History of the automobile

From 1886, many inventors and entrepreneurs got into the "horseless carriage" business, both in America and Europe, and inventions and innovations rapidly furthered the development and production of automobiles.By 1784, William Murdoch had built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth[14] and in 1801 Richard Trevithick was running a full-sized vehicle on the roads in Camborne.This effectively halted road auto development in the United Kingdom for most of the 19th century; inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotives.[19][20][21] Steam-powered road vehicles, both cars and wagons, reached the peak of their development in the early 1930s with fast-steaming lightweight boilers and efficient engine designs.[24] In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands and his assistant Christopher Becker created a small-scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells.[7] In 1826, Englishman Samuel Brown tested his hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine by using it to propel a vehicle up Shooter's Hill in southeast London.[28][9] Etienne Lenoir's automobile with a hydrogen-gas-fueled one-cylinder internal combustion engine made a test drive from Paris to Joinville-le-Pont in 1860, covering some 9 km (5.6 mi) in about three hours.About 1870, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, inventor Siegfried Marcus put a liquid-fueled internal combustion engine on a simple handcart which made him the first man to propel a vehicle using gasoline.Because Marcus was of Jewish descent, the Nazi propaganda office ordered his work to be destroyed, his name expunged from future textbooks, and his public memorials removed.[15]: 25 George Foote Foss of Sherbrooke, Quebec, built a single-cylinder gasoline car in 1896, which he drove for four years, ignoring city officials' warnings of arrest for his "mad antics".The Thomas B. Jeffery Company developed the world's second mass-produced automobile, and 1,500 Ramblers were built and sold in its first year, representing one-sixth of all existing motorcars in the US at the time.In South Bend, Indiana, the Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904.[46] The first motor car in Central Europe was produced by the Austro-Hungarian company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra in today's Czech Republic) in 1897, the Präsident automobile.[48] Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear standards for basic vehicle architectures, body styles, construction materials, or controls; for example, many veteran cars use a tiller, rather than a wheel for steering.[53]: 92 By 1900, the early centers of national automotive industry developed in many countries, including Belgium (home to Vincke, that copied Benz; Germain, a pseudo-Panhard; and Linon and Nagant, both based on the Gobron-Brillié),[15]: 25 Switzerland (led by Fritz Henriod, Rudolf Egg, Saurer, Johann Weber, and Lorenz Popp),[15]: 25 Vagnfabrik AB in Sweden, Hammel (by A. F. Hammel and H. U. Johansen at Copenhagen, in Denmark, which only built one car, ca.Breakdowns were frequent, fuel was difficult to obtain, roads suitable for traveling were scarce, and rapid innovation meant that a year-old car was nearly worthless.[citation needed] Throughout this era, the development of automotive technology was rapid, partly due to hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention.)[51]: 62 Between 1907 and 1912 in the United States, the high-wheel motor buggy (resembling the horse buggy of before 1900) was in its heyday, with over 75 makers including Holsman (Chicago), IHC (Chicago), and Sears (which sold via catalog); the high-wheeler would be killed by the Model T.[15]: 65 In 1912, Hupp (in the US, supplied by Hale & Irwin) and BSA (in the UK) pioneered the use of all-steel bodies,[51]: 63 joined in 1914 by Dodge (who produced Model T bodies).[51]: 62 Three years later, Hermann Rieseler of Vulcan Motor invented the first automatic transmission, which had two-speed planetary gearbox, torque converter, and lockup clutch; it never entered production.[51]: 62 In this era, the pontoon design of cars without fully articulated fenders, running boards, and other non-compact ledge elements were introduced in small series.[58] Examples of period vehicles:[citation needed] The pre-war part of the classic era began with the Great Depression in 1930, and ended with the recovery after World War II, commonly placed during 1946.Among the first representatives of the style were the Soviet GAZ-M20 Pobeda (1946), British Standard Vanguard (1947), US Studebaker Champion, and Kaiser (1946), as well as the Czech Tatra T600 Tatraplan (1946) and the Italian Cisitalia 220 sports car (1947).Automobile design and production finally emerged from the military orientation and the shadow of war in 1949, the year high-compression V8 engines and modern bodies from General Motors's Oldsmobile and Cadillac brands were introduced.Hudson presented the "step-down" design with the 1948 Commodore, which placed the passenger compartment down inside the perimeter of the frame, that was one of the first new-design postwar cars made, and it featured trend-setting slab-side styling.The market changed in the 1960s, as the US "Big Three" automakers began facing competition from imported cars, European makers adopted advanced technologies, and Japan emerged as a car-producing nation.Technology developments included the widespread use of independent suspensions, wider application of fuel injection, and an increasing focus on safety in automotive design.Other Wankel licensees, including Mercedes-Benz and GM, never produced their designs because of engineering and manufacturing problems and the need for greater fuel economy after the 1973 oil crisis.[66][67] The station wagon (estate, break, kombi, universal) body design was popular, as well as increasing sales of noncommercial all-wheel drive off-road vehicles.[citation needed] All initially emphasized practicality, but have mutated into today's high-powered luxury crossover SUV, sports wagon, and two-volume Large MPV.Some countries such as Norway and Iceland quickly replaced gasoline cars with EVs, and the charging networks in much of Europe, North America, and China rapidly expanded.