History of the locomotive machines
he early history of the automobile can be divided into a number of eras, based on the prevalent means of propulsion. Later periods were defined by trends in exterior styling, size, and utility preferences.
In 1768, the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.[1]:14
In 1807, François Isaac de Rivaz designed the first car powered by an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen.
In 1886, the first petrol- or gasoline-powered automobile, was invented by Karl Benz.[2] This is also considered to be the first "production" vehicle as Benz made several other identical copies.
At the turn of the 20th century electrically powered automobiles appeared but only occupied a niche market until the turn of the 21st century.
The first production of automobiles was by Karl Benz in 1888 in Germany and, under license from Benz, in France by Emile Roger. There were numerous others, including tricycle buildersRudolf Egg, Edward Butler, and Léon Bollée.[6]:p.20–23 Bollée, using a 650 cc (40 cu in) engine of his own design, enabled his driver, Jamin, to average 45 kilometres per hour (28.0 mph) in the 1897 Paris-Tourville rally.[6]:p.23 By 1900, mass production of automobiles had begun in France and the United States.
The first motor car in Central Europe was produced by Czech company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra) in 1897, the Präsident automobil.[19] The first company formed exclusively to build automobiles was Panhard et Levassor in France, which also introduced the first four-cylinder engine.[6]:p.22 Formed in 1889, Panhard was quickly followed by Peugeottwo years later. By the start of the 20th century, the automobile industry was beginning to take off in Western Europe, especially in France, where 30,204 were produced in 1903, representing 48.8% of world automobile production that year.[20]
In the United States, brothers Charles and Frank Duryea founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1893, becoming the first American automobile manufacturing company. The Autocar Company, founded in 1897, established a number of innovations still in use[21] and remains the oldest operating motor vehicle manufacturer in the U.S. However, it was Ransom E. Olds and his Olds Motor Vehicle Company (later known as Oldsmobile) who would dominate this era of automobile production. Its production line was running in 1901. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company developed the world's second mass-produced automobile, and 1,500 Ramblers were built and sold in its first year, representing one-sixth of all existing motorcars in the U.S. at the time.[22] Within a year, Cadillac (formed from the Henry Ford Company), Winton, and Ford were also producing cars in the thousands.
Within a few years, a dizzying assortment of technologies were being produced by hundreds of producers all over the western world. Steam, electricity, and petrol/gasoline-powered automobiles competed for decades, with petrol/gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. Dual- and even quad-engine cars were designed, and engine displacement ranged to more than a dozen litres. Many modern advances, including gas/electric hybrids, multi-valve engines, overhead camshafts, and four-wheel drive, were attempted, and discarded at this time.
In 1898, Louis Renault had a De Dion-Bouton modified, with fixed drive shaft and differential, making "perhaps the first hot rod in history" and bringing Renault and his brothers into the car industry.[23] Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear standards for basic vehicle architectures, body styles, construction materials, or controls. Many veteran cars use a tiller, rather than a wheel for steering. During 1903, Rambler standardized on the steering wheel[24] and moved the driver's position to the left-hand side of the vehicle.[25] Most cars were operated at a single speed.Chain drive was dominant over the drive shaft, and closed bodies were extremely rare. Drum brakes were introduced by Renault in 1902.[26] The next year, Dutch designer Jacobus Spijker built the first four-wheel drive racing car;[27] it never competed and it would be 1965 and the Jensen FF before four-wheel drive was used on a production car.[28]
Innovation was not limited to the vehicles themselves, either. Increasing numbers of cars propelled the growth of the petroleum industry,[29] as well as the development of technology to produce gasoline (replacing kerosene and coal oil) and of improvements in heat-tolerant mineral oil lubricants (replacing vegetable and animal oils).[30]
There were social effects, also. Music would be made about cars, such as "In My Merry Oldsmobile" (a tradition that continues) while, in 1896, William Jennings Bryan would be the first presidential candidate to campaign in a car (a donated Mueller), in Decatur, Illinois.[31] Three years later, Jacob German would start a tradition for New York City cabdrivers when he sped down Lexington Avenue, at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19 km/h).[32] Also in 1899, Akron, Ohio, adopted the first self-propelled paddy wagon.[32]
By 1900, the early centers of national automotive industry developed in many countries, including Belgium (home to Vincke, which copied Benz; Germain, a pseudo-Panhard; and Linon and Nagant, both based on the Gobron-Brillié),[6]:p,25 Switzerland (led by Fritz Henriod, Rudolf Egg, Saurer, Johann Weber, and Lorenz Popp),[6]:p.25 Vagnfabrik AB in Sweden, Hammel (by A. F. Hammel and H. U. Johansen at Copenhagen, in Denmark, which only built one car, ca. 1886[6]:p.25), Irgens (starting in Bergen, Norway, in 1883, but without success),[6]:p.25–26 Italy (where FIAT started in 1899), and as far afield as Australia (where Pioneer set up shop in 1898, with an already archaic paraffin-fuelled centre-pivot-steered wagon).[6] Meanwhile, the export trade had begun, with Koch exporting cars and trucks from Paris to Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and the Dutch East Indies.[6]:p25
On 5 November 1895, George B. Selden was granted a United States patent for a two-stroke automobile engine (U.S. Patent 549,160). This patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the U.S. Selden licensed his patent to most major American automakers, collecting a fee on every car they produced. The Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904, but also continued to build horse-drawn vehicles until 1919.[33]:p.90 In 1908, the first South American automobile
