History of the Spark Plug

10.1 Spark Plug

• The use of an electric spark to ignite a fuel-air mixture was first demonstrated in 1777 by Alessandro Volta (Italian).

• Jean Lenoir (Belgian, naturalised French) patented what most closely resembles the modern spark plug in 1860.

• Karl Benz (German) is credited with inventing a spark plug in about 1885.

• In 1897 Robert Bosch (German) made a significant breakthrough when he adapted a magneto ignition device to a vehicle engine.

• Patents for spark plugs were granted to Nikola Tesla (American), Richard Simms (British) and Robert Bosch in 1898.

• In 1902 Robert Bosch's engineer Gottlob Honold (German) invented the first commercially viable high-voltage spark plug.