Wheels on Road

Car History

The history of cars involved people from different countries who, in ways large and small, contributed to its development. It is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern wheels on road. However, we can point to the many firsts that occurred along the way. Starting with the first theoretical plans for a motorvehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton.

The first recorded use of a self-powered vehicle was in 1769 when Nicolas Cugnot, a French military engineer, which was a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a steam engine that intended as a tractor for hauling heavy cannons.

A second unit was built in 1770 weighed about 8000 pounds and had a speed of 2 miles per hour. The vehicle was intended as a tractor for hauling heavy cannons. It had a short career, ‘tho. It was out of control during a trial run and crashed adding a colorful chapter in the history of cars. It’s been alleged that Cugnot was also the first person to be involved in an auto accident.

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 cars – both road and railroad vehicles were being developed with steam engines. (Cugnot also designed two steam locomotives with engines that never worked well.) 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. Historians, who accept that early steam-powered road vehicles were automobiles, feel that Nicolas Cugnot was the inventor of the first automobile.

The history of carsicon continued on Christmas Eve, 1801. It was driven by Richard Trevithick and he was driving the world’s first true “automobile”. An automobile is a self-propelled wheels on road that can carry passengers or freight. Trevithick’s self-propelled carriage could carry passengers over land at a speed of nearly 10 miles per hour.
Trevithick was not satisfied with his achievement. He considered his noisy carriage little more than a toy. He finally took it apart and sold the engine to a mill owner.

The early steam powered vehicles were so heavy that they were use to run on a perfectly flat surface as strong as iron., thus roads are made out of iron rails. The vehicles got bigger and heavier and more powerful as they were eventually capable of pulling a train of many cars filled with freight and passengers.

The design for these vehicles were the basis for the subsequent self-propelled vehicles, enriching the history of cars, and at last they became the basis for the design of the car we know today.

The next step towards the development of the car was the invention of the internal combustion engine by Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland. It is the first internal combustion engine in 1807, using a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to generate energy. However, his was a very unsuccessful design.

An internal combustion engine is any engine that uses the explosive combustion of fuel to push a piston within a cylinder. The different types of fuel commonly used for car combustion engines are petrol, diesel, and kerosene.

Several designs were developed for a car to run on the internal combustion engine during the early 19th century, but success rate was less due to the fact that there was no known fuel that could be safely internally combusted.

A few years after Trevithick’s steam engine, American inventor Oliver Evans built a steam-powered dredge, equipped with wheels so that it could move on Roads. He drove it around Philadelphia’s Center Square to convince Rich people to provide capital for manufacturing steam vehicles. But most people thought this invention was not practical.

The history of cars is fortunate to have people like Trevithick and Evans because steam-powered vehicles gained rapid popularity in England. But these early steam coaches soon ran into opposition. Stagecoach and railroad operators resented and feared their competition.

Early Electric Cars

Early electric cars contributed to the development of self-propelled vehicles. The history of cars wouldn’t be complete without mentioning them.

Robert Anderson of Scotland figured in the history of cars for inventing the first electric carriage. Electric cars used rechargeable batteries that powered a small electric motor. The vehicles were heavy, slow, expensive, and needed to stop for recharging frequently. Both steam and electric road vehicles were abandoned in favor of gas-powered vehicles. Electricity found greater success in tram ways and streetcars, where a constant supply of electricity was possible.

The British Parliament (From 1831 to 1865) passed a series of strict laws that hampered the development of the automobile. The various laws unfortunately imposed so many limitations with high taxes that steam coaches could not operate without losing money. This hurt automobile development in England until the Red Flag Act was repealed in 1896.

Early 1900s Cars

Early 1900s cars icon were made possible by several men. Two brothers, Charles E. and James F Duryea, were the first to manufacture and market a successful Petrol-powered automobile.

The early 1900s cars also benefited from major advances in automotive technology. In 1912, the electric starter, an electric motor that starts the Petrol (gasoline) engine, was invented. It made the operation of the 1910s cars a lot easier. Before its invention, this engine had to be started by cranking it by hand. This took considerable strength and was also dangerous. If the car were not cranked properly, the crank could kick back and cause a fractured thumb or arm.

1950s Car

At 1950s cars became lower, longer, and wider. The early 1950s saw the rise of chrome on cars, as an increasingly opulent society flourished in the United States. Many of the automobiles of the time were designed by stylists who took their influence from the transport industry in general and therefore they used ideas from both planes and trains prevailing during that time.

The “fabulous fifties” saw some of the most beautiful and some of the most outlandish cars ever made. With the advent of the jet age in the 1950’s came technological and design breakthroughs in the automobile. One of those was the speed with which the automobile, despite complicated compound curves and forms, could be manufactured. The jet set lifestyle had captured the hearts of the American public and car designers of the time exploited this fascination to turn out ordinarily plain-looking family cars to come out with wings, turbines and after-burner tail lights.