Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Brief History Of The Automobile

Slick are many definitions of the car. Some uttered beef - powered coaches are cars and others, compatible Daimler - Benz ( makers of Mercedes Benz ) rumor that cars are polished carriages for personal transport with three or four wheels, powered by a sap - fueled interior devouring machine. Depending on your definition of a car, the automobile could have been invented by item number of inventors at organ number of dates.

The earliest testimony of a self - propelled vehicle came from Leonardo da Vinciwho toyed with the notion in the 15th century. He planned and drew zillion models in his plans, but he didnt utterly assemble material. The beef appliance was considered to be invented by James Watt in 1765 and was perfected by both English and French scientists over the close century.

Nicolas - Joseph Cugnot, William Murdoch and Richard Trevithick all have invented steam - powered behemoths that are so enormous and heavy that they required a completely flat surface to move on. In fact, iron rails were installed on roads in Paris and London for the next 120 years just to accommodate the automobiles, which were mainly smaller versions of trains.

Cars designed during the Steam Era were unusual and fantastically bizarre. In the United States, Oliver Evans invented an amphibious vehicle that can move on wheels and on water with the help of a paddle wheel. Ivan Kulibin of Russia planned a car with modern day features such as flywheels, brakes and a gear box. Oddly enough, it was it was human - pedalled. Etience Lenoir came up with something he called a hippo mobile that proved to the masses that automobiles can operate on long trips. He drove all the way from Paris to Jonville Le - Pont.

Karl Benz was one of the first to mass - produce cars. His cars appealed to many due to being able to move at 45 km / h ( 28. 2 mph ). In France, Panhard et Levassan was the first ever company to be established exclusively for the sole purpose of making cars. The Duryea brothers ( Frank and Charles ) were the first automobile manufacturers in the United States, and they were rapidly followed by Ford and Winton.

A special mention should be said about Henry Ford. Contrary to standard belief, he didnt actually built cars. He perfected the logic of manufacturing cars, by making improvements to the production line. He used one hand for one chore and had an ingenious method of dropping the cars body on its wheels. He also added modern features such as the car radio after getting the idea from private jets.

There were different eras to the automobiles history. And each brought different improvements to the car. In the Vintage Era, internal combustion engines and the overhead cam engines were adapted. A main example of this is the Austin 7. During the Pre - War Era, fully - closed models were manufactured for the first time and trunks were added. The post War Era gave birth to cars which have more resemblance to modern automobiles. Inventive and shiny cars, like the Mini Cooper, have left a memorable print on automobile history.

Whether youre driving a luxury car, a sedan or a piece of junk that can hardly be called a car, its a good feeling to know how far the car has evolved from being steam - powered coaches to advanced practical vehicles.