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The very first internal combustion engine was made in 1680 by Christian Huyghens. Unlike the engines used today which run on gasoline, this engine ran on gunpowder (Wimperis 1915).
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Gasoline becomes used as a fuel source. Although no real success was made.
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The first practical use and success of an internal combustion gas engine was made by Jean Lenoir in 1860. His design employs a “two-stroke” engine meaning it operates fully in two strokes (Forrester 2006).
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Later on, Otto and Langen in 1866 would produce a “four-stroke” cycle engine, which is used in modern car engines today (Forrester 2006).
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In 1885, Karl Benz (German engineer and founder of Mercedes-Benz) would be the very first to create an automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. It ran on three wheels. Gottlieb Daimler would invent the best precursor to modern day engines. It used vertical cylinders using a carburetor to inject gasoline into those cylinders (Bellis 2014).
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Gottlieb Daimler would improve on the design of the internal combustion engine by arranging the cylinders in a "V" shape (Bellis 2014).
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Benz becomes the first to implement an internal combustion to power a 4-wheel machine (Bellis 2014).
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Diesel engines were made by Diesel himself in 1897, which used a different method of explosions to drive the engine (Bellis 2014).
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General Motors begins to use fuel injection instead of carburetion (Garthwaite 2012).
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Honda becomes the first company to sell a hybrid in the United States. (Garthwaite 2012).
