Non-conventional engines - Internal combustion engines

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the internal combustion engine has been a key area of research for many passionate inventors, and experience shows that this effervescence continues unabated over time.

During the 1900s, a number of engine and vehicle manufacturers brought glory to French industry. France was one of the pioneer nations of the automobile, with famous brands such as De Dion-Bouton, Panhard-Levassor, Delahaye, Peugeot, Chenard et Walcker and Renault (founded in the 19th century), and later Citroën, Voisin, Bugatti, Delage and Simca (founded in the 20th century). At the time, the automotive industry was the leading mechanical engineering industry in France, and played an essential role in the French economy in terms of demand for raw materials, the number of workers employed, sales figures, and the importance of the industry in the balance of trade.

In 2024, the French automotive industry still plays a major role among the world's automotive industries. However, as a result of fierce competition between manufacturers and the constant consolidation and restructuring of the various automotive groups, the French automotive industry now occupies only a modest, albeit still significant, position in global automotive production.

In 2024, the largest groups in the French automotive industry, themselves undergoing frequent restructuring, will be the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Group and the PSA Group, integrated since 2021 into Stellantis, which brings together some fifteen separate brands. As for industrial engines for marine propulsion and power plants, as far as we know, there are no longer any French manufacturers, all of which have gone under foreign flags since the 1990s.

The Wankel rotary piston engine, a famous example of innovative design, reached the stage of industrial development, although it did not achieve the commercial success we had hoped for.

While Japanese carmaker Mazda was not the only manufacturer to market cars equipped with rotary engines, it is probably the only brand in 2024 that remains closely linked to this innovative technology. It is maintaining its rotary piston offering in the form of an original range-extender on a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, a half-electric, half-thermal technology that is itself under threat from the European Commission.

The aim of this article is to retrace and draw inspiration in 2024 from the fantastic diversity and creative ingenuity of the industrialists of the time relating to heat engines, which have marked technological history over the last two hundred years. Readers will find it useful to visit the Musée des Arts et Métiers at the Cnam in Paris, the age-old repository of scientific and technical...