A carburetor is a device used in internal combustion engines to mix air and fuel in the correct proportion for efficient combustion. Up until the 1990s, carburetors were widely used in gasoline engines powering automobiles, motorcycles, and other vehicles before the pervasive implementation of fuel injection systems.
History of the Carburetor
The carburetor has a long history that dates to the early days of the internal combustion engine. The first carburetor-like device was developed by a Frenchman named Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir in 1860. Lenoir’s apparatus used a simple spray nozzle to mix fuel and air, but it was not very efficient.
The first true carburetor was invented by German engineer Wilhelm Maybach in the 1880s. Maybach’s carburetor was a simple device that used a float to regulate the fuel level and a needle valve to control the flow of fuel. It was first used in Maybach’s internal combustion engine, which powered the world’s first four-wheeled automobile, the 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen. The Maybach name, incidentally, still adorns high-end German models, notably the Mercedes-Maybach.
