Supercharger

In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger is a device that compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered, usually by a belt from the crankshaft, as opposed to a turbocharger, which is driven by exhaust gas energy. The first supercharged engine was built in 1878, with use in aircraft engines beginning in the 1910s and in car engines in the 1920s. In piston aircraft engines supercharging compensated for the thinner air at altitude. In 1878 the Scottish engineer Dugald Clerk designed the first supercharger used with an engine, on a two-stroke gas engine, Gottlieb Daimler received a German patent for supercharging an internal combustion engine in 1885, and Louis Renault patented a centrifugal supercharger in France in 1902. Mechanical supercharging is less common in the 21st century because manufacturers shifted to turbochargers, and almost all diesels today are turbocharged.