Tuesday 24th January 1860
Belgian engineer Etienne Lenoir was issued a patent for the first successful internal-combustion engine. Lenoir’s engine was a converted steam engine that burned a mixture of coal gas and air. Its two-stroke action was simple but reliable–many of Lenoir’s engines were still working after 20 years of use. His first engines powered simple machines like pumps and bellows. However, in 1862, Lenoir built his first vehicle powered by an internal-combustion engine–a vehicle capable of making a six-mile trip in two to three hours. It wasn’t a practical vehicle, but it was the beginning of the automobile industry.