Automotive Developments 1600 - The Dutch employed wind power to propel sail-mounted carriages which raced along at 20 mph and held scores of passengers. It is quite probable that both speed and load capacity were exaggerated. Later, small carriages were equipped with wind-mills, the mill vanes geared to the wheels. These were probably the first land vehicles to be propelled by anything other than animal or human muscle power, but people complained because the vehicles depended on the whim of a breeze. 1680 - Sir Isaac Newton conceived of a vehicle propelled by a "rear-wardly directed jet of steam." This idea didn't evolve for use in the automobile, but it was later used in rocket thrust. 1698 - Thomas Savery invented the first steam engine in Britain. It was crude, inefficient, and even dangerous, since it blew up quite often. 1711 - Thomas Newcomen, an English blacksmith, improved upon Savery's engine. 1769 - James Watt, a Scottish instrument maker, patented a steam engine that became widely used in British mines, mills, and factories. Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, an officer financed by the French government, built a steam-propelled, 3-wheeled artillery wagon, which raced along at 3 mph. In a demonstration, it went out of control and ran into a wall. Most automotive historians trace the beginning of the true automobile back to Cugnot's cannon. 1845 - A Scot called Thomson patented a type of pneumatic tire, but John Boyd Dunlop is usually given credit for their development. 1850 - A method of obtaining liquid hydrocarbons from coal and shale was patented by James Young, a Scotsman. This "coal oil" took the pressure off the dwindling numbers of whales which until that time had been a prime source of oil for lamps. 1859 - On August 27, an ex-railroad conductor, Edwin L. Drake, made a revolutionary discovery with a 69-foot well at Titusville, Pennsylvania. "Rock oil" had previously been collected from ground seepage pools and used for medicinal and other limited purposes. With Drake's discovery on Oil Creek leading the way, great volumes of petroleum became available in the United States. It provided kerosene for millions of lamps, paraffin for candles and candy, hoof and harness oils, lubricants for ships and mills, a "miracle" salve called Vasoline, and many by-products to make varnishes, lacquer, oilcloth and patent leather. One of the waste products of the distilling process was an explosive, inflammable substance called "gasolene." 1860 - Etienne Lenoir built and patented the first commercially satisfactory gas engine. Two years later, he constructed a crude vehicle on which to test his engine. Although it was crude, it worked, but ran so slowly (about 1 mph), he became discouraged and stopped his efforts. Lenoir's engine used an electric spark plug system. 1864 - In Vienna, Austria, Siegfried Marcus built a one-cylinder engine that used a primitive carburetor and a magneto arrangement to create small explosions that applied alternating pressures against the piston within the cylinder. 1872 - George Brayton of Boston patented a gasoline engine. 1876 - In Deutz, Germany, Eugene Langen and Nikolaus August Otto improved upon Marcus' engine and introduced the first workable 4-stroke internal combustion gas engine after many years of experimental work. Gottlieb Daimler, an employee of Langen and Otto, was involved in the engine's design. 1883 - In Bad Cannstatt, Germany, Wilhelm Daimler succeeded in producing a more efficient, 4-stroke, gasoline-fueled engine which was granted a patent. (Earlier "gas" engines had been fueled by hydrogen or turpentine vapors or by coal gas.) Daimler's first engine was mounted on a sturdy bicycle and operated well on a test run in 1885. This is the prototype of the modern motorcycle. 1885 - Carl Benz successfully tested his first gasoline engine motor vehicle at Mannheim, Germany; a 1-hp, 1-cylinder engine; a refinement of the 4-stroke engine which was designed by Otto. This 3-wheeler had all the essential elements characteristic of the modern automobile: electrical ignition, differential, mechanical valves, carburetor, a water cooling system, oil and grease cups for lubrication, and a braking system. He received a patent for his "carriage with gas engine" in 1886. It had a tubular steel chassis and an open wooden two-seater body. The single front wheel steered by means of a tiller, and the two large rear wheels were driven by chains. The single-cylinder engine was mounted horizontally over the rear axle. At 250 to 300 rpm, it produced about 1/2 horsepower and drove the car at about 8 to 10 mph (13-16 kph). 1896 - Henry J. Ford built an internal combustion engine from plans he read in a magazine. He mounted it to a bicycle-wheeled, tiller-steered two-seater, which had neither brakes nor reverse gear and was so noisy it was condemned as a public nuisance. Alexander Winton, a bicycle builder in Cleveland, Ohio, produced his first experimental car. Years later, he formed the Winton Motor Carriage Company, and started to sell two-seaters (one seat faced frontwards and the other faced the back). In England, the "Red Flag Act" was repealed. This was celebrated by the first Emancipation Run from London to Brighton, about 60 miles (96 km), which is still held annually as a reliability trial for Veteran cars. (Veteran cars are those built before 1918; "Vintage" cars were built between 1918 and 1930.) 1898 - Ford built a second motorcar which was a vast improvement over his first. He persuaded a few people to back him in producing it commercially, but the enterprise failed after only one year. Pioneer designers experimented with seating arrangements as they did with all other details on the first cars. One of the most impractical was a two-seater in which lady passengers sat in the front seat to serve as windbreakers (and presumably bugcatchers as well), while the gentlemen steered from the rear. The ladies didn't help the driver's vision much either. 1903 - The Ford Motor Company was established in Detroit with the Model A, a small, light-weight, powered by a 2-cylinder, 8-hp engine which sold for $850. The invention of demountable rims helped the tire situation somewhat. It was no longer necessary to change tires at the scene of a flat tire; mounted spares made it possible to make a reasonably fast switch-over, but road conditions made it common practice for a driver to limp home on flats or a bare rim even after using a couple of spare ties. 1908 - The Ford Model T was unveiled for the first time. It was powered by a 4-cylinder, 20 hp engine, had two forward speeds and a reverse controlled by pedals. It was also equipped with a throttle mounted on the steering column, and got about thirty miles to a gallon of gasoline. If the purchaser requested it, he could have extra-cost options of headlights, speedometer,and a spare tire. Buyers could choose their cars in red, green, or baby blue. Later, it could be purchased in any color the buyer desired, "as-long-as-it's-black." The automobiles of this year had air-cooled motors, since there were no water-filled radiators to freeze in the winter time; the passengers were usually air-cooled as well because there were usually no roofs over them.