De Rivaz engine

In subsequent years de Rivaz developed his design, and in 1813 built a larger 6-meter long vehicle, weighing almost a ton.

Towards the end of the 18th century Isaac de Rivaz, a Franco-Swiss artillery officer and inventor, designed several successful steam powered carriages, or charrettes as he called them in the French language.

[2] The engine was powered by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gases ignited to create an explosion within the cylinder and drive the piston out.

The gas mixture was ignited by an electric spark in the same manner as a modern internal combustion engine.

[1][3][5] Operating independently, the French brothers Nicéphore and Claude Niépce built an internal combustion engine called the Pyreolophore in 1807, which they used to power a boat by the reaction from a pulsed water jet.

[6] The de Rivaz engine had no timing mechanism and the introduction of the fuel mixture and ignition were all under manual control.

[9] In 1813 de Rivaz built a much larger experimental vehicle he called the grand char mécanique.

[1] In the Swiss town of Vevey the machine was loaded with 700 pounds (300kg) of stone and wood, together with four men, and ran for 26 meters on a slope of about 9% at a speed of 3 km/h.