Carburetor
The first carburetor was invented by Samuel Morey in 1826. The first person to patent a carburetor for use in a petroleum engine was Siegfried Marcus with his 6 July 1872 patent for a device which mixes fuel with air.
Distributor
The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. (Delco) and introduced in the 1910 Cadillac. This ignition was developed by Charles Kettering and was considered a wonder in its day. Atwater Kent invented his Unisparker ignition system about this time in competition with the Delco system. By the end of the 20th century mechanical ignitions were disappearing from automotive applications in favor of inductive or capacitive electronic ignitions fully controlled by engine control units (ECU), rather than directly timed to the engine's crankshaft speed.