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In 1806 François Isaac de Rivaz, a
Swiss, designed the first internal combustion engine. He
subsequently used it to develop the world's first vehicle to run
on such an engine that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to
generate energy. The design was not very successful, as was the
case with the British inventor, Samuel Brown, and the American
inventor, Samuel Morey, who produced vehicles powered by clumsy
internal combustion engines about 1826.
Etienne Lenoir produced the first successful stationary internal
combustion engine in 1860, and within a few years, about four
hundred were in operation in Paris. About 1863, Lenoir installed
his engine in a vehicle. It seems to have been powered by city
lighting-gas in bottles, and was said by Lenoir to have "travelled
more slowly than a man could walk, with breakdowns being
frequent."
Lenoir, in his patent of 1860,
included the provision of a carburettor, so liquid fuel could be
substituted for gas, particularly for mobile purposes in
vehicles. Lenoir is said to have tested liquid fuel, such as
alcohol, in his stationary engines; but it does not appear that
he used them in his own vehicle. If he did, he most certainly
did not use gasoline, as this was not well-known and was
considered a waste product*
*source: Wikipedia,
used with permission

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