Lenoir Gas Engine
Etienne Lenoir took out a French patent in 1860 for a gas engine with the charge ignited by an electric spark. Lenoir's engine was commercialized in sufficient quantities to be considered a success, a first for the internal combustion engine.
400 engines built in Paris by several firms, mainly Hippolyte Marinoni and Lefebvre. One of the French engines, used by the Compagnie parisienne d’éclairage et du chauffage par le gaz, is on display in Vienna Technical Museum.
100 engines built by the Reading Iron Works. One of these is on display in the London Science Museum.
A number of engines were made in the USA by the Lenoir Gas Engine Co in New York.
The cylinders, valves, and flywheels of the French and British examples are very similar, but most of the other details (bedplate, crosshead, etc) are different.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 'Internal Fire' by Lyle Cummins (Carnot Press, 2000)