Saturday 12th January 1822

Born on this day, Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir, who developed the first internal combustion engine, a single-cylinder two-stroke engine which burnt a mixture of coal gas and air ignited by a “jumping spark” ignition system by Ruhmkorff coil and which he patented in 1860. The engine differed from more modern two-stroke engines in that the charge was not compressed before ignition, with a power stroke at each end of the cylinder..