Used a high-pressure steam engine. Got speeds up to 12 mph. But he had no financing. And there were no adequate roads.

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1 1 Automobiles and Airplanes 2 The Self-Propelled Road Vehicle Early experiments with self-propelled road vehicles date back to the 13 th century. But there were no practical solutions until the invention of the steam engine. Early steam-powered road vehicles were not successful. 3 The Cugnot Steam Dray Early steam engines were much too bulky, heavy, and inefficient. Example: Nicholas Cugnot s steam dray. Less efficient than horses. 4 Richard Trevithick s Steam Carriages ( ) Used a high-pressure steam engine. Got speeds up to 12 mph. But he had no financing. And there were no adequate roads. 5 Church s 1833 Steam stagecoach Intended for travel around England. Because of its weight, it easily got stuck in the mud. 6 Competition from Railroads Railroads got established in the first half of the 19th century. Those who ran them did not want competition. Britain had been the leader in the Industrial Revolution and the leader in establishing railroads. It did not become the leader in automobiles. Partly because it prevented it by law. A case of special interests determining the course of technology. 7 The Locomotive Act Known popularly as The Red Flag Act. Passed by the British Parliament in Limited the speed of road locomotives to 2 mph in towns and 4 mph on open highways. And required that an attendant must walk 60 yards ahead carrying a red flag by day and a red lantern by night. It was repealed in 1896 at the urging of wealthy automotive pioneers, but by then it was too late for Britain to take the lead. 8 The Problem with Roads Overland routes were pretty awful almost everywhere prior to the Industrial Revolution. The roads that existed were either horse trails or (from Roman times) cart and chariot paths that were mostly in disrepair by the 18th century. 9 Railroads preempted land roads In the early 19th century, construction began in the industrialized countries (especially Britain) to improve roads. But this was soon halted due to the success of the railroads. Interest in road building was not revived until the 1880s and 1890s. The reason was: the bicycle. 1

2 10 The Hobby Horse The first two-wheeled contraption for riding was the Draisienne or Hobby Horse, which was a brief fad among the British upper classes, though first invented in France. 11 The Penny Farthing What we call a bicycle was invented in France in the 1860s. It had a high front wheel with pedals and a low back wheel for balance. The British called it a Penny Farthing, after the relative sizes of the coins of the day. Like the Hobby Horse, it was more popular in Britain than in France. Early bicycles were dangerous and unstable, suitable only for the athletic and daredevils. 12 The Penny Farthing The women s version featured a sidesaddle mechanism for the sake of the woman s modesty. From the 1860s. 13 Tricycles Attempts to make self-powered road vehicles safer and more comfortable led to the tricycle, with various designs (example above), none of which caught on. 14 The Safety Bicycle The safety bicycle, invented in 1885 in Coventry, England, with a low front wheel, a chain drive, and a seat in the middle. The basic design of today. It was mass produced with a price tag of $ Better Roads Bicycles required better roads than horse-drawn traffic. The best roads at the time were in France but were gravel surfaced. Bicycle organizations and periodicals pushed for better roads. A new idea: Traveling on roads for pleasure. 16 Political Clout and Road Building British bicyclists tended to be from the upper classes with influence. European cyclists tended to be from the lower social classes. In both Britain and the United States, there was a perception shared by voters and lawmakers that power had been abused by the railroads. Farmers in the US wanted better roads to get their produce to market. Upshot: British and American roads began to be much improved in the 1880s and 1890s. Less so in Europe. 17 The Bicycle Industry The predecessor of the automobile industry. Key elements of bicycle technology: Steel tube frame; Ball bearings; Chain drive; Differential gears; Pneumatic tires (invented by John Dunlop in Ireland in 1888). Production techniques. Specialized machine tools; Sheet metal stamping; Electric Welding. Early auto manufacturers were the first bicycle manufacturers. 18 Adding power: The Steamer From , lightweight, high pressure, self-condensing steam engines with automatic controls were developed. 2

3 19 Peugeot The Flash boiler was invented. It produced instant steam. Invented by Léon Serpollet in Originally a bicycle manufacturer. Built steam tricycles using Serpollet engines. 20 The Steamer in the U.S. and Britain The Red Flag Act had effectively stopped development of the steam car in Britain. In the U.S., several practical steam cars were built in E.g. Ransom Olds built steamers in Steam cars were mass-produced by Whitney and Stanley in Boston. 21 The Locomobile Steamer The Locomobile Steamer: was the best selling car in the U.S. in The Height of the Steamer Era A Stanley Steamer set a speed record of 207 km/hr in Steam cars were efficient and well made. 23 The Height of the Steamer Era, 2 The Stanley Steamer was the luxury vehicle of the time at the turn of the century. It was made in many models from a single passenger Locomobile to large models with several rows of seats and luggage room. 24 The End of the Steamer Era Around 1910, all manufacturers switched to gasoline engines. Problems with the steamer: Lower thermal efficiency. Needed lots of soft water. Burned as much petroleum fuel as a gasoline engine. Kerosene had been adopted on steam cars in the late 19 th century. It was lighter, less bulky, and less troublesome than coal. Coal was still used on railroad locomotives and in steamships where storage was not a problem. 25 The Electric Car Dependent on the storage battery invented 1859, made practical in 1880, in France. But little interest in France. More success in the U.S. A company in New York operated a fleet of 12 taxicabs that ran on electricity in The Electric Car, 2 The most important electric car builder was the Pope Manufacturing Company in Connecticut (the leading bicycle company). Chief engineer there was Hiram Maxim. 27 Recurrent Problems of Electric Cars Advantages: Silent, clean, easy to operate. Recommended for women drivers. Disadvantages: More expensive to manufacture. 3 times more expensive to operate. In 1910, the range was miles before needing a recharge. 3

4 Poor hill climbing due to the weight of the batteries. 28 The Internal Combustion Engine Perfected in Germany and France There were two kinds: Diesel (1893 patent) Ignites fuel by compression only. Gasoline (Daimler engine, 1885) Ignites air and gasoline mixture with electric spark. 29 The Horseless Carriage 30 Henry Ford Ford revolutionized the automobile industry with the introduction of the assembly line. 31 The Model T Ford introduced the Model T in The car for the ordinary family, not just the rich. The car that put America on wheels. Originally $850 in 1908; ultimately $290 in The Saga of the Automobile Began At the turn of the 20th century, roads in all the industrialized nations were still primitive. 33 The Saga of the Automobile Began In the U.S. in 1904, only 7% were surfaced (at all). There was only one mile of road for every 492 inhabitants. Roads meandered from town to town with no coherent system, and were poorly marked, if at all. 34 The Car Culture All this changed rapidly when the family car became affordable. In the U.S., especially, but to a large degree in all industrialized nations, the car became the symbol of success and was incorporated into every aspect of daily life Air Travel Basically two kinds: Lighter than air and Heavier than air 37 Lighter than air ships: Balloons Invention of Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, French paper makers. They made a large paper bag and filled it with hot air At right: A Montgolfière on its first manned flight near Paris for a 5-mile trip, Nov. 21, Lighter than air ships: Dirigibles (blimps) A major problem of lighter than air ships was navigation: to control the direction they moved once in the air. 4

5 39 Navigation problem solved In the late 19 th century, the retired German officer Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin solved the navigation problem with a cigar shaped craft and a propeller drive pushing in the right direction. Zeppelins could carry many passengers on long (trans-atlantic) journeys. They also made effective warplanes and were used to bomb London in the First World War. 40 An accident spells the end of lighter than air passenger travel The largest Zeppelin, The Hindenburg, had an accident docking in New Jersey after a trans-atlantic flight and caught fire. The cause has never been fully determined. The hydrogen gas used in the ship was highly flammable. Though dirigibles have changed to safer helium gas, the public never trusted them again. 41 Heavier than air ships Engines had to be powerful enough, but light enough. Dynamics of wing and propeller design had to be worked out. 42 The Flying Steamship Idea How much had to be solved can be seen from this sci-fi scene of a flying steamship making it all the way to China in 24 hours. From an embroidered pillowslip of the 19th century. 43 Engines: Powerful and Light The steam engine was the only really powerful engine in the mid to late 19 th century, but even they weighed a lot. 44 Maxim s Flying Machine Maxim, who had moved to England and been knighted, devised a flying machine that would takeoff from a runway built on a half-mile track to minimize friction. 45 Catapult Design Another idea to get the machine into the air with a catapult. In America, Samuel Pierpont Langley, Director of the Smithsonian Institution, had been experimenting with model planes powered by rubber bands. He managed only a few seconds of erratic flight with these and decided he needed more power. 46 Catapult Design, 2 For five years Langley tried to fit a steam engine to his models and managed to fly one 4,200 feet. He then tried to move on to a full sized airplane, but found that a steam engine powerful enough would be too heavy. He turned to gasoline engines a new invention at the time. Over several years and many failures an engine was built that weighed 120 pounds and generated 50 horsepower. 47 Catapult Design, 3 In 1903, Langley s Aerodrome was ready to be launched. It was to be catapulted into the air from a houseboat in the Potomac River near Washington. 48 The Wright Combination Wilbur and Orville Wright were two young brothers from Ohio who had a lifelong 5

6 obsession with flight. Together they operated a bicycle shop in Dayton. 49 Aerodynamics the Key The Wright brothers had studied everything they could find about flight that worked: gliders and birds. Their breakthrough came in the wing design and the concept of aerodynamic lift. They worked out the details by building and flying many gliders. 50 Success, at last Their successful first flight in 1903 (9 days after the Langley Aerodrome sank) used a 12 hp gasoline engine of their own construction. 51 The Global Village Travels to exotic places began in the 15 th and 16th centuries with the voyages of exploration. These had immediate environmental consequences: They introduced new species and new diseases to different parts of the world. They began to upset ecological niches that had been established for centuries. 52 The Global Village, 2 The process of colonization increased this flow: It became a permanent feature of life in all countries with regular communication with other parts of the world. The development of powered vehicles and vessels increased the scope of this environmental mingling enormously. 53 The Global Village, 3 The Steam Engine was the first major leap of humankind to the control of power enormously greater than human scale. The railroads and steamships could convey goods and people vast, unimaginable distances, bringing with them both intentional and unintentional environmental hazards. The steam engine also made possible the manufacture of goods that could be sold to exotic markets, which permanently changed people s tastes and expectations. 54 The Global Village, 4 In the 20th century, the world shrank again, by a large margin, with the invention of the automobile and the airplane. Where travel had been restricted to a small percentage of the population, in the industrialized nations, people began to travel to work or school by vehicle, and often traveled on business or for pleasure vast distances many times during their lives. 55 The Global Village, 5 Air travel meant that goods and people could traverse oceans in a matter of hours, carrying with them diseases that had not even been detected in their home countries. Quarantines became totally impractical. 56 Total Dependence on Fossil Fuels The steam engine was the first invention to make a major use of fossil fuels, in the form of coal. In the middle of the 19th century, petroleum distillates began to be developed as fuels. 6

7 57 Total Dependence on Fossil Fuels, 2 In the early years of the 20th century, the demand for refined petroleum to fuel vehicles took off astronomically. Gasoline for cars Aviation Fuel for airplanes Diesel fuel for trucks, trains, and ships. In addition to manufacturing and travel, a tremendous amount of fossil fuels are used to generate electricity, without which the modern world could not exist. 7