One of the things that has made the most changes on the automobile in the many years of it's existence is the engine.

The first engine was invented in 1705. It was invented by Thomas Newcomen. It was a steam engine that was used for mining coal. This engine could not have been used in a car because it only made an up and down motion and not a circular motion. This steam engine worked like this: It would let high-pressured steam in on one side of the piston, while on the other side it released the exhaust steam. Then, the valve would slide, and the steam would enter the other side of the piston and reverse the cycle (refer to fig. 1).

James Watt, the man that invented the light bulb, made some changes to the...