{"id":8892,"date":"2016-02-04T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/museonicolis.com\/?p=8892"},"modified":"2024-07-12T13:29:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T11:29:46","slug":"1cylinder-pia-engine-enrico-bernardi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.museonicolis.com\/en\/1cylinder-pia-engine-enrico-bernardi\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernardi Enrico, 1882, 1-cylinder Pia engine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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1-cylinder Pia engine \u201cEnrico Bernardi\u201d, 1882<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With this invention, Enrico Bernardi <\/strong>granted Italy a great discovery in the motoring field; on 5th August, 1882 he patented the \u201cMotrice Pia<\/strong>\u201d, the first petrol fuelled combustion engine, almost together with Karl Benz<\/a> (who patented his engine in October 25th, 1882) and Gottlieb Daimler (who patented it on December 16th, 1883). It is difficult to establish who was the first man in the world who invented the automobile, but\u00a0we can say that\u00a0Bernardi gave a significant impulse to the concrete application of the petrol engine too.
\nBernardi had started his studies on internal-combustion engines in 1876 and in 1882 he built the \u201cMotrice Pia<\/strong>\u201d (named after his daughter) which he fitted to a sewing machine. In 1884<\/strong> he presented it to the National Exposition of Turin. <\/strong>That same year he fitted the engine to his son’s\u00a0tricycle, who drove it around the roads of Quinzano:<\/strong> Benz will fit his invention two years later, in 1886, to a three wheel vehicle suitable for a grown man.
\nThe Motrice Pia is a lightweight, horizontal single-cylinder engine<\/strong>, four strokes, modified and perfected Otto cycle engine, with a cast iron double wall cylinder, water cooled, 44 mm bore, 80.5 mm stroke, 122,5cc\u00a0displacement producing\u00a00,024 bhp at 200 rpm, 10 kg weight; the petrol comes from a 2-decilitre small parallelepiped fuel tank\u00a0near the crankcase.
\nIn 1889 Bernardi built a more powerful engine called \u201cLauro\u201d,<\/strong> which\u00a0was fitted to his son\u2019s bicycle in 1892<\/strong>, creating a petrol fuelled motorcycle<\/strong>, and in 1894, in Padova, he introduced\u00a0a three wheel car.
\nEnrico Bernardi, professor emeritus at the Padova University, dedicated his whole life to studies, research and application of his inventions. In his last years of life,\u00a0he\u00a0joined his passion for technical innovations with the experimentation and research in photography, optics and chemistry related to the colour in the Lumi\u00e8re chromo positive process.<\/p>\n

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Luciano Nicolis<\/strong>\u00a0used to say:\u00a0\u201cAccording to what I learned, this is the first petrol-fuelled engine in the world and was made in\u00a01882 by Enrico Bernardi of Quinzano \u2013 Verona<\/strong>\u00a0and fitted on a toy tricycle for his son in\u00a01884<\/strong>. It’s incredible thinking about this man’s ingenuity to create such a small petrol engine. There’s a radiator for cooling, a candle that works as a spark plug\u00a0<\/strong>and lights up with a match. He also built a shield<\/strong> for wind, otherwise the flame would go out when you were driving\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s curios and very interesting to discover all this clever particulars. Bernardi then created an automobile company with count Giusti without success. So he built his own company, Bernardi, a demanding experience, then he retired and went to\u00a0FIAT<\/strong>. The first engine was called\u00a0Pia<\/strong>\u00a0after her daughter, while the other bigger engine was called\u00a0Lauro<\/strong>\u00a0after his son and applied it on a wagon behind a bicycle: that was the first motorcycle ever made<\/strong>. Even the first Italian petrol fueled car<\/strong> was made by Bernardi in 1894 with the name Miari -Giusti<\/strong>\u00a0and the first Italian racecar was a Bernardi and participated to the first car races.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1999 Gianni Torelli<\/strong>\u00a0starts the motrice Pia of Museo Nicolis on the occasion of the celebration in Campagnola Emilia (see article).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Enrico Zeno Bernardi (1841 Verona \u2013 1919 Torino)
\n<\/strong>1867 \u2013 Founded and managed the Machine Institute of the university of Padova
\n<\/strong>1882 \u2013 Agosto, 5th. He patented the\u00a0Motrice Pia <\/strong>in Padova, the first petrol fuelled engine ever made.
\n1884 \u2013\u00a0He compined the toy tricycle<\/strong> with the Motrice Pia<\/strong> in Quinzano \/VR). First vehicle driven by a petrol engine.
\n1893 \u2013 He joined his son’s bicycle with a wagon where he fitted the\u00a0\u201cLauro\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0engine. It’s the first petrol motorcycl<\/strong>e ever made.
\n1894 – He launched a 3-wheeled vehicle in Padova. The first Italian automobile<\/strong>\u00a0with an internal-combustion engine.
\n1896 \u2013 Founded the \u201cSociet\u00e0 Miari & Giusti<\/strong>\u201d in Padova to build vehicles and Bernardi engines.
\n1897 \u2013 He patented the kinematic link for the steering<\/strong>. Patent n.46.601 (built in 1894).
\n1899 \u2013 \u201cMiari & Giusti\u201d was followed by \u201cSociet\u00e0 Italiana Bernardi<\/strong>\u201d that produced 3 and 4-wheeled vehicles (and will close in 1901).
\n1911 \u2013 He dedicated to studies and research in photography,<\/strong> optics and chemistry related to new colour technics and tridimensional effects.
\n1915 \u2013\u00a0After 52 years of teaching, he retired, but kept studying and doing research in Turin.
\n1919 \u2013 February 22nd. Enrico Bernardi died in Turin. The coffin will be moved to\u00a0Padova in 1920.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE\u00a0VIDEO<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Padova \u2013 Museo di Macchine \u201cEnrico Bernardi\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\r\n \r\n