The use of explosions to drive machinery actually has a long history. Of course, the earliest people studied gunpowder, not dust explosions.
Engine designs using gunpowder can be traced back to 1661, and the second patent was issued in 1678. These two patents almost all use the vacuum generated after the explosion of gunpowder to lift water. This design provided some reference for subsequent engine research.
Detailed information can also be found in this 1678 patent. The design concept mentioned is called the Huygens engine. The basic design idea is as follows: gunpowder is loaded into a vertical tube, and after the gunpowder explodes , push a piston in the tube to a fixed point, and there is a hole near the fixed point to discharge the hot gas. Then gravity and the negative pressure caused by the cooling of the gas cause the piston to fall, so that work can be achieved. It is possible that the inventor succeeded in making a working model in 1682, although this is disputed by modern researchers. The sealing requirements of this device were too high for the technology at the time.
Continuing along this line of thinking, some people are trying to use dust explosions to make engines. The first public design idea appeared in 1806, using a controlled dust explosion. The engine principle has some similarities with the Huygens engine. In fact, two types of engines using gunpowder and an engine using hydrogen and oxygen fuel appeared in 1807, which can be regarded as the precursors of modern internal combustion engines. However, a dust explosion engine called the Pyreolephore, which used coal powder, resin and stone pine powder, was built in 1807 and successfully powered a ship. Therefore, it is called by some as the world's earliest internal combustion engine. In other words, the originator of the internal combustion engine is actually the dust explosion engine.
From Explosion-proof Home Network