Authors
Francesc X. Barca-Salom
Journal
ICON, Volume 31, Issue 1 (2026)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.11590/icon.2026.1.06
Abstract
This article examines the development and diffusion of gas engines in Europe between 1860 and 1910, with particular attention to the Spanish case. Rather than treating gas engines simply as a transitional stage in the history of internal combustion engines, it analyses them as technologies shaped by the energy systems within which they operated. Drawing on Spanish and French technical press sources, the article shows how the cost and availability of illuminating gas strongly influenced their adoption and encouraged adaptive solutions, including improvements in efficiency, producer-gas systems, and the integration of engines with local fuel supplies. The comparison between Spain and other European contexts highlights uneven patterns of diffusion that cannot be explained solely in terms of technological backwardness. Instead, local energy regimes, infrastructures, and fuel costs played a decisive role. The article argues that the history of gas engines is best understood as a process of technological adaptation under constraint, in which machines, fuels, infrastructures, and users interacted in changing ways.