Belgian inventor Etienne Lenoir is considered one of the greatest inventors of all time and for good reason.

The automotive world is being reshaped. The hybrid car movement (a type of car that uses two sources of power: an internal combustion engine and an electric motor) and electric cars are increasingly favored by many consumers thanks to the limitation of emissions into the environment.

Or some French sports cars have incredible power, but American, German and Italian automakers have truly mastered the art of building exotic engines. Car brands like Porsche, Pagani or even Cadillac would be nothing without inventor Etienne Lenoir’s creation: the internal combustion engine.

Before Lenoir’s time, external combustion engines were used to propel vehicles on the road.

Walking alone from Belgium to Paris

Born in the small village of Mussy-la-Ville in 1822, Etienne Lenoir showed an early interest in science. One of the biggest influences on the young Lenoir at that time was the way animals and muscle power were replaced by hydroelectricity, machines and steam engines. By the age of 12, he had clear ideas and desires about his future.

But knowing that his family could not afford to pay for a corresponding education, he left his hometown and walked to Paris (France) at the age of 16 with the dream of becoming an inventor, hoping to make a lot of money.

There Etienne Lenoir worked during the day as a waiter and at night he performed experiments in his room. Thanks to his curiosity and interest in all things, he invented and found solutions for local artisans and applied for his first patent at the age of 25 – a way to create white enamel on tin without being scratched. oxidize.

While working to make a living, Etienne Lenoir also began self-study and took free classes at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers (where professors worked with French physicist Sadi Carnot several decades ago). there).

Lenoir drives a three-wheeled vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. Photo: curiokids.

Manufacturing internal combustion engines from coal gas

During the 1850s, Lenoir also owned a large number of patents in the fields of electrochemistry and electromechanics. This helps him focus more on his main concern: Motives.

Lenoir could then live by selling his inventions. At the same time, Lenoir read about the story of French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot and his steam cannon. But when thinking about this carriage, many people find it bulky and heavy because it has a boiler to create steam and a very large heater to boil water. They are very ineffective and quite dangerous: They easily explode and cause fires along the road.

The concept of the internal combustion engine was introduced by French physicist Nicolas Carnot and published in 1824 in his book on thermodynamics. However, Carnot never attempted to build an internal combustion engine. It was Etienne Lenoir who indirectly built Carnot’s idea, taking the next big step on the path to creating the internal combustion engine.

Lenoir’s idea was to ensure that combustion took place inside one chamber, eliminating the bulky boiler and everything that went with it. Instead of steam, gas will act directly on the piston, and create a very compact engine.

Lenoir’s model was a one-cylinder, two-stroke engine with slide valves that used coal gas as fuel. This gas was used at that time in street lamps, so it was also called “lighting gas”.

In 1859, Lenoir applied for a French patent for the internal combustion engine. This engine made a huge impression and was immediately considered a possible replacement for the steam engine.

Model of Lenoir’s internal combustion engine. Photo: Britannica.

The man was a century ahead of his time

Like the steam engines that preceded it, Lenoir also ventured into transportation, equipping boats with engines in 1861. Before other gases, the Hippomobile engine was powered by hydrogen, created through the process electrolysis of water. Clearly, Etienne Lenoir was more than a century ahead of his time.

After receiving the patent, Lenoir continued to worry about providing power for the car using this engine. In 1862, Etienne Lenoir built the first car with an internal combustion engine. He adapted his engine to run on liquid fuel and made the 6-mile (10 km) trip requiring 2-3 hours.

Lenoir improved his engine and in 1863 he incorporated another version of the internal combustion engine on a three-wheeled carriage he built called the “Hippomobile”. The vehicle completed the 11-mile round trip between Paris and Joinville-le-Pont (France) in just under three hours.

By 1865, more than 400 Lenoir engines were in use in France and more than 1,000 were in use in Great Britain. His early engines were mainly used for low-energy operations such as running water pumps and printing presses.

Etienne Lenoir invented a number of other useful devices, such as spark plugs, electric brakes for trains (1855), electric motors (1856) and ozone tanning…

The inventor spent the rest of his life in peaceful prosperity at his apartment in Paris. He often went fishing on the nearby Seine River, but remained active and followed with interest the further development of the internal combustion engine. He quietly passed away on August 4, 1900.

According to Curiokids, Accelleron Industries Charge Magazine