So what our ancestors used as an automobile? (1/3)

Our ancestors were really brilliant and legendary... They saw an opportunity even in big problems... In early days, everyone was struggling with effective and less-tiring ways of transport, but no one really came out with a feasible idea...

However, a few of our legendary leaders came out with automobiles powered by steam! It followed by electric cars, then gas cars, then the famous Ford cars, and later Toyota cars, and now we have hybrid cars...

STEAM CARS


This picture shows how the early steam cars look like... Starting with the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton.

In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steam engine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Brezin. The vehicle had to stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power. The steam engine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the front. The following year (1770), Cugnot built a steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers.

Steam engines powered cars by burning fuel that heated water in a boiler, creating steam that expanded and pushed pistons that turned the crankshaft, which then turned the wheels. During the early history of self-propelled vehicles - both road and railroad vehicles were being developed with steam engines. Steam engines added so much weight to a vehicle that they proved a poor design for road vehicles; however, steam engines were very successfully used in locomotives.

After Cugnot Several Other Inventors Designed Steam-Powered Road Vehicles

• Cugnot’s vehicle was improved by Frenchman, Onesiphore Pecqueur, who also invented the first differential gear.
• In 1789, the first U.S. patent for a steam-powered land vehicle was granted to Oliver Evans.
• In 1801, Richard Trevithick built a road carriage powered by steam - the first in Great Britain.
• In Britain, from 1820 to 1840, steam-powered stagecoaches were in regular service.
• Steam-driven road tractors (built by Charles Deitz) pulled passenger carriages around Paris and Bordeaux up to 1850.
• In the United States, numerous steam coaches were built from 1860 to 1880. Inventors included: Harrison Dyer, Joseph Dixon, Rufus Porter, and William T. James.
• In 1871, Dr. J. W. Carhart, professor of physics at Wisconsin State University, and the J. I. Case Company built a working steam car that won a 200-mile race.

Part 2 coming soon...