One of the reasons I used to love going to the Motor Show each year when I was young, were the engines that were often on display that had been cutaway to show your their innards moving about. A chance to glimpse into what appeared an incredibly complex system, and then the subsequent explanation from my dad that showed that often they were built on very simple principles.

Matt Keveney’s site grabbed my interested for the same reason. His animated gifs showing the basic operations of various types of engines, and the frame by frame descriptions of what is going on, kept me interested for a long time. I think my favourite is the two cylinder Stirling engine, which I’d never heard of before. Such an elegant, closed system design, I wonder if it is effective in reality? Also, I’d always wondered how a Wankel Rotary worked (as championed by Mazda). Now I know. Thanks Matt!

Update: Ooh, here are some more. Prettier, but I find Matt’s easier to understand.