Who Invented the Internal Combustion Engine?
2 Answers
The internal combustion engine was invented by Étienne Lenoir. Lenoir was a Belgian-French inventor, born on January 12, 1822, in Mussy-la-Ville, Belgium, and passed away on August 4, 1900, in Seine, France. In 1859, he invented the first practical internal combustion engine. Here are some related introductions: 1. In 1801, French chemist Philippe Lebon used coal gas and hydrogen obtained from coal dry distillation as fuel to create an engine that mixed gas and hydrogen with air and ignited it to generate expansion force to drive the piston. This invention was hailed as a pioneering step in the history of internal combustion engine development. In 1859, Lenoir became the first to design and manufacture an internal combustion engine using illuminating gas as fuel. In 1862, French electrical engineer Lenoir successfully created a two-stroke horizontal internal combustion engine. Also in 1862, French scientist Alphonse Beau de Rochas, based on the thermodynamic research of Carnot (France), proposed the working principle of the four-stroke internal combustion engine. German inventor Nikolaus Otto designed and built the first four-stroke internal combustion engine in 1876. 2. In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was inspired by the dust explosion in a flour mill and pioneered the compression-ignition internal combustion engine (diesel engine), which was successfully developed in 1897, opening a new path for the development of internal combustion engines. This type of internal combustion engine was later mostly fueled by diesel, hence it is also called a diesel engine. In 1898, diesel engines were first used in stationary power generation units. In 1903, they were used as power for merchant ships, and in 1904, they were installed on naval vessels. In 1913, the first diesel-powered locomotive was built, and around 1920, diesel engines began to be used in automobiles and agricultural machinery.
I have always been fascinated by the history of automobiles. The invention of the internal combustion engine was not the work of a single individual, but more like a relay race. It all started with Frenchman Jean-Joseph Étienne Lenoir, who built the first practical internal combustion engine in 1860, using coal gas to power vehicles, though it was not very efficient. Later, German engineer Nikolaus Otto invented the crucial four-stroke cycle engine in 1876, combining intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust, which made engines truly efficient. Otto's design was then applied by Karl Benz in 1886 to create the first automobile, marking the beginning of the automotive era. The entire development process shows that technological progress requires teamwork—Lenoir laid the foundation, Otto innovated, and Benz popularized it, with each step being indispensable. This also explains why the internal combustion engine became the backbone of modern transportation. Without these pioneers, our driving experience today would be entirely different.
