Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine

The Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine was the first successful design of internal combustion engine using "heavy oil" as a fuel. It was the first to use a separate vapourising combustion chamber and is the forerunner of all hot-bulb engines.

Early internal combustion engines were quite successful running on gaseous and light petroleum fuels. However, due to the dangerous nature of gasoline and light petroleum fuel, legal restrictions were placed on their transportation and storage. Heavier petroleum fuels, such as kerosene, were quite prevalent, as they were used for lighting. However, heavier oils posed specific problems when used in internal combustion engines.

Oil used for engine fuel must be turned to a vapour state and remain in that state during compression. Furthermore, the combustion of the fuel must be powerful, regular, and complete, to avoid deposits that will clog the valves and working parts of the engine.

The earliest mention of an oil engine was by Robert Street, in his English patent no. 1983 of 1794. There is also strong evidence to suggest that Robert Street built a working version of his engine according to Horst O. Hardenberg. Other oil engines were built by Nicéphore Niépce, Etienne Lenoir, Siegfried Marcus, Julius Hock of Vienna and George Brayton in the 19th century. All of these engines with the exception of Brayton's were non-compression.

Others made refinements to the oil engine; William Dent Priestman and Emile Capitaine are some of the more notable. However, it was Herbert Akroyd Stuart's design that was the most successful.

Akroyd Stuart's first prototype engines were built in 1886. In 1890, in collaboration with Charles Richard Binney, he filed Patent 7146 for Richard Hornsby and Sons of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. The patent was entitled: "Improvements in Engines Operated by the Explosion of Mixtures of Combustible Vapour or Gas and Air".

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