Hydrogen History - From 1807 to Stan Meyer

Did You Know?

In 1807, a Swiss inventor by the name of Francois Issac de Rivaz invented the first internal combustion engine and it burned hydrogen from water?

One of Etienne Lenoir of France greatest inventions was the ICE car, that turned water into combustible hydrogen fuel through electrolysis, a one stroke 2 cylinder combustion engine.

The Hippomobile
Based on his 1860 invention in 1863 came the hippomobile, Lenoir called his engine this unusual name because the electrolyzed water (hydrogen gas) ran through a small horizontal engine. The engine, running on what Lenoir called "natural cycles," pulled the fuel mixture in such a way that on the down stroke of the piston, the (exhausted) fuel combusted, powering the engine. The Hippomobile made a test drive from Paris to Joinville-le-Pont (9 miles) in about three hours.

In 1918 Frazer was the first to U.S. patent a "hydrogen booster" system for internal combustion engines. He stated that his invention increases efficiency, engine will stay cleaner and lower grade fuel can be used with equal performance. His invention was published in the newspaper, publicly demonstrated and then disappeared. Some believe fuel was so cheap that the idea was before its time, others think oil companies may have paid him off.

Since 1930 there has been over 240 patents for engines that get 100 - 250 Miles Per Gallon.
Can you guess who bought all of them? Your Right!

in 1875 in his book Mysterious Island

"Water decomposed into its primitive elements, and decomposed doubtless by electricity, which will then have become a powerful and manageable force. Yes, my friends, I believe that water will one day be employed as a fuel".

Norway's Norsk Hydro aluminum and power company, a furnisher of renewable energy, in 1933 adapted the engine of one of the company's small trucks to run on hydrogen gas. Fitted with an ammonia reformer to draw out hydrogen, the truck's modified combustion engine ran on the reclaimed water. This remarkable accomplishment received little publicity at the time due to the Nazi threat in Europe.

In 1941 during WWII, the Nazis had Leningrad, Russia surrounded, cutting off supplies and petroleum was running low. So, military technician Boris Shelishch stepped in an converted a GAZ-AA truck to run on hydrogen gas. After receiving orders from top commanders, Boris Shelishch and his crew converted 200 GAZ-AA trucks in 10 days to run on hydrogen gas. Records documented that all the modified engines fired cleaner and longer than those still using petrol gasoline.

The documents states that hydrogen helps gasoline powered internal combustion engines increase mileage and lower emissions. The title of the document is "Emissions And Total Energy Consumption Of A Multicylinder Piston Engine Running On Gasoline And A hydrogen-Gasoline Mixture".
You can read the NASA report here and also more recent documents from Canada's ETV and USDOT.

Stan Meyer was a great inventor from Ohio, he was most famous for his water fueled dune buggy that ran on water with on board electrolysis. It ran 100 Miles Per Gallon.

Stan Meyer died in March of 1988 at the age of 57

The following is an interesting excerpt from the Columbus Dispatch