Early Types of Motor Vehicles
The First Electric Cars. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage. A small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of Groningen, Holland, and built by his assistant Christopher Becker in 1835. Practical and more successful electric road vehicles were invented by both American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen Robert Davidson around 1842. Both inventors were the first to use non-rechargeable electric cells. Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented a better storage battery in 1865 and his fellow countrymen Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881. This improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric vehicles to flourish.
France and Great Britain were the first nations to support the widespread development of electric vehicles in the late 1800s. In 1899, a Belgian built electric racing car called "La Jamais Contente" set a world record for land speed - 68 mph - designed by Camille Jénatzy.
It was not until 1895 that Americans began to devote attention to electric vehicles after an electric tricycle was built by A. L. Ryker and William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon both in 1891. Many innovations followed and interest in motor vehicles increased greatly in the late 1890s and early 1900s. In 1897, the first commercial application was stablished as a fleet of New York City taxis built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of Philadelphia.
The early electric vehicles, such as the 1902 Wood's Phaeton (top image), were little more than electrified horseless carriages and surreys. The Phaeton had a range of 18 miles, a top speed of 14 mph and cost $2,000. Later in 1916, Woods invented a hybrid car that had both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor.
By the turn of the century, America was prosperous and cars, now available in steam, electric, or gasoline versions, were becoming more popular. The years 1899 and 1900 were the high point of electric cars in America, as they outsold all other types of cars. Electric vehicles had many advantages over their competitors in the early 1900s. They did not have the vibration, smell, and noise associated with gasoline cars. Changing gears on gasoline cars was the most difficult part of driving, while electric vehicles did not require gear changes. While steam-powered cars also had no gear shifting, they suffered from long start-up times of up to 45 minutes on cold mornings. The steam cars had less range before needing water than an electric's range on a single charge. The only good roads of the period were in town, causing most travel to be local commuting, a perfect situation for electric vehicles, since their range was limited. The electric vehicle was the preferred choice of many because it did not require the manual effort to start, as with the hand crank on gasoline vehicles, and there was no wrestling with a gear shifter.
While basic electric cars cost under $1,000, most early electric vehicles were ornate, massive carriages designed for the upper class. They had fancy interiors, with expensive materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s with production peaking in 1912. top of page
source: about.com
The First Steam Cars. The first steam car was said to be invented by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804) in 1769. The car was extremely slow for today's standard - 2.5 miles per hour, but at that time it was considered to be super fast. In 1761, Cognut crashed on his inventions into a stone wall making him the first person to be involved in an automobile accident. That incident, followed by others, stopped Cognut from further developing the steam car. Some claimed that Ferdinand Verbiest should be credited as the inventor of the first steam car instead. It was believed that his car was built some time around 1672. In 1789, Oliver Evans became the first American to be granted a U.S. patent for a steam-powered land vehicle.
Stage coaches propelled by steam engines were in regular service in UK from 1820 to 1840 before they were being banned.
Between 1859 to 1881 Harrison Dyer, William T. James, Joseph Dixon, and Rufus Porter built steam carriages in the United States.
The "La Mancelle" was an advanced steam car built by Amedee Bollee Sr in 1878. The car was a real-wheel drive vehicle with a steering system, independent suspension, and a seat for the driver. The boiler was located behind the passenger's compartment.
In 1881, Bollee built a more advanced model, "La Rapide" that had a maximum speed of 58 km/h. The controls, boiler, and engine were placed in the front making it possible for the vehicle to be manned by only one person.
In 1899, the first popular steam cars were made by Locomobile Company in Connecticut.
From 1900-1910 the White Motor Company produced the White Steamer.
The Stanley Steamer, manufactured from 1896 to 1924 was said to be most popular steam car.
The Doble Detroit was a steam car build by the Doble brothers in 1915. One started the engine of the car with a key ignition. The car also had three pedals, one for controlling the speed, one for braking, and one for reversing.
The steam car became less and less popular as the result of the introduction of the electric car, and the mass production of the automobile by Henry Ford. top of page
source: helium.com
The First Steam Cars. Karl Benz championed the new internal-combustion engines, and he worked single-mindedly to create a car driven by one. He built a little three-wheeled car in 1885 and sold his first one two years later. He went into production with a four-wheeled model in 1890, and the Mercedes-Benz company is still with us.
But Benz wasn't first. The French inventor de Rochas built an auto, and an engine to drive it, in 1862. Two years later, the Austrian Siegfried Markus began working on cars. His second one was rediscovered in 1950. It'd been bricked up behind a false wall in the cellar of a Viennese museum to hide it from the Germans. Markus was Jewish, and the Nazis had orders to destroy his car and any literature describing it. By the way, when the car was rediscovered, it could still be driven.
Markus' story is especially poignant because, if the German Benz believed in the auto, he didn't. In 1898, Markus was invited to be guest of honor at the Austrian Auto Club. He declined, calling the whole idea of the auto "a senseless waste of time and effort."
The search for the earliest internal-combustion-driven auto might end in England in 1826. An engineer named Samuel Brown adapted an old Newcomen steam engine to burn gas, and he used it to power his auto up Shooter's Hill in London. And here the whole priority question mires into hair-splitting definitions.
What we usually do in these cases is pretty arbitrary. We credit the first commercial success. That's how Edison gets credit for the light bulb and Fulton for the steamboat. By that definition, Benz did invent the automobile.
Automotive historian James Flink notes that modern bicycles came into being just as Benz began his work, and they sparked the public demand for personal vehicles. But bicycle-makers were the same people who went on to make, first motorcycles, then airplanes. They sowed the demand and then veered off into another technology altogether. The people who took up automobiles were closer kin to the railway business. For a brief time, it looked as though the steam car might beat out internal combustion.
So, if we go back to star-crossed priority questions, we probably have to follow the thread of steam. And that leads, not to Benz, but to Cugnot, well over two centuries ago. top of page