by Rainier Wong

Created on: July 16, 2007

Here is an article about the history of the steam car. For many years people had been traveling riding on animals or animal-drawn vehicles to take them to their destinations. One day, some people dreamed of vehicles that would not put too much burden on the beasts. This led to inventions of automated vehicles that required no living beings to propel them, the most prominent one being the steam powered car.

The first steam car was said to be invented by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804) in 1769. I remember seeing a drawing of the car in an encyclopedia when I was a teenager. 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.

References:

Early Steam Powered Cars. The History of the Automobile, http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aacarsstea ma.htm(last visited Jul. 16, 007).

Steam car, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steam_car& oldid=144797401 (last visited Jul. 16, 2007).

Amedee Bollee, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Am%C3%A9d% C3%A9e_Boll%C3%A9e&oldid=135571103 (last visited Jul. 16, 2007).

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