One of the earliest attempts of changing from steam power to internal combustion engine, came when the internal combustion engine was built in 1807 by the Swiss engineer Isaac de Rivaz, which initially was manually ignited by an electric spark. It is one of the earliest attempts in incorporating this to replace steam power. By 1823, Samuel Brown had patented the first internal combustion engine to function in industry. The use was the pumping of water on the Croydon Canal.
Among the other applications came when Lenoir, created internal combustion engines that were ignited with gas. The use of these engines went until the 20th century.
