The automobile as we know it was not invented in a single day by a single inventor. The history of the automobile reflects an evolution that took place worldwide. It is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern automobile. However, we can point to the many firsts that occurred along the way. Starting with the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton.
In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steam engine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2 1/2 mph on only three wheels. The vehicle had to stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power. The steam engine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the front (see engraving above). The following year (1770), Cugnot built a steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers.
In 1771, Cugnot drove one of his road vehicles into a stone wall, making Cugnot the first person to get into a motor vehicle accident. This was the beginning of bad luck for the inventor. After one of Cugnot's patrons died and the other was exiled, the money for Cugnot's road vehicle experiments ended.
Steam engines powered cars by burning fuel that heated water in a boiler, creating steam that expanded and pushed pistons that turned the crankshaft, which then turned the wheels. During the early history of self-propelled vehicles - both road and railroad vehicles were being developed with steam engines. (Cugnot also designed two steam locomotives with engines that never worked well.) Steam engines added so much weight to a vehicle that they proved a poor design for road vehicles; however, steam engines were very successfully used in locomotives. Historians, who accept that early steam-powered road vehicles were automobiles, feel that Nicolas Cugnot was the inventor of the first automobile.
The growing use of automobiles required improvements in roads and road building technology. At the turn of the century Wisconsin roads were not much better than the dirt and plank roads of territorial days. In Wisconsin the state Highway Commission, which would become a national leader, took on the role of planning, constructing and maintaining the new road system. Even the system for identifying and marking highways, which is still used today, had to be created. A new tax on gasoline established a segregated fund for highway construction.
Farmers were among the first to benefit from automobiles and improved roads, as motorized vehicles allowed them to deliver their produce to market more quickly. Their children were better educated because rural one-room schools could be consolidated. Public health services were brought to people in remote locations.
Blacksmiths who had been an essential part of the horse-based economy virtually disappeared as an occupation, but new jobs evolved relating to the new technology. The automobile industry was among the first sectors of the economy in which efficient assembly-line construction methods were applied, a change which dramatically altered the nature of manufacturing work. Another important shift in the work environment occurred during the 1930s when the United Automobile Workers Union assumed a leadership role in organizing industrial unions. Hints of the important economic role of tourism were apparent as early as the 1920s, when improved roads opened all parts of the state to the automobile and travelers needed places to eat, sleep and fill their gas tanks,
During World War II rationing of gasoline and tires limited personal automobile use, but the end of the war brought a new wave of changes. More and more families moved to the suburbs and commuted to work by automobile. Interstate highways and local expressways further encouraged the trend. At the same time many stores and businesses relocated from central shopping districts to suburban shopping centers where customers could easily find parking. Domestic architecture changed, too, in response to the automobile. Garages, which had been small, detached barn-like structures during the 1920s, evolved so that the garage, often containing two or three cars, eventually dominated the front facade of many homes.
American enjoyed a love affair with automobiles from introduction at the beginning of the 20th century and the reasons for that love say much about the American character. By the close of that century, however, the drawbacks of the nation's automobile-based culture were becoming increasingly apparent. Although the future of the automobile is uncertain, it will surely continue to affect us all for decades to come.
Editor, Eastern Chronicle Dear Sir: Can you tell the owner of a fractious horse if he has any right at all to the King's highway when he meets an automobile? For the past few days I along with other natives of this section of the vineyard have been kept in mortal terror of one of these devil wagons meeting us when we are driving along the road, our horse taking the nearest fence and leaving us stranded on the roadside, possibly maimed for life, and our good looks considerably out of joint. There surely should be some legislation for the people who maintain the roads and who in their daily avocation are constantly called on to use these roads. Their rights should be protected against these life endangering pleasure jaunters. Yours etc., Mac. Editor's Note: We believe an Act was passed by the House of Assembly last session, dealing with the running of automobiles in the Province. We shall look it up and publish the gist of it for the benefit of our correspondent and others in the same fix, who possibly may be more afraid of the machines than are the horses they drive. We may say now that we are told the speed of the stink wagons is limited to a mile in 8 minutes [12 km/h]. On passing a team if the driver of the team holds up his hands, the Chauffeur of the stink wagon must bring it to a standstill and remain in that condition until the driver of the horse gives permission to start. We are not sure that the Chauffeur must not get down and lead the horse past. [New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, page 2, 25 June 1907]
A Dire Menace
The country people are asking us continually if days cannot be advertised that automobiles will not be on the roads so that they can safely use the roads and come to town. In a number of cases women from the country do the shopping, driving their teams to town with butter, eggs, etc., and exchanging them for household necessities. No woman and few men can drive a horse unused to automobiles past one of these chug-chug machines. The roads are so narrow that teams can seldom pass except at a walk, how then can a person drive a skittish horse past a devil wagon on them? This is a subject that is of great importance not only to the country people, but also to the people of the town, especially to the merchants. no one will wish to come to town at the risk of his or her life; he or she cannot be expected to come. We are aware that we are subjecting ourselves to severe and hostile comment in writing along this line; but we feel that we must. Automobiles can serve no end here except furnishing pleasure for a few people. The roads are narrow and they were constructed by the people for the people so that they could attend to their legitimate business; is it then reasonable or patriotic for a few persons to drive them off their own roads so that these pleasure and excitement seekers should have the fun of running automobiles? The law is very strict and supersedes municipal regulations, yet is inept. On its face it looks as if the Legislature deliberately passed it in such form as to gather in some revenue by a system of licensing these machines. Even the speed at which they are allowed to be driven in the country districts (15 miles an hour 24 km/h) is a dire menace to the safety of the lives of drivers of teams! Fancy one of these wagons rounding a turn on our side hill roads at 15 miles an hour on a horse and wagon driven by a woman, and as is often the case, children in the wagon with her? The law should give municipalities the power to forbid them the use of our roads at all. Were it a level country and the roads 60 feet 18 metres wide a team would have some chance; as it is, they have none and death stares them in the face when one of these machines bears down on them. They should all be permanently housed or shipped out of the country. In this connection it is worth noting that the Legislature forbad them running on the roads in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax. Why then do they allow them to run on the narrow and steep country roads. It looks to us as if the Members from the country were asleep when the license was given to them to run on the country roads. [New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, page 1, 2 July 1907]
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