Heart of The Matter!!!

Chapter 8:

As we ended the last chapter, one particular memory came flashing in my head. It was of a particular event that made 'Mumbai' standstill for nearly 4 days. That was the very fateful day of 26th July 2005. Massive floods that had engulfed Mumbai & it's suburban areas in water, some almost neck deep. I was in school when the flooding began & since we were the senior students, we were tasked with taking the kids to safety through almost 2.5 feet to 3 feet of water that flooded our school ground. My Dad was back home from his Project, just a day before, Jetlagged. Even in that situation, he kept is calm & went to pick up my Mom from her office premise near Tekdi Bungalow area in Thane. The office was in an elevated level, hence did not face any trouble of flooding, but that was not the case with the areas around it. Some areas had almost 550-600mm of waterlogged. Such depths are enough to test some of the "so-called" SUV's of the current generation. That day, he not only had to risk driving through the waterlogged areas covering 200-250 meter stretches of dense, unclear water but also navigate through the field of cars stalled due to water. He did this because he had complete trust in our GreyGhost, Daewoo's Cielo (2000-2004).

 

The situation was such where either we could have made it through or could have ended like the endless cars around, Stalled & Rendered useless in the water. We made it through, but with damaged Brake Calipers. Lucky enough I would say. When home, I asked him why he took the risk of going through, as even new cars were completely damaged in the water? His reply was that he completely trusted the 1.5L 16V A15MF Engine manufactured by GM. He knew that it was as reliable as his Own Heart & would not give up in such a situation. He also added that the Love we provide to our GreyGhost over the years, made sure that she pulled us out of danger, after all, she was our first car in our family & we loved her like a family member.

 

When it comes to Cars or Bikes, The heart is what matters the most. Heart in this case is the Engine. Engines have pushed the vehicle from being completely relied on animals for movement to being self-propelled.

 

The most common type of engine is Petrol or Gasoline Powered engine. The first practical petrol engine was built in 1876 in Germany by Nicolaus August Otto. Various scientists and engineers contributed to the development of internal combustion engines. In 1791, John Barber developed a turbine. In 1794 Thomas Mead patented a gas engine. Also, in 1794 Robert Street patented an internal-combustion engine, which was also the first to use the liquid fuel (petroleum) and built an engine around that time. In 1798, John Stevens designed the first American internal combustion engine. In 1807, French engineers Nicéphore and Claude Niépce ran a prototype internal combustion engine, using controlled dust explosions, the Pyréolophore. This engine powered a boat on the Saône river, France. The same year, the Swiss engineer François Isaac de Rivaz built and patented a hydrogen and oxygen powered internal-combustion engine. The fuel was stored in a balloon and the spark was electrically ignited by a hand-operated trigger. Fitted to a crude four-wheeled wagon, François Isaac de Rivaz first drove it 100 meters in 1813, thus making history as the first car-like vehicle known to have been powered by an internal-combustion engine. In 1823, Samuel Brown patented the first internal combustion engine to be applied industrially in the U.S., one of his engines pumped water on the Croydon Canal from 1830 to 1836. He also demonstrated a boat using his engine on the Thames in 1827, and an engine-driven carriage in 1828. Father Eugenio Barsanti, an Italian engineer, together with Felice Matteucci of Florence invented the first real internal combustion engine in 1853. Their patent request was granted in London on June 12, 1854, and published in London's Morning Journal under the title "Specification of Eugene Barsanti and Felix Matteucci, Obtaining Motive Power by the Explosion of Gasses". In 1860, Belgian Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir produced a gas-fired internal combustion engine. In 1864, Nicolaus Otto patented the first atmospheric gas engine. In 1872, American George Brayton invented the first commercial liquid-fueled internal combustion engine. In 1876, Nicolaus Otto, working with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, patented the compressed charge, four-stroke cycle engine. In 1879, Karl Benz patented a reliable two-stroke gas engine. In 1892, Rudolf Diesel developed the first compressed charge, a compression ignition engine. In 1926, Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. In 1939, the Heinkel He 178 became the world's first jet aircraft. In 1954 German engineer Felix Wankel patented a "pistonless" engine using an eccentric rotary design.

 

Continued......

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