| A world without cars, although unimaginable today, | | | | crankshaft, which then turned the wheels. During |
| was but a wink back in the evolution of times. | | | | the early history of self-propelled vehicles - both |
| When we say history of automobiles, what | | | | road and railroad vehicles were being developed |
| comes to your mind a steam engine? But does | | | | with steam engines. Steam engines added so |
| that explain the much asked question who was | | | | much weight to a vehicle that they proved a poor |
| really the first in car history. This involves | | | | design for road vehicles; however, steam engines |
| exploring the lives of many famous automotive | | | | were very successfully used in locomotives. |
| makers in detail, the origins of the name | | | | Historians, who accept that early steam-powered |
| automobile, the patent disputes, and more. The | | | | road vehicles were automobiles, feel that Nicolas |
| automobile as we know it was not invented in a | | | | Cugnot was the inventor of the first automobile. |
| single day by a single inventor. The history of the | | | | After Cugnot Several Other Inventors Designed |
| automobile reflects an evolution that took place | | | | Steam-Powered Road Vehicles.Cugnot's vehicle |
| worldwide. | | | | was improved by Frenchman, Onesiphore |
| Starting with the first theoretical plans for a | | | | Pecqueur, who also invented the first differential |
| motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both | | | | gear. In 1789, the first U.S. patent for a |
| Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. | | | | steam-powered land vehicle was granted to Oliver |
| The very first self-propelled car was built in 1769, | | | | Evans. |
| when Nicolas Cugnot, a French military engineer | | | | The first successful internal combustion engine |
| designed a steam powered road-vehicle. | | | | was a two-stroke gas driven engine patented by |
| The vehicle was built at the Paris Arsenal, and | | | | Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir of Belgium in 1860. In |
| was used by the French Army to move cannons. | | | | 1862 he built an experimental vehicle driven by his |
| It had three wheels with the engine in the front | | | | gas-engine, which managed to achieve a speed of |
| along with the boiler. While Cugnot's 'car' was | | | | 3 kms/hour. By 1865 around 500 of these |
| capable of attaining speeds of upto 6 kms/hour, it | | | | engines were in use in Paris alone. |
| was far too heavy and slow to be of practical | | | | The first practical "four-stroke" engine was |
| use. The vehicle had to stop every ten to fifteen | | | | patented by the Otto and Langen Company of |
| minutes to build up steam power. The steam | | | | Deutz, Germany. |
| engine and boiler were separate from the rest of | | | | Otto started a workshop in Deutz near Cologne, |
| the vehicle and placed in the front. The following | | | | supported by Langen in 1863. He had a model |
| year (1770), Cugnot built a steam-powered | | | | engine built and improved upon the gas engine, |
| tricycle that carried four passengers. | | | | making it a practical power source. The |
| Steam engines powered cars by burning fuel that | | | | four-stroke Otto Engine was invented in 1876, |
| heated water in a boiler, creating steam that | | | | and a large number of engines were produced |
| expanded and pushed pistons that turned the | | | | under the patent of Otto and Langen. |