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The first documented use of a spark plug in an internal combustion engine was attributed to the Belgian Engineer Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir in 1859. Lenoir is known for developing the first internal combustion engine, which burned a mixture of coal gas and air. The air-fuel mixture it aspirated was ignited by a "jumping spark" ignition system, which he patented in 1860. Lenoir’s ignition system created sparks by using high voltage electricity to jump an air gap. This was accomplished by sending mechanically generated low voltage pulses through a type of electrical transformer known as a Ruhmkorff coil. The coil would transform the low voltage pulses into lower current, high voltage pulses, suitable for spark generation.  Reliably igniting over 20 million combustion cycles while surviving exposure to the extreme temperatures and pressures of ignited fuel would prove to be a formidable challenge. All spark plugs are fundamentally composed of two elec...