The Hugon engine was an advance in this respect, using a flame ignited, and securing greater certainty of action in a comparatively simple manner.

It is really a modification of Barnett’s lighting cock described in his patent of 1838.

Other difficulties were found in using these engines; the pistons became exceedingly hot.  In the case of the Lenoir larger engines, it sometimes became red hot, and caused complete ruin of the cylinder by scoring and cutting up.  Hugon to prevent this injected some water.

In the all important question of economy, these engines were found grievously wanting, Lenoir consuming 95 cubic feet per I.H.P. per hour; Hugon consuming 85 cubic feet per I.H.P. per hour.

The surviving engines of this type are only used for very small powers, from one to four man power, or 1/8 to 1/2 horse, the most widely known of this kind being the “Bischoff,” which is very largely used; its consumption of gas is even greater than the Lenoir, being 110 cubic feet per horse power per hour, as tested with a half-horse engine at a late exhibition of gas apparatus at Stockport.

So large a consumption of gas prevented these engines coming into extended use for engines of moderate power, and led inventors to work to obtain better results.  The force generated by the explosion of a mixture of gas and air is very short lived, and if it is to be fully utilized must be used quickly; a high pressure is produced, but it very quickly disappears.

The quicker the piston moves after the maximum pressure is reached, the less will be the loss of heat to the sides of the cylinder.  The flame which fills the cylinder and causes the increase of pressure rapidly loses heat, and the pressure falls.

The idea of using a free piston was proposed as a remedy; it was thought that a piston connected to a crank in the ordinary manner could not move fast enough to utilize the pressure before it was lost.  Many inventors proposed to perform work upon a piston free from any direct connection with the crank or shaft of the engine; the explosion after attaining its maximum pressure expends its force in giving velocity to a piston; the velocity so acquired carries it on against atmospheric pressure until the energy is all absorbed, and a vacuum or deficit of pressure exists in the cylinder instead of an excess of pressure.  The return stroke is accomplished by the atmospheric pressure, and the work is now done upon the engine shaft on the return only.  The method of connecting on the return stroke while leaving the piston free on the out stroke varies, but in many engines the principle was the same.

Barsante and Matteucci, year 1857, British patent No. 1,625, describe the first engine of this kind, but Messrs. Otto and Langen were the first to successfully overcome all difficulties and make a marketable engine of it.  Their patent was dated 1866, No. 434.  To distinguish it from Otto’s later patents, it may be called the rack and clutch engine.