Stirling Engine
by Robert Stirling
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Patented in 1816 (British Patent No. 4081) by Galston minister Robert Stirling, this closed-cycle 'air engine' with its heat-recycling 'economiser' (regenerator) is so thermodynamically elegant it matches the Carnot limit — the absolute ceiling allowed by physics — and now powers Swedish and Japanese submarines, NASA deep-space generators, solar dishes and cryogenic coolers.
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