount of a suitable fuel, the engine can be safely run today as it is quite impractical to produce city gas in enough volume to run the engine.

One of the volunteers at Rough & Tumble designed a hydrogen system so we can run the engine. It's a pretty impressive system and works great. Due to the low pressure, a gas bag is used to create enough volume to properly feed the engine. That is the red "water bottle" bag seen on the stand.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* The Smithsonian Institute also has an Otto and Langen engine. The guys from Rough and Tumble went down to share the hydrogen system with them so they could run their priceless engine too.

Evidently those in DC folks are much smarter and discounted the warning of NOT using natural gas or especially propane as the BTU values were too high to safely run the engine.

They hooked it to propane and proceeded to launch the piston rack assembly right out their engine. They now have a "static display" that has no chance of ever running.

Damn. That's what I was afraid of... that it was designed within the technology limits of the day in that manner. Idiots at the Smithsonian.

[JRD77VET]

Bill found a picture of the Otto Langen engine when it was at Stevens Institute probably around 1900. ( to the right of the doors next to the book case )

Originally Posted by Bill Hazzard

I occasionally look for images of our Otto & Langen while it was at the Stevens institute of Technology and today I have succeeded. I found a book called the Morton memorial; a history of the Stevens institute of technology from 1905. In the list of illustrations it says that on page 5 is a picture of the old engineering lecture hall so the picture would have been before 1905 and probably as early as the 1890's. The old hall would have been on the second floor of the original main building. In the background of the photo is our engine including the governor that was on it. The earliest reference to the engine I found was from about 1887, it was listed as a curio at the school.

Here is an older video of the Otto langen at Rough and Tumble with the governor the Steven's Institute attempted to use to even out the flywheel speed ( it did not work well ). Rough and Tumble decided to remove the governor since it wasn't original to the engine

1868 Otto Langen - Oldest running gas engine in the USA - YouTube

[Bill]

So, what was that engine designed to run?