air engine
Britishnoun
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an engine that uses the expansion of heated air to drive a piston
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a small engine that uses compressed air to drive a piston
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The essentials of the air engine are extremely simple: a "hot space" heated by an external firebox, a "cold space" cooled by water or air, and two pistons.
From Time Magazine Archive
With the exception of the English lime, all grout was mixed 1 to 1 with sand in a Cockburn continuous-stirring machine operated by a 3-cylinder air engine.
From Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910 The New York Tunnel Extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The East River Tunnels. Paper No. 1159 by James H. Brace
This consists of a metallic cylinder, tapering at each end, and containing not only a charge of gun cotton, but a compressed air engine which actuates two helices.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883 by Various
The hot air engine, although theoretically recognized for some time past as the most economical means of converting heat into motive power, has up to the present met with little success.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 623, December 10, 1887 by Various
We passed through the engine room where mechanics were at work on the damaged liquid air engine.
From City of Endless Night by Milo M. (Milo Milton) Hastings
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
