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Early Automobiles
by Rick Brainard
It has enabled men to quickly travel from one end of the country to the other. It gave
mobility to the military and it has saved countless lives. Today almost everyone owns at
least one. It is a modern marvel, which has made the world smaller. What is this marvel that
people need and take for granted? It is the automobile. The car is a tool for getting from
one place to another in the shortest possible time. The invention of the internal combustion
engine in 1878, which used gasoline, made the car a more practical means of transportation.
The automobile is not a modern invention as many people think; because, the early cars were
steam powered.
The use of steam power has been around for centuries, but the steam devices then,
were mere toys. It would not be until the 1600's; when an attempt to harness the power of
steam began. Ferdinand Verbiest made a model steam carriage in 1678, which moved by using
a principle that suggested the modern turbine. In the 17th century the great Dutch physicist,
Christiaan Huygens built an engine that worked by air pressure developed by exploding a powder
charge. About 1750, the French inventor Jacques de Vaucanson demonstrated a carriage propelled
by a large clockwork engine. By the 1760's, the steam engine had developed to the point where
motorized land transport became possible.
To help the French army move it's artillery pieces in and around the city of Paris; Nicolas Joseph Cugnot, built the first automobile in history in 1769. Cugnot's invention:
a three wheeled; steam driven tractor, is the first automobile in history. In 1770, he built
an improved version of his tractor. This tractor was involved in the first automobile
accident in history. In 1771, lacking brakes, the tractor demolished a wall when it ran into
it.
England
In 1786, William Murdock built a three-wheeled steam driven wagon. He ran a model steam carriage on the roads of Cornwall in 1784.
Robert Fourness showed a working three-cylinder tractor in 1788.
Richard Trevick improved upon Murdock's ideas, and produced several steam carriages in the early 1800's. One of Trevick's carriages had driving wheel 10 feet in diameter. Trevick was the first to use a steam carriage on a railway; in 1803 he built a steam locomotive that in February 1804 made a successful run on a horse car route in Wales.
Steam-driven carriages built and operated by Goldsworthy Gurney and by Walter Hancock, transported passengers in the London area during early 1800's.
America
In America, Maryland granted Oliver Evans a patent for an automobile in 1787. In 1805,
Evans built the first steam-powered vehicle. His machine was a combination dredge and
flatboat that operated on land and water.
In 1867, Richard Dudgeon's road machine, that resembled a tractor, could carry ten
passengers.
Resources
The
First Steam Carriage
From the Steam Library, you can read about Cugnot's artillery towing machine
and other important early vehicles. This article is from the History of the
First Locomotives in America.
Why is
it called 'An Automobile'?
From the Auto-shop's, Automotive 101 Web site, read this humorous article
about why we call the car an automobile instead of something else like
oruktor amphibolos or Martini for that matter.
Nicolas
Joseph Cugnot
This Web site has some information about Cugnot, it is in French.
Related Information
18th century Transportation
Before the car was a viable option of transportation, people had to rely upon
other means to get from one place to another. Learn about these other means
of transport from your editor.
The Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution made it possible for mass production and without
these advances, the car would not have been possible. Learn about the
beginnings of this important event in history.
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