Hot-bulb engine

The hot-bulb engine, also known as a semi-diesel,^[1] is a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignites by coming in contact with a red-hot metal surface inside a bulb, followed by the introduction of air (oxygen) compressed into the hot-bulb chamber by the rising piston. There is some ignition when the fuel is introduced, but it quickly uses up the available oxygen in the bulb. Vigorous ignition takes place only when sufficient oxygen is supplied to the hot-bulb chamber on the compression stroke of the engine.

Most hot-bulb engines were produced as one or two-cylinder, low-speed two-stroke crankcase scavenged units.^[1]