History of Automobiles

The history of automobiles can be described as the journey from means of propulsion to utility size, exterior design and technology.

In 1807 Francois Issac de Rivaz designed the first ever car powered by internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen.

In 1864 Siegfred Marcus built the first gasoline powered combustion engine.

Nikolaus Otto was patented with the development of four stroke gasoline powered combustion engine.

Similarly Rudolf Diesel invented four stroke engine  powered by diesel.

In 1864 Karl Benz first created automobiles powered by gasoline and is considered as the first production car as Benz made several identical cars of same type.

At the turn of 20^th century electric powered automobiles was popular as a method of propulsion but later degraded as time went on.

Steam powered self-controlled vehicle capable of transporting cargo and passengers was developed in late 18^th century.

Between 17^th and 18^th century steam driven artillery tractor was produced but since design was proved impractical and was not accepted.

Then in Great Britain,William Murdoch created 1^st ever steam powered carriage in Redruth.

During 19^th century attempts were made to roll out practical steam powered vehicles.

 Several innovations on multi speed transmission, handbrakes and better steering were introduced.

In 1865  due to backlash of automobiles,United Kingdom Locomotive Act was passed, which required many self propelled cars on the road preceded by man walking on foot waving red flag and blowing horn.

This law greatly affected the auto industry which was growing in 19^th century and due to this the focus now shifted to railways rather than on automobiles. This was not repelled until 1896.

One of the ‘real’ automobile self powered by steam road vehicles was developed by Frenchman Amedee Bollee.in 1873 which was capable of transporting many passengers and cargo.

During 20^th century Pre World War-II, steam powered cars and wagons reached its peak of their development in 1930s with fast steaming, lightweight boilers and efficient engine designs.

 Internal combustion engines became more simpler and reliable to operate during pre WW-II.

Early attempts at making and using Internal Combustion engine was badly hampered by lack of suitable fuels, particularly liquids therefore they used mixed gas mixture.

In 1806 Swiss engineer Francois Issac de rivaz built an engine powered by internal combustion engine which uses the combustion of hydrogen and oxygen.

It is generally acknowledged that petrol/diesel powered internal combustion engine was 1^st developed by independently working German inventors.

In 1889 Gottlieb Diamler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile. 

They are also credited with the invention 1^st motorcycle in 1886.

One of the 1^st petrol powered four-wheeled automobile was built in Birmingham, Britain in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester, who was also patented with the inventions of disc brakes.

By 1900 mass production of automobiles had begun in France and United States.1^st company formed in 1889;exclusively to build automobiles was Panhard et Levassor in France which introduced the 1^st 4 cylinder engine. Later Peugeot quickly followed the former company. And suddenly France was becoming the hub of automobile production.

By the turn of 20^th century many American manufactures sprawled out;Ford, Cadillac, Winton were among the top manufacturers producing in 1000 vehicles.

Steam, electricity, petrol/gasoline powered automobiles competed for decades. But with the petrol/diesel powered combustion engines achieved dominance by 1910s.

Many modern advances like overhead camshaft, gas/electric hybrids, multi valve engines and four wheel drive engines were attempted and discarded.

In 1898 Louis Renault modified a company with fixed drive shafts and differential making classic American car (hot rod) with large engines and this brought Renault brothers into the automotive industry.

Innovations were fast paced without any clear standards for body vehicle architecture, body styles, construction materials or even control.

During 1903 Ramblar standardized the the steering wheels and moved the driver’s position to left hand drive.