Who Invented The Combustion Engine?
The combustion engine has recently come under environmental scrutiny, with the EU and UK set to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars by 2035. From that point onwards, only pure electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles will be sold. While second-hand petrol and diesel cars will still be able to be bought and sold after this date, 2035 will mark the beginning of the end for the combustion engine era. It seems like an appropriate time to look back at its history and to explore its origins.
Research suggests that the invention of this engine may have emerged from multiple sources around the same time, each deserving some credit for its development.
Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir
The first internal combustion engine used to power a moving vehicle was invented by Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir in 1860. However, this engine was more of a converted steam engine that ran on combustible gas. Perhaps for this reason, Lenoir’s Hippomobile—a wagon mounted on top of a tricycle—did not achieve the status of the first true combustion engine.
Nikolaus Otto
There also seems to be a loose consensus that Nikolaus Otto deserves the most credit for inventing the internal combustion engine. In 1876, Otto developed the four-stroke cycle engine (pictured above, on display), known as the Otto cycle, which compressed the fuel mixture before ignition. This was a key development in engine efficiency and power and remains the principle underlying today’s internal combustion engines.
Karl Benz
However, if we consider the first commercial internal combustion engine in a motor vehicle, that title likely goes to the Benz Patent Motorwagen, created in 1885 by German engineer Karl Benz. This vehicle used a single-cylinder, four-stroke engine designed by Benz himself.
Weaving The Combustion Engine Tapestry Together
I don’t think it’s possible—or even productive—to get too territorial over who invented the combustion engine. The limitations of steam power were well known at the time, and visionaries were already considering internal combustion as an alternative to steam power even before the Hippomobile was invented. Scientists like Otto von Guericke and Robert Boyle, through their work on vacuums and gases, laid the groundwork for the concept of an engine running on air and fuel instead of steam—long before the Hippomobile. Therefore, Lenoir did not originate the idea of internal combustion.
Additionally, the 17th and 18th centuries saw significant advancements in metallurgy, mechanics, and component design, all of which were crucial for the eventual creation of the engine. That’s why I see the work of Lenoir, Otto, and Benz as representing crucial milestones on the multi-year journey to the creation and successful launch of the internal combustion engine.
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I am a practising HR consultant working with several start-ups on an ongoing and ad-hoc basis in the London and M4 area, and am a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or CIPD. I am the Director of thecareercafe.co.uk; thecareercafe.co.uk is a resource for start-ups and small business. It includes a blog containing career advice, small business advice articles, HR software reviews, and contains great resources such as HR Productivity Apps.
