The Automobile

By William Pope
  • Francois Isaac de Rivaz designs the first internal combustion powered automobile.

    Francois Isaac de Rivaz designs the first internal combustion powered automobile.

    After inventing an internal combustion engine using hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, Rivaz designed a car for that engine, which was, unfortunately, a very unsuccessful design.
  • Samuel Brown briefly powers a vehicle.

    Samuel Brown briefly powers a vehicle.

    Samuel Brown, an English engineer, adapts an old Newcomen steam engine to power a vehicle up Shooter's Hill in London.
  • Jean JosephEtienne Lenoir invents an electric-spark ignition engine.

    Jean JosephEtienne Lenoir invents an electric-spark ignition engine.

    Fueled by coal, this engine, attached to a three-wheeled wagon completed a historic fifty-mile road trip.
  • Siegfried Marcus designs a vehicle that runs at 10mph.

    Siegfried Marcus designs a vehicle that runs at 10mph.

    Siegfried, an Austrian engineer, built a one-cylinder engine, proceeding to attach it to a cart for a 500ft drive. Years later, he designed a vehicle that ran at 10mph, considered the forerunner of the modern automobile.
  • German engineers improve engine designs.

    German engineers improve engine designs.

    Eugene Langen and Nikolaus Otto improve upon earlier designs of an engine, inventing a more efficient gas engine.
  • George Brayton designs the first two-stroke engine.

    George Brayton designs the first two-stroke engine.

    George Brayton develops an unsuccessful two-stroke kerosene engine, which was considered the first safe and practical oil engine.
  • Wilhelm Maybach builds the first four-cylinder, four-stroke engine.

    Wilhelm Maybach builds the first four-cylinder, four-stroke engine.

    After many years of improving the engine, Maybach builds the first engine to have four cylinders.