Felice Matteucci
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Felice Matteucci (February 12, 1808 - September 13, 1887) was an Italian hydraulic engineer co-inventor with Eugenio Barsanti of the internal combustion engine.
Born in Lucca, he studied hydraulic and mechanical engineering firstly in Paris then later in Florence. In 1851 he meet Father Barsanti appreciating his ideas for a new type of engine. They had a life-long collaboration developing the primary invention into a manufactuable item.
After the death of Barsanti in 1864 and following the failure of society in their time to promote the engine, he returned to his previous work as a hydraulic engineer. He studied new hydrometers (to measure the level of a river), rain gauges, and hydraulic operations over rivers.
In 1877 he unsuccessfully argued that he and his partner Barsanti were the originators of the invention of the internal combustion engine. The patent by Nikolaus August Otto was very similar to the Barsanti-Matteucci design. This frustration contributed to Matteucci's ill that eventually caused his death, in his own home in Capannori, near Lucca in Tuscany.
The Historical Documents
Statement of the letter written by f. Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci on June 4 1853, where the two inventors express their wish, "to fix an authentic date for our experiments which we hope to keep secret for now".
The public reading of the letter was done on June 5 1853 and the sealed envelope, sent with a letter to the Secretary of Correspondence of the Georgofili Academy, was submitted to the Secretary of the Acts as a deposit. (The original is kept at the Georgofili Academy)
Written request of f. Eugenio Matteucci and Felice Matteucci, dated September 11 1863 and sent to Ermolao Rubieri, Secretary of the Acts of the Georgofili Academy, asking to publicly open the sealed envelope they had deposited on June 5 1853 at the Georgofili Academy. (The original is kept at the Georgofili Academy)
Statement of the opening of the sealed envelope deposited on June 5 1853 at the Georgofili Academy. The public opening was done during an ordinary assembly on September 20 1863. (The original is kept at the Georgofili Academy)
Copy of the first page of the sealed envelope deposited on June 5 1853, done the moment of the public opening. (The original is kept at the Georgofili Academy)
Temporary English patent request no. 1072 of May 13 1854 by Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci entitled: A new or improved mode of applying the explosion of gases as a motive power. The patent request was never approved; only a certification was granted.
June 12 1857 English patent no. 1655 of Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci, registered on December 1857 entitled: Improved apparatus for obtaining motive power from gases
December 30 1857 Piedmont patent entitled: New method of using the explosion of a mixture of air and an inflammable gas to obtain a motor force or a useful force, Vol. VI, No. 759.
Sketches of the January 2 1858 Piedmont patent. On January 2 1858 Barsanti and Matteucci presented a patent request at Turin related to their first version of the counter piston engine. The request bears the no. 700 of Volume VII of the Patent Office of the Reign of Piedmont.
We do not have the text of the patent request, only a photo of the table which contains a drawing of the engine. We do not even know if it was a new patent or an extension of the patent granted three days earlier, on December 30 1857, at Turin. The table is signed by Barsanti and Matteucci and bears mark of the Turin agency of Capuccio and Latini.
January 9 1858 French patent no. 35009 of Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci entitled: New method of using the detonation of a mixture of air and an inflammable gas as a motor force.
October 28 1861 patent certificate of Barsanti, Matteucci and Babacci for the invention entitled: New improved method of using the explosion of a mixture of air and an inflammable gas or in general an explosive liquid to obtain a useful force, Vol.2 No 1397.
December 31 1861 English patent No. 3270 of Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci, registered on April 29 1862 entitled: Improved apparatus for obtaining motive power from explosive compounds. The patent was granted on behalf of and for Barsanti and Matteucci by William Edward Newton of the Patent Office, Chancery Lane 66, County of Middlesex
March 31 1862 French patent No. 53609 granted to Felice Matteucci and registered on May 24 1862 entitled: Improved system of air and gas engine.
Report of the Lombard Institute of Science, Literature and Art, published in the Acts of the Lombard Institute of Science, Literature and Art, Vol. III, issue XVII - XVIII, pp. 403 - 407, Milan 1863. The report, entitled "A New Gas Engine invented by Mr. Barsanti and Mr. Matteucci", was done in 1863 by a commission nominated by the Institute made up of Professor Codazza, Hajech and Magrini. The Commission completed test for the fuel consumption of their engine, which had been built in the Bauer Workshops, and compared it to the official findings of the Lenoir engine, published on April 4 1861, in the Mechanical School Acts of the Conservatory of Arts and Crafts of Paris and the Encouragement Society. (original stamp of the relation conserved at the Ximenian Observatory)
Certificate for second prize awarded by the Commission of the Royal Lombard Institute for the engine built by the Barsanti and Matteucci Society. The opinion expressed by the Commission of the Royal Lombard Institute of Science, Literature and Arts, based on a thorough examination of the engine and confirmed by the test done, spurred the two inventors to continue their studies and research. But the two scientists were really expecting to win the contest.
Certificate which extended to all the Provinces of the State (May 6 1864 - vol. 5. No. 109) the industrial patent granted on December 30 1857 (vol. 2. No. 39) to Barsanti Eugenio and Matteucci Felice at Florence, entitled : Explosion of an explosive liquid to obtain a work force, Industrial Bulletin of the Reign of Italy, Volume I., page 434, No. 173. 1864
Certificate which extended to all the Provinces of the State (May 6 1864 - vol. 5. No. 110)the industrial patent granted on October 28 1861 (vol. 3. No. 141) to Barsanti Eugenio, Matteucci Felice and Babacci Gio. Battisti at Florence, entitled : New improved method of using the explosion of a mixture of air and an inflammable gas or in general an explosive liquid to obtain a useful force, Industrial Bulletin of the Reign of Italy, Volume I., pa 434, No. 174. 1864
