Hybrid Patent 100 years old this month

Ferdinand Porsche famously developed the first known hybrid in the early 1900′s. 

But another German inventor named Henri Pieper was granted the first U.S. Patent on March 2, 1909, for what he called “Mixed-Drive for Autovehicles.”
  
In his 1905 patent application, he wrote, “The invention…comprises an internal combustion or similar engine, a dynamo motor direct connected therewith, and a storage battery or accumulator in circuit with the dynamo motor, these elements being cooperatively related so that the dynamo motor may be run as a motor by the electrical energy stored in the accumulator to start the engine or to furnish a portion of the power delivered by the set, or may be run as a generator by the engine, when the power of the latter is in excess of that demanded of the set, and caused to store energy in the accumulator.”

For more history and detail, take a look at Hybrid Cars.

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