air engine

British  

noun

1. an engine that uses the expansion of heated air to drive a piston

2. a small engine that uses compressed air to drive a piston

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Example Sentences

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

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 only real practical advance made in this matter is M. Mékarski's compressed air engine for tramways.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 275, April 9, 1881 by Various

Herring made for this a compressed air engine and claimed that with this he accomplished a flight of seventy-three feet.

From Story of the Aeroplane by Galbreath, C. B. (Charles Burleigh)

Rowan 0.75 Compressed air 1.06 Wilkinson 5.89 Krauss 6.52 Thus, owing to the large proportion of water returned from the condenser to the tanks, the Rowan actually used less water than the compressed air engine.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 530, February 27, 1886 by Various