Gilles Gas Engine, Patent Model
date: label: date made
content: 1876
label: patent date
content: 1876-07-11
name: label: inventor
content: Gilles, Friedrich W.
notes: label: Description
content: This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office with the application for the patent issued to Friedrich W. Gilles, of Kalk, Germany, July 11, 1876, no. 179782.
label: Description
content: The engine represented by the model is a 1-cylinder vertical gas engine employing two pistons, a working piston (the lower one) and a loose piston (the upper one). The loose piston was intended to fly to the top of the cylinder where it would be caught and held, producing within the cylinder a reduced pressure, which would cause the work piston to return under the pressure of the atmosphere and thereby perform work on the return stroke as well as the explosion stroke. Provision was made to cushion the free piston at the top of its stroke for the purpose of quiet running. The combustion mixture was drawn in and ignited on the explosion stroke without compression.
label: Description
content: Reference:
label: Description
content: This description comes from the 1939 Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States Museum Bulletin 173 by Frank A. Taylor.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany
label: associated place
content: Germany: North Rhine-Westphalia, Kalk
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Mechanical and Civil Engineering
label: See more items in
content: Bulletin 173
label: See more items in
content: Engineering, Building, and Architecture
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Industry & Manufacturing
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Frank A. Taylor. Catalog of the Mechanical Collections of the Division of Engineering United States National Museum, Bulletin 173
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MC.311183
label: catalog number
content: 311183
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 179,782
objectType: label: Object Name
content: engine, steam, model
label: Object Name
content: patent model, engine, gas
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (base material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 3/4 in x 4 5/8 in x 4 1/4 in; 32.385 cm x 11.7475 cm x 10.795 cm