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The Automobile, A Brief History
The very first gas powered automobile was created in Germany in the 19th century by Karl Benz. He was the first person to be given a patent for a car, even though a number of other German engineers were working on autombile designs during the same time period.
The first car to house an internal combustion engine was not created until 1806. The designer of this vehicle was Francois Isaac de Rivaz. The internal combustion engine was comprised of oxygen and hydrogen, and these two elements would be used to produce energy. However, this car was not very efficient, and a different internal combustion engine was created by Samuel Morey and Samuel Brown.
The first internal combustion engines were not high in quality. The first truly successful internal combustion engine was created by Etienne Lenoir in 1860. While the engine was more efficient than earlier models, it was said that "a man could still walk faster, and the vehicle was prone to breaking down."
It was Karl Benz who built the most successful automobiles, and they were quite common by 1886. In the United States, Henry Ford made a number of rapid advances to automobile technology, and was the founder of one of the most popular car companies in the world today.