Samuel Brown (engineer)

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Samuel Brown was an English engineer who developed an internal combustion engine.

In patents dated 1823 and 1826, Brown proposed to fill a closed chamber with a gas flame, and so expel the air; then he condensed the flame by injecting water, and operated an air engine by exhausting into the partial vacuum so obtained. The idea was evidently suggested by James Watt's condensing steam engine, flame being employed instead of steam to obtain a vacuum. Brown's engine is said to have been actually employed to pump water, drive a boat on the Thames, and propel a road carriage.

Brown later designed an engine that used hydrogen as a fuel-- an early example of an internal combustion engine. It was based on an old Newcomen steam engine, and it had a separate combustion and working cylinders. He tested the engine by using it to propel a vehicle up Shooter's Hill in 1824.

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