Summers and Ogle
Two steam carriages built by Summers and Ogle, in 1831, were among the most successful vehicles of their kind in that day. One of these carriages had two steam cylinders, each seven and one-half inches in diameter and with eighteen-inch stroke. It was mounted on three wheels and its boiler would work at a pressure of two hundred and fifty pounds per square inch. Passengers were carried in the front and the middle of the coach, while the tank and the boiler were behind. The second carriage had three steam cylinders, each four inches in diameter, with a twelve-inch stroke. When the committee of the House of Commons was investigating the subject of steam locomotion on the common roads Summers and Ogle appeared and gave interesting particulars concerning their vehicles. The greatest velocity ever obtained was thirty-two miles an hour. They went from the turnpike gate at Southampton to the four-mile stone on the London road, a continued elevation, with one slight descent, at the rate of twenty-four and a half miles per hour, loaded with people; twenty passengers were often carried. Their first steam carriage ran from Cable Street, Wellclose Square, to within two miles and a half of Basingstoke, when the crank shaft broke, and they were obliged to put the whole machine into a barge on the canal and send it back to London. This same machine had previously run in various directions about the streets and outskirts of London. With their improved carriage they went from Southampton to Birmingham, Liverpool and London, with the greatest success.
The Saturday Magazine, of October 6, 1832, gave an account of one of their trials as follows: “I have just returned from witnessing the triumph of science in mechanics, by traveling along a hilly and crooked road from Oxford to Birmingham in a steam carriage. This truly wonderful machine is the invention of Captain Ogle, of the Royal Navy, and Mr. Summers, his partner, and is the first and only one that has accomplished so long a journey over chance roads, and without rails. Its rate of traveling may be called twelve miles an hour, but twenty or perhaps thirty down hill if not checked by the brake, a contrivance which places the whole of the machinery under complete control. Away went the splendid vehicle through that beauteous city (Oxford) at the rate of ten miles an hour, which, when clear of the houses, was accelerated to fourteen. Just as the steam carriage was entering the town of Birmingham, the supply of coke being exhausted, the steam dropped; and the good people, on learning the cause, flew to the frame, and dragged it into the inn yard.”
Gibbs
An English engineer, Gibbs made a special study of the steam carriage of Sir Charles Dance in 1831. As a result of his investigations he built a steam drag in 1832. This was intended to draw passenger carriages and it had a boiler with spirally descending flue placed behind the driving wheels. In 1832, in conjunction with his partner, Applegate, he patented a steam carriage with a tubular boiler and oscillating engine cylinders. The power from the axle was transmitted to the driving wheels through friction bands, arranged in the bases of the wheels so that one or both wheels could be coupled to the axles.
Charles Dance
An enthusiastic motorist, Sir Charles Dance, of London, in the first third of the ninteenth century did a great deal to encourage the engineers who were inventing steam road vehicles. He was financially interested in several of the companies that were organized to run steam coaches over the common roads. He was the backer of Goldsworthy Gurney, and was also engaged in building for himself. His most famous car was a coach that ran every day from the Strand, London, to Brighton. This was an engine mounted on four wheels with a tall rectangular funnel that narrowed toward the top. Above the engine were seats for six or seven persons besides the driver. Behind the engine was a vehicle like a boxcar low hung on wheels. On the side of this box was emblazoned the coat of arms of its owner. On the roof seat in front were places for four passengers. On a big foot-board behind, stood the footman. This carriage was one of the spectacular sights of London at that time and great crowds gathered in the Strand every day to witness its departure.
Dance ran Gurney’s coaches on the Cheltenham and Gloucester Road until public opposition compelled his withdrawal, but after that he was a joint patentee with Joshua Field, of an improved boiler. This was applied to the road carriage above mentioned and the first trips were made in September, 1833, with a drag and omnibus attached, a speed of sixteen miles an hour being attained. On the first trip from London to Brighton, fifteen passengers were carried and the distance of fifty-two miles was covered in five and a half hours, the return journey being performed in less than five hours. About the middle of October the steam drag and omnibus were put upon the road between Wellington Street, Waterloo Bridge, and Greenwich, where it continued to run for a fortnight, with a view of showing the public in London what could be done in this direction. The proprietor had no intention of making it a permanent mode of conveyance, and therefore kept the company as select as he could by charging half a crown for tickets each way.
Joshua Field
Born in 1786. Died in 1863.
A member of the well-known firm of Maudsley, Sons & Field, marine engineers, of London, England, Joshua Field took out a patent for an improved boiler, in conjunction with Sir Charles Dance. The firm made an improved vehicle for Dance, and in 1835 Field constructed for himself a steam carriage that made a trip in July with a party of guests. The carriage was driven up Denmark Hill, and did the distance, nine miles, in forty-four minutes. It also ran several times to Reading and back, at the rate of twelve miles an hour. One of the subscribers towards the building of this carriage, said that it was a success mechanically, but not economical. Field was one of the six founders of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Dietz
Previous to the time that the carriage of Francis Maceroni was taken to France, an engine designed by Dietz was run in the streets of Paris. In the reports of the Academy of Sciences and Academy of Industry in Paris, in 1840, this vehicle was described. The carriage had eight wheels, two of which were large and gave the impulsion. The six smaller wheels rose and fell according to the irregularity of the road, and at the same time assisted in bearing the weight of the carriages. The wheels were bound with wood tires, having cork underneath. The locomotive was a drag, drawing a carriage for passengers. The engine was of thirty horse-power, and a speed of ten miles an hour was made.
Yates
A steam carriage was built by Messrs. Yates & Smith, London, in 1834. It had a trial in July of that year, running from the factory in Whitechapel, along High and several other streets, at the rate of ten to twelve miles an hour. Vibrating engines, working on horizontal framing, were used. The coach resembled an ordinary stage-coach.
G. Millichap
In a letter to an English engineering paper in 1837, G. Millichap, of Birmingham, claimed to have a locomotive carriage building. He wrote: “If your correspondent will take the trouble to call at my house I shall be happy to show him a locomotive carriage in a state of great forwardness, intended decidedly for common roads.”
James Caleb Anderson
Born in Cork, Ireland, July 21, 1782. Died in London, April 4, 1861.
The father of Sir James Caleb Anderson, of Buttevant Castle, Ireland, was John Anderson, a celebrated merchant of Ireland, famous as the founder of the town of Fermoy. The son gave much attention to the subject of steam and steam propulsion, and made many experiments, taking out several patents. In 1831, he lodged a specification for improvements in machinery for propelling vessels on water; in 1837, for improvements in locomotive engines, and in 1846, for improvements in obtaining motive power and applying it to the propulsion of cars and vessels and the driving of machinery. His 1831 patent was for a manually-propelled vehicle, a carriage in which twenty-four men were arranged on seats, like rowers in a boat, but in two tiers, one above the other. The action was nearly the same as the pulling of oars, the only difference being that all the men sitting on one seat pulled at one horizontal cross-bar, each extremity of which was furnished with an anti-friction roller that ran between guide rails on the opposite sides of the carriage. The ends of each of these horizontal bars were connected to reciprocating rods that gave motion to a crank shaft, on which were mounted spur gear that actuated similar gear on the axis of the running wheels of the carriage; so that by sliding the gear on the axis of the latter any required velocity could be communicated to the carriage, or a sudden stop made. It was proposed to employ this as a drag, to draw one or more carriages containing passengers after it. The patentee had chiefly in view the movement of troops by this method.
Anderson gave financial support to W. H. James, in 1827, until he fell into pecuniary difficulties. Ten years later he re-engaged in steam carriage construction on his own account, and according to his own reports he expended over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on experiments. It was said that he failed in twenty-nine carriages before he succeeded in the last. He patented a boiler that was said to be a poor copy of Walter Hancock’s boiler. Then he organized a joint-stock company, the Steam Carriage and Wagon Company, which proposed to construct steam drags in Dublin and in Manchester, which, when completed, were to convey goods and passengers at double the speed and at half the cost of horse carriages.
Anderson said: “I produce and prove my steam drags before I am paid for them, and I keep them in repair; consequently, neither the public nor the company runs any risk. The first steam carriage built for the company is nearly completed. It will speak for itself.” In the Mechanic’s Magazine, June, 1839, a Dublin correspondent writes: “I was fortunate enough to get a sight of Sir James Anderson’s steam carriage, with which I was much pleased. It had just arrived from the country, and was destined for London in about three weeks. The engine weighs ten tons, and will, I dare say, act very well. I shall have an opportunity of judging that, as the tender is at Cork. It has a sort of diligence, not joined, but to be attached to the tender, making in all three carriages. I talked a great deal about it to one of his principal men, who was most lavish in its praises, especially as regards the boiler.” In August, 1839, the carriage arrived in London.
In 1840, a report said: “Several steam carriages are being built at Manchester and Dublin, under Sir James Anderson’s patents, and one has been completed at each place. At Manchester the steam drag had been frequently running between Cross Street and Altrincham, and the last run was made at the rate of twenty miles an hour, with four tons on the tender, in the presence of Mr. Sharp, of the firm of Sharp, Roberts and Company, of Manchester, and others.” A newspaper of the same year reported that an experimental trip of Anderson’s steam drag for common roads took place on the Howth Road, Dublin. It ran about two hours, backing, and turning about in every direction—the object being chiefly to try the various parts in detail. It repeatedly turned the corners of the avenues at a speed of twelve miles an hour, the steam pressure required being only forty-six pounds per square inch. No smoke was seen, and little steam was observed. The whole machinery was ornamentally boxed in, so that none of the moving parts was exposed to view, and it was found that the horses did not shy at this carriage.
The company had great plans for travel communication by means of these drags between the chief towns in Ireland, as soon as a few of the steam carriages were finished. An even more pretentious scheme involved a service in conjunction with the railway trains from London, carriages to be run from Birmingham to Holyhead, whence passengers were to be conveyed to Dublin by steamer; from Dublin to Galway the steam drags were to be employed; and thence to New York per vessel touching at Halifax; thus making Ireland the stepping-stone between England, Nova Scotia, and the United States of America. But all these plans came to naught.
Anderson continued to take out patents down to as late as 1858. He devoted more than thirty years of his life to the promotion of steam locomotion on common roads.
Robert Davidson
Robert Davidson, of Aberdeen, was probably the first to make an electrically propelled carriage large enough to carry passengers. This he did in 1839. His carriage could carry two persons when traveling over a fairly rough road, and though the prospects were enticing enough to cause investment in the enterprise, Davidson’s subsequent work was on rail vehicles.
W. G. Heaton
W. G. and R. Heaton, of Birmingham, England, built several steam carriages which operated with various degrees of success in their neighborhood. Their patent was dated in October, 1830. The patent aimed particularly at the guidance of a locomotive carriage, and the management of the steam apparatus so that the power and speed might be accommodated to the nature of the road, the quantity of the load, and so on.
For the purpose of steering the carriage, a vertical spindle was placed at some distance before the axle of the front wheels and on its lower end a small drum was fixed. Around this drum was coiled a chain with its middle fixed upon the drum, and its ends made secure to the front axle formed a triangle with the drum, situated at the angle opposite the longest side. The other end of the vertical spindle was connected with a frame situated in front of the coachman’s or rather the steersman’s seat and here on the spindle was a horizontal beveled-toothed wheel. Over this wheel an axis extended, terminating in two crank handles proceeding from the axes in different directions, so that one was down when the other was up. Upon this axis was fixed another beveled-toothed wheel taking into the first. When these wheels were turned in one direction the right-hand fore wheel of the carriage advanced and the coach turned towards the left, while when they were turned in the other direction the left-hand wheel advanced and the carriage turned towards the right.
The driving wheels were connected with the axle by means of a pair of ratchets furnished with a double set of ratchet teeth and a reversing pall. By this one wheel could be advanced or backed while the other remained stationary, or moving in a contrary direction, an arrangement necessary for turning and backing. The steersman controlled the reversing pall by connecting rods and lever.
Motion was communicated to the driving wheels by a double set of spur wheel gear, arranged to give different powers or velocities, by having both a large and a small wheel fixed on the driving as well as the driven axis. By shifting the large wheel on the driving axis into gear with the small wheel on the driven axis speed was obtained, and by shifting their relative position till the small wheel on the driving axis came into gear with the large wheel on the driven axis, power was obtained at the expense of speed. These two axes were kept at the same distance from each other by means of connecting rods, although the relative positions might be changed by the motion of the carriage on rough roads.
In August, 1833, the Heatons placed a steam drag on the road between Worcester and Birmingham. A slight accident occurred at the start, but after repairs were made the trial was a success. Attached to the engine was a stage-coach, carrying twenty passengers, the load weighing nearly two tons. Lickey Hill was ascended, a rise of one in nine, and even one in eight in some places. Many parts of the hill were very soft, but by putting both wheels in gear they ascended to the summit, seven hundred yards in nine minutes. A company was formed in Birmingham to construct and run these carriages, subject to the condition of keeping up an average speed of ten miles an hour. A new carriage was built and tried in 1834, but after trials, the Messrs. Heaton dissolved their contract, as they were unable to do more than seven or eight miles an hour. After spending upwards of ten thousand dollars in endeavors to effect steam traveling, they retired from the field, stating that the wear and tear were excessive at ten miles an hour, and that the carriage was heavy, and wasteful in steam.
F. Hill
An English engineer, connected with the Deptford Chemical Works, Hill was among the first to be interested in steam-road locomotion. He was familiar with Hancock’s experiments and made a carriage of his own that was tried in 1840. He journeyed to Sevenoaks and elsewhere and ran up steep hills with the carriage, fully loaded, at twelve miles an hour, and on the level at sixteen miles an hour. He adopted the compensating gear that was invented by Richard Roberts and that by some writers has been credited to him.
To put Hill’s patents to practical use The General Steam Carriage Company was formed in 1843. The probable success of the company was based upon the belief that there was a demand for additional road accommodations in order that road locomotion should counteract the exorbitant charges made by the gigantic railway monopoly for conveying goods short distances. The company stated in its prospectus “that while they confidently believe the improved steam coach which they have engaged and propose to employ in the first instance to be the most perfect now known in England, they do not bind themselves to adhere to any particular invention, but will avail themselves of every discovery to promote steam coach conveyance.”
Trial trips were made on the Windsor, Brighton, Hastings, and similar roads, and with success. Once the carriage made a trip to Hastings and back, a distance of one hundred and twenty-eight miles, in one day, half the time occupied by the stage coaches. The Mechanic’s Magazine said: “We accompanied Hill, about a year ago, in a short run up and down the hills about Blackheath, Bromley, and neighborhood; and we had again the pleasure of accompanying him in a delightful trip, on the Hastings Road, as far as Tunbridge and back. The manner in which his carriage took all the hills, both in the ascent and the descent, proved how completely every difficulty on this head had been surmounted.”
In the Hill carriage, both the coach and the machinery were erected upon a strong frame mounted upon substantial springs. In the rear were the boiler, furnace, and water tanks, with a place for the engineer and fireman. In front was a coach body with seats for six inside, three on the box, and the conductor in front. The front part of the carriage was also suspended upon springs. The carriage was propelled by a pair of ten-inch cylinders and pistons, horizontally placed beneath the carriage. These acted upon two nine-inch cranks, coupled to the main axle through compensating gear; the two six-foot six-inch diameter driving wheels had the full power of the engines passed through them. The weight of the boiler when empty was two thousand three hundred pounds, and it had a capacity of about sixty gallons of water, while one hundred gallons more were contained in the tanks. The total weight of the carriage, including water, coke, and twelve passengers, was less than four tons. On heavy and rough roads the steam pressure was seventy pounds per square inch, but on good roads only sixty pounds. The average speed was sixteen miles an hour, but on a level twenty miles an hour was reached. As late as 1843, Hill’s carriages were running from London to Birmingham, having been in operation four or five years. Smooth in motion, they carried their passengers comfortably, but soon went out of use.
Goodman
Early in the forties a small road locomotive was made by Goodman, of Southwark, London. It was worked by a pair of direct-acting engines, coupled to the crank shaft. A chain pinion on the crank shaft transmitted motion to the main axle through an endless pitch chain working over a chain wheel of larger diameter on the driving shaft. The smoke from the boiler was conducted by a flue placed beneath the carriage. The vehicle had a speed of from ten to twelve miles an hour.
Norrgber
A correspondent of The Mechanic’s Magazine, of London, wrote in 1843: “Norrgber, of Sweden, a locksmith and an ingenious mechanic, made a steam carriage which ran between Copenhagen and Corsoer, carrying thirty passengers, the engine being of eight horse-power.”
J. K. Fisher
A small steam carriage, that in general character was like a railroad locomotive, was designed by J. K. Fisher, of New York, in 1840. It was not until 1853, however, that he went beyond this. Then he built another carriage, with driving wheels five feet in diameter, and two steam cylinders four inches in diameter, with ten-inch stroke. This carriage attained a speed of fifteen miles an hour on good pavements. During the next two years, Fisher made many trips, sometimes running twelve miles an hour without excessive wear. In his later engines he introduced several novelties, among them being parallel connections between the crank shaft and the driving axle. In the steering gear a screw was placed across the front part of the carriage carrying a nut, to which the end of an elongated reverted pole was jointed. The screw was turned by bevel gearing, one wheel being keyed to the end of the screw, and the other to the steerage rod, the opposite end of this rod having a lever placed within easy access of the footplate. Fisher’s carriages were driven by direct-acting engines, one cylinder on each side of the smoke-box.
R. W. Thompson
Born in Stonehaven, England, in 1822. Died, March 8, 1873.
R. W. Thompson came to the United States in early life, but returned to England and engaged in scientific experimenting and studying, and in engineering at Aberdeen and Dundee. He invented a rotary engine during this period of his life. In 1846, being then in business for himself, he conceived the idea of india-rubber tires and perfected this in 1876. In December of that year he made a small road locomotive to draw an omnibus and this was sent to the Island of Ceylon. Other road steamers of Thompson’s design were manufactured and sent to India and elsewhere.
Anthony Bernhard
In 1848, a compressed-air carriage invented by Anthony Bernhard, Baron von Rathen, was built in England. It weighed three tons, and on its first trip was driven at a speed of eight miles an hour. Upon one occasion it made twelve miles an hour on a trip from Putney to Wandsworth, carrying twenty passengers. Until near 1870, Baron von Rathen was engaged in inventing compressed-air engines.
Battin
In 1856, Joseph Battin, of Newark, N. J., constructed a steam carriage with a vertical boiler and oscillating engines.
Richard Dudgeon
A small locomotive for the common roads was built in 1857, Dy Richard Dudgeon, an engineer, of New York. It had two steam cylinders, each three inches in diameter and with sixteen-inch stroke, and drew a light carriage at ten miles an hour on gravel roads. The carriage was destroyed by fire at the New York Crystal Palace in 1858. Dudgeon is said to have afterward built another carriage, which was larger and more clumsy than the other. A few years ago this was discovered in an old barn in Locust Valley, L. I. It was fixed up and started out and demonstrated that, old as it was, it could go at a speed of more than ten miles an hour.
Lough and Messenger
In 1858, Messrs. Lough and Messenger, of Swindon, England, designed and erected a steam-road locomotive which for two years ran at fifteen miles an hour on level roads, and six miles an hour up grades of one in twenty. The engine had two cylinders, each three and one-half inches in diameter and with five-inch stroke, working direct on to the crank axle. The driving wheels were three and one-half feet in diameter, and the leading wheels two feet in diameter. The vertical boiler fixed on the frame was worked at one-hundred-and-twenty-pound pressure. The tanks held forty gallons of feed water. The total weight of the locomotive was eight hundred pounds.
Thomas Rickett
When the revival of interest in the common-road steam locomotive began in England, about 1857, Thomas Rickett, of Castle Foundry, Buckingham, was one of the first to give attention to the subject. He built a road locomotive in 1858 for the Marquis of Stafford. This engine had two driving wheels and a steering wheel. The boiler was at the back with the steam cylinders horizontally on each side of it. Three passengers were carried.
The carriage was steered by means of a lever connected with the fork of the front wheel. The cylinders were three inches in diameter, with nine-inch stroke; the working steam pressure was one hundred pounds per square inch. The driving wheels were three feet in diameter. The weight of the carriage when fully loaded was only three thousand pounds. On level roads the speed was about twelve miles an hour.
An account of one of the trips in 1859 was as follows in the columns of The Engineer: “Lord Stafford and party made another trip with the steam carriage from Buckingham to Wolverton. His lordship drove and steered, and although the roads were very heavy, they were not more than an hour in running the nine miles to Old Wolverton. His lordship has repeatedly said that it is guided with the greatest ease and precision. It was designed by Mr. Rickett to run ten miles an hour. One mile in five minutes has been attained, at which it was perfectly steady, the centre of gravity being not more than two feet from the ground. A few days afterwards this little engine started from Messrs. Hayes’ Works, Stoney Stratford, with a party consisting of the Marquis of Stafford, Lord Alfred Paget, and two Hungarian noblemen. They proceeded through the town of Stoney Stratford at a rapid pace, and after a short trip returned to the Wolverton railway station. The trip was in all respects successful, and shows beyond a doubt that steam locomotion for common roads is practicable.”
Two other engines were built by Rickett, one of them for the Earl of Caithness. Some improvements were installed in this carriage, which was intended to carry three passengers. The weight of the carriage, fully loaded, was five thousand pounds.
In this carriage, the Earl of Caithness traveled from Inverness to his seat, Borrogill Castle, within a few miles of John o’ Groat’s House. He describes his trip as follows: “I may state that such a feat as going over the Ord of Caithness has never before been accomplished by steam, as I believe we rose one thousand feet in about five miles. The Ord is one of the largest and steepest hills in Scotland. The turns in the road are very sharp. All this I got over without trouble. There is, I am confident, no difficulty in driving a steam carriage on a common road. It is cheap, and on a level I got as much as nineteen miles an hour.” The Earl of Caithness brought the trial to a successful result, and some expert authorities jumped to the conclusion that at once steam traveling upon the high roads of England would be availed of to a large extent; but that did not happen.
In 1864, Mr. Rickett furnished an engine for working a passenger and light goods service in Spain, intended to carry thirty passengers up an incline of one in twelve, at ten miles an hour. The steam cylinders were eight inches in diameter, and the driving wheels four feet in diameter. The boiler would sustain a pressure of two hundred pounds. Rickett’s later engines had spur wheels; but his last engines were direct-acting. In November, 1864, he says: “The direct-acting engines mount inclines of one in ten easily; whether at eight, four, two, or one mile an hour, on inclines with five tons behind them, they stick to their work better than geared engines.”
Daniel Adamson
In 1858 the firm of Daniel Adamson & Co., of Dukinfield, near Manchester, England, built a common-road locomotive for a Mr. Schmidt. A multi-tubular boiler was used, two and one-half feet in diameter and five and one-half feet long, with a working pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds per square inch. The engine, which weighed five thousand six hundred pounds and was borne on three wheels, was calculated to run at eight miles an hour. A steam cylinder of six-inch diameter was attached to each side of the locomotive, and these cylinders actuated a pair of driving wheels three feet six inches in diameter.
Mr. Schmidt gave this vehicle a thorough trying out and especially raced it with several competitors. On one of these races, in 1867, with a Boulton steam carriage, the start was made from Ashton-under-Lyne, for the show ground at Old Trafford, a distance of over eight miles. Although the Adamson engine was the larger, the smaller one easily passed it during the first mile, and kept a good lead all the way, arriving at Old Trafford under the hour.
Mr. Schmidt sent his road locomotive to the Havre Exhibition, in 1868, and a trial of its powers was made by French engineers, and M. Nicole, director of the exhibition. Mr. Schmidt conducted the engine himself, and to it was attached an omnibus containing the commissioners. The engine and carriage traversed several streets of Havre and mounted a sharp incline. Other trips were made to several villages in the neighborhood of the exhibition, and the engine behaved very satisfactorily.
Stirling
In a road steamer designed by Stirling, of Kilmarnock, in 1859, the five traveling wheels were mounted upon springs. A single wheel was used as a driver, and more or less weight was thrown upon this wheel. The leading and trailing wheels swiveled in concert, in opposite directions, by means of right and left hand worms and worm wheels. The carriage was thus made to move in a curve of comparatively short radius.
W. O. Carrett
In 1860, George Salt, of Saltshire, England, employed W. O. Carrett, of the firm of Carrett, Marshall & Co., proprietors of the Gun Foundry at Leeds, to design and build a steam pleasure carriage for him. The carriage was first shown and exhibited at the Royal Show held in Leeds, 1861, and likewise at the London Exhibition, 1862. It had two steam cylinders, six inches in diameter and with eight-inch stroke. The boiler was of the locomotive multi-tubular type, two feet six inches in diameter, and five feet three inches long. It had a working pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds per square inch, the test pressure being three hundred pounds. The locomotive was mounted upon two driving wheels, each four feet in diameter, made of steel, and a leading wheel was three feet in diameter. Seats were provided for nine persons, including the steerer and the fireman. The traveling speed was fifteen miles an hour; and the weight of the carriage, fully loaded, was five tons. Motion was communicated from the crank shaft to the driving axle through spur gearing.
The English magazine, Engineering, in an article in June, 1866, said: “This steam carriage, made by Carrett, Marshall & Co., was probably the most remarkable locomotive ever made. True, it did little good for itself as a steam carriage, and its owner at last made a present of it—much as an Eastern prince might send a friend a white elephant—to that enthusiastic amateur, Mr. Frederick Hodges, who christened it the Fly-by-Night, and who did fly, and no mistake, through the Kentish villages when most honest people were in their beds. Its enterprising owner was repeatedly pulled up and fined, and to this day his exploits are remembered against him.” Hodges ran the engine eight hundred miles; he had six summonses in six weeks, and one was for running the engine thirty miles an hour. It was afterwards altered to resemble a fire engine and the passengers were equipped like firemen, wearing brass helmets. The device did not deceive the police, and finally the carriage was made over into a real self-moving fire engine.
Richard Tangye
The steam carriage built by the Tangye Brothers, of England, about 1852, was a simple affair. It had seating capacity in the body for six or eight persons, while three or four more could be accommodated in front. The driver who sat in front had full control of the stop valve and reversing lever, so that the engine could be stopped or reversed by him as occasion required. The speed of twenty miles an hour could be attained, and the engine with its load easily ascended the steepest gradients.
Richard Tangye, in his autobiography, speaks of his experience with this carriage in the following terms: “Great interest was manifested in our experiment, and it soon became evident that there was an opening for a considerable business in these engines, and we made our preparations accordingly, but the ‘wisdom’ of Parliament made it impossible. The squires became alarmed lest their horses should take fright; and although a judge ruled that a horse that would not stand the sight or sound of a locomotive, in these days of steam, constituted a public danger, and that its owner should be punished and not the owner of the locomotive, an act was passed providing that no engine should travel more than four miles an hour on the public roads. Thus was the trade in quick-speed locomotives strangled in its cradle; and the inhabitants of country districts left unprovided with improved facilities for traveling.” The Tangye carriage thus driven out of England was sent to India, where it continued to give good service.
T. W. Cowan
At the London Exhibition of 1862, the Messrs. Yarrow and Hilditch, of Barnsbury, near London, exhibited a steam carriage, designed and made by T. W. Cowan, of Greenwich. Eleven passengers, besides the driver and the fireman, were carried and the vehicle with full load weighed two tons and a half. The boiler, of steel, was a vertical multitubular two feet in diameter and three feet nine inches high. The frame of the carriage was of ash, lined with wrought-iron plates, and to the outside of the bottom sill were two iron foundation plates, to which the cylinders and other parts were attached. The cylinders were five inches in diameter and had nine-inch stroke.
Charles T. Hayball
A quick-speed road locomotive was made by Charles T. Hayball, of Lymington, Hants, England, in 1864. The machinery was mounted upon a wrought-iron frame, that was carried upon three wheels. The two driving wheels had an inner and an outer tire, and the space between was filled with wood to reduce noise and lessen the concussion. The two steam cylinders were each four and one-half inches in diameter and with six-inch stroke. Hayball used a vertical boiler, two feet two inches in diameter, and four feet high, working at a pressure of one hundred and fifty pounds. The carriage ran up an incline of one in twelve at sixteen miles an hour, and traveled four miles an hour in fourteen minutes, up hill and down, with ten passengers on board.
Isaac W. Boulton
In August, 1867, Thomas Boulton says: “I ran a small road locomotive constructed by Isaac W. Boulton, of Ashton-under-Lyne, from here through Manchester, Eccles, Warrington, Preston Brook, to Chester, paraded the principal streets of Chester, and returned home, the distance being over ninety miles in one day without a stoppage except for water.” Boulton’s engine had one cylinder four and one-half inches in diameter, and with nine-inch stroke. The boiler worked at one hundred and thirty pounds pressure per square inch. The driving wheels were five feet in diameter. Two speeds were obtained by means of spur gearing between the crank shaft and the counter shaft. On the Chester trip six persons, and sometimes eight and ten passengers, were carried.
Armstrong
The virtues of the horseless vehicle early penetrated to India. Many English manufacturers sent carriages there. Some time in 1868, a steam carriage, with two steam cylinders, each three inches in diameter, and with six-inch stroke, was made by Armstrong, of Rawilpindee, Punjab. A separate stop valve was fitted to each cylinder. The boiler was fifteen inches in diameter and three feet high, and worked steam pressure of one hundred pounds per square inch. Twelve miles an hour on the level, and six miles an hour up grade of one in twenty, were made. The driving wheels were three feet in diameter.
Pierre Ravel
Ravel, of France, planned in 1868 a steam vehicle, and about 1870 completed the construction of one at the barracks at Saint-Owen. Then came the declaration of war with Prussia, and the barracks, being within the zone of fortification, the vehicle was lost or destroyed. There is no certainty that it was ever unearthed after peace was declared.
L. T. Pyott
Before 1876, a motor vehicle was invented by L. T. Pyott, who was then a foreman with the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. The carriage, which could carry seven persons at the rate of twenty miles an hour, cost about two thousand two hundred dollars, and weighed nearly two tons. It was shown at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, but was not allowed to run on the streets.
A. Richter
An engineer and mechanician of Neider-Bielan, Oberlaneitz, Germany, Richter secured in 1877 a patent for a vehicle that was propelled by a motor consisting of a stack or battery of elliptic springs horizontally disposed, which were compressed by a charge of powerful powder exploded in what was practically a cannon. The subsequent expansion transmitted the driving effort to the wheels by a rack of gears. The success of this vehicle is not generally known.
Raffard
In 1881, Raffard, a French engineer, made a tricycle and a tram-car that is said to have been the first electric automobile which ran satisfactorily.
Charles Jeanteaud
It is claimed for Jeanteaud that he built a four-wheeled electric vehicle about 1881, which was changed in 1887 by the addition of an Immisch motor. In 1890 he constructed a three-wheeled steam vehicle for five persons, having the advice and interest of Archdeacon. In June, 1895, at the Paris-Bordeaux race, he entered an electric automobile and established battery relays every twenty-five kilometers, but without success so far as speed was involved in comparison with the gasoline cars. In 1897 he constructed a gasoline phaeton, but his subsequent work has been primarily confined to the electric.
Sylvester Haywood Roper
As early as 1850, Sylvester Haywood Roper, of Roxbury, Mass., began experimenting with steam for street-vehicle propulsion. In 1882, when he was seventy-three years of age, he fitted a Columbia bicycle with a miniature engine, and with this he could run seventy miles on one charge of fuel. His bicycle weighed one hundred and sixty-five pounds. He engaged in many track events and his record for three runs of one-third of a mile each, was forty-two, thirty-nine and thirty-seven seconds.
Copeland
A tandem tricycle with a vertical boiler and a two-cylinder vertical engine was built by Copeland, of Philadelphia, in 1882. Kerosene was used to fire the boiler. It is said that over two hundred of these machines were built.
G. Bouton
An ingenious and practical engineer, Bouton made various mechanical devices, but it is claimed that from a clever toy came the associations which have resulted in the now famous firm, DeDion-Bouton, with which he is connected. It is said Compte DeDion saw this toy and on asking for the maker, met Bouton. Thus came the partnership, in 1882, with Bouton and Trepardoux. Bouton made a steam tricycle in 1884, containing the remarkable light and efficient boiler of his invention, which for years remained the most important contribution of the firm to this art. In 1885 a quadricycle was made, and the success attending the runs made with this, in which Merrelle co-operated, was such as to bring forth the personal ideas of DeDion in so strong a manner that Trepardoux and Merrelle severed their connections with the firm.
The real beginning of the work of this firm was in 1884, and the several years following saw the production of numerous steam machines, including phaetons, dog carts, and a variety of other types. Even as late as 1897 heavy steam chars-bancs were made by them, and that year also saw their well-known thirty-five-passenger, six-wheeled coach, Pauline, on the streets of Paris—a vehicle which cost over twenty-six thousand francs, and had a thirty-five horse-power steam tractor. This vehicle had been preceded by a somewhat similar one constructed in 1893 on the old idea of a mechanical horse attached to an ordinary ’bus body from which the front wheels had been removed.
In 1895, DeDion-Bouton produced their first liquid hydro-carbon engine vehicle—a tricycle with air-cooled motor and dry-battery ignition, which is so well known to everyone in the industry to-day. These were manufactured in large numbers, and were followed by larger gasoline vehicles into which they introduced their engine, namely, a vertical position. In 1899, their three-passenger, four-wheeled vehicle, and in 1900 a six-passenger vehicle, made good reputations. Since then their large factory at Putaux, France, well known under the name of DeDion-Bouton et Cie, has been continually crowded with work on vehicles, and with the manufacture of their motors which are still sold independently to other makers in France, as well as in other countries. In fact the manufacture of engines and parts might be said to be now their main work.
Count A. DeDion
Count DeDion’s interest in an ingenious mechanical device constructed by Bouton, led to his backing the enterprise now so well known under his name. His activity in the Automobile Club of France, and in all the sporting events in the past ten years, has in fact brought him into far more prominence than his associate, Bouton. His interest and energy in connection with his company are well known, and though the credit for the mechanical work must undoubtedly be given to Bouton, DeDion is largely responsible for the great success and general prominence of the company.
Armand Peugeot
In 1885, and again in 1889, Armand Peugeot, a French inventor and manufacturer, brought up the subject of automobiles, and in 1889 he began to manufacture, using the Daimler motor. His first attention having been given to the motor, he brought out very soon his famous two-parallel cylinder mounted horizontally on the body frame. Originally of the firm of Fils de Peugeot, he severed his connection with that firm, and in 1876 formed the Society of Artisans. In 1898, additional factories were erected at Fives-Lille, and now the concern has works also at Audincourt. The latter works is claimed to be the most extensive automobile manufacturing establishment in the world. Peugeot is a member of many learned societies, was elected an officer of the Academie in 1881, and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1889.
Radcliffe Ward
Ward commenced his experiments in England about 1886, and built a cab in 1887, which he ran in Brighton with more or less success. A second vehicle, an omnibus, was built by him and run on the streets in London in 1888, and actually covered, all told, five thousand miles.
Mors
A manufacturer of electrical apparatus, the Mors establishment made a steam vehicle in 1886, and some ten years later began to manufacture gasoline vehicles.
Magnus Volk
In 1887, Volk built an electrical dog cart which, like that of Ward, was seen on the streets of Brighton. The next year he associated himself with Immisch & Co., and built for the Sultan of Turkey an electrical dog cart. This was claimed to have a radius of fifty miles at ten miles an hour, with seven hundred pounds of battery in twenty-four cells, driving the vehicle by means of a one horse-power motor.
Butler
About the same time that Daimler and Benz were at work, Butler, an Englishman, was studying to make a hydro-carbon engine. He had drawings in 1884 and got out a patent in 1887. He built a tricycle soon after that date. This had two front wheels as steering wheels and a rear wheel driven by a two-cylinder engine. But Butler did not carry his plans further, for, as he wrote in 1890, “the authorities do not countenance its use on roads, and I have abandoned in consequence any further development of it.”
Le Blant
The steam carriage that Le Blant, of France, built carried nine passengers, and its weight, fuel and water included, was three and one-half tons. The engine was three-cylinder horizontal, and the boiler, a Serpollet instantaneous generator, was placed behind the carriage, the fireman beside it and the driver in front.
Emile Delahaye
Delahaye, of Tours, associated himself with the firm of Cail in 1870, spending some years in Belgium, but in 1890 the automobile so attracted him as to lead him to the construction of his first vehicle. For ten years he practically adhered to the horizontal engine under the seat, which construction we find him using in 1900. It is worthy of note that to Delahaye is given credit for the practical adaptation of the radiator in the arrangement now generally used in the cooling system.
Roger
Roger, of Paris, was the French licensee for Benz, taking up that motor much in the same manner as Panhard & Levassor took up the Daimler. In fact he had such close relations with Benz as to guide the further development of both. To this extent he was doubtless largely responsible for converting Benz to the four-cycle instead of the two-cycle construction, and he is also credited with having brought about the change from the vertical crank shaft to the horizontal in the Benz cars. Making good headway in 1894, he had produced fifty or more machines by 1895, and ran one in the Paris-Bordeaux race of that year. He brought a car to New York in 1896, and took part in the Cosmopolitan race, from New York to Ardsley and return.
Georges Richard
In 1893, Georges Richard began cycle manufacturing in a small shop and two years later turned his business into a limited corporation. In 1897, he began the manufacture of automobiles. His motor is a development of the Benz, with ignition improvement.
Pochain
Pochain, in France, built in 1893 a six-seated phaeton with fifty-four cells of battery, which would seem to have been practically the first satisfactory vehicle of its kind.
Louis Krieger
Early in the nineties of the last century Krieger made an electric vehicle. About 1894, he introduced his four-passenger hack, converted by substituting an electric fore carriage for the front axle of an ordinary vehicle. He has since developed his electric vehicles in the class of city carriages. A touring car, built for England, called the Powerful, made in 1901 notable records in that country in a long tour through the Isles. The principal work of Krieger, however, has been in the development of front drive and steer construction.
DeDetrich
Baron DeDetrich is of the well-known house that claims to have been founded more than one hundred years ago in Luneville, Alsace, and has grown to be one of the greatest works for the manufacture of locomotives and other machinery. In 1880 the concern is said to have employed four thousand men. Its connection with the automobile industry began practically in 1895, when the construction of automobiles on the system of Amédèe Bollèe & Sons was undertaken. With large resources and ability development was naturally rapid, resulting in the production to-day of one of the first-class French makes.
David Salomons
Sir David Salomons, Bart., was born in England, in 1851. He was educated for a short period at University College, London, and afterwards at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was graduated with natural science honors. He is a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, where he took leading part for many years on the Council, and served in the positions of honorary treasurer and vice-president. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of the Physical Society of London, and of the Royal Microscopical Society, and an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
SIR DAVID SALOMONS
Sir David was one of the first in England to adopt the electric light. This was about the year 1874, when he found it necessary to make the lamps, switches and other apparatus himself, as those were unobtainable at the time; much of the apparatus in general use to-day has been copied from his models. About 1874-5, he constructed a small electrical road carriage, which was in use a short time only, owing to the trouble of re-charging batteries, as no accumulators existed at that period. Devoting himself largely to scientific investigation he is the author of various works on scientific subjects, such as photographic optical formulæ, photography and electrical subjects, his chief work being his three-volume Electric Light Installations, now entering its ninth edition. Of this work, the first volume on Accumulators was for a great many years the only practical work on the subject. He is also the author of many papers read before scientific societies, including the Royal Society and Royal Institution. He is an original member of the Automobile Club of France and of the Automobile Club of Great Britain, being a member of the committee of the former and member of committee and a vice-president of the latter, and is also an ordinary or honorary member of most of the Continental automobile clubs. He was Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, 1894-5, and High Sheriff of Kent in 1881, and is a Magistrate for Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, Westminster and London.
The connection of Sir David Salomons with the encouragement and development of self-propelled traffic in the United Kingdom, constitutes one of the most important chapters in the contemporaneous history of the automobile. His first step to secure a favorable public opinion for the legislative measures that he proposed was to have an exhibition of vehicles, which took place at Tunbridge Wells, in October, 1895. As a result of this exhibition and a voluminous correspondence thereafter, the newspapers of Great Britain and many of the members of the Houses of Lords and Commons were brought to see the justice of the measures asked for. Next, the Self-Propelled Traffic Association was organized. Sir David Salomons was elected president and the campaign for Parliamentary action was inaugurated and brilliantly and energetically prosecuted. When the bill came before the Commons and the Lords it was substantially supported, but its provisions received a great deal of discussion. Some amendments, particularly relating to the questions of smoke and petroleum use, were attached to it. In the end, however, the act that was passed was generally satisfactory to all interested in the promotion and protection of self-propelled traffic. It has been said that “there has hardly been an act passed containing more liberal clauses and with more unity of action.” Its provisions allow of reasonable travel of all kinds of self-propelled vehicles throughout the Kingdom and the act as a whole is regarded as one of the most notable advances made in this matter during the present generation.
Leon Bollèe
A brother of Amédèe Bollèe, Leon Bollèe has been long interested in the business that bears the family name. In 1896, he brought out a motor cycle that was a type between a cycle and a vehicle. It had two front steering wheels and one front driver. The same type of vehicle has been adopted for light work, such as parcel delivery.
Joseph Guedon
Guedon made his appearance at Bordeaux, in October, 1897, with a four-wheeled wagonette, which he made under the name of the Decauville. His special construction was claimed to very largely eliminate the vibration of the vehicle, and his success can be fairly judged from the results in the past few years. The Decauville cars have been developed and refined to such a point as to be among the best of the French makes, and now have an international reputation.
Rene de Knyff
De Knyff became an enthusiastic automobilist, and with other gentlemen, sportsmen of the nobility, became a great amateur. He was and is still known as the King of Chauffeurs, having won several of the most important races, driving the Panhard cars to victory.
Adolf Clement
Born in 1855.
Entirely a self-made man, Clement had experience as a locksmith and served an apprenticeship as a tinsmith. He started and built up a bicycle manufacturing establishment which, in 1894, was considered one of the finest in France. In time this developed into the finest cycle manufactory in that country. It is situated in Levallois, near Paris. In 1899, Clement contracted with Panhard & Levassor to manufacture under their patents, and in 1900 he made a most successful light vehicle of four horse-power. Since then he has developed his automobile factory, and in the past few years has produced competitors for honors in the first class, which are known at home and abroad as the Bayard or Clement-Bayard cars.
A. Darracq
About fifty years of age, Darracq has had an energetic and successful career. He is now president of the Society of Engineers, Paris, and a member of the Legion of Honor. He is best known as an inventor in connection with the automobile industry. Among his inventions are a shaft drive and a beveled gear drive which are now universally used. He originated the idea of placing the operating lever on the steering post and made the first moderate priced automobile in France. He is now the engineer and manager of one of the biggest factories in the world.
A. DARRACQ
James Gordon Bennett
So interesting was the sporting side of the automobile movement that it early attracted the attention of James Gordon Bennett. The great runs, or tours, or races commenced in 1891, and continued annually from 1894 on, resulted in the offering of the Bennett trophy for international competition under conditions which may have been suggested by the America yacht cup races. In January, 1900, this was announced in Paris, and the custody of the trophy initially given to the Automobile Club of France as the first and foremost champions of automobiling. Elaborate and excellent rules govern the annual competition for the trophy, and the races are held in the country whose representative has won in the previous year. In this way the first race was in France, as well as the second, and the 1903 race in Ireland, while that of 1904 was held in Germany, but was won by a Frenchman, so that the 1905 race will again be held in the land of the original custodians of the trophy.
INDEX
INDEX
Adamson, Daniel, 158
Anderson, James Caleb, 145
Andrews, F., 137
Armstrong, 163
Automobile, Origin and Development of the, 11
Battin, 155
Baynes, John, 129
Bennett, James Gordon, 176
Benz, Carl, 94
Bernhard, Anthony, 154
Blanchard, 121
Blanchard, Thomas, 68
Bollèe, Amedèe, 90
Bollèe, Leon, 174
Bordino, Chevalier, 139
Boulton, Isaac W., 163
Bouton, G., 166
Brown, Samuel, 133
Brunton, William, 127
Burtsall, T., 132
Butler, 169
Carrett, W. O., 159
Cartwright, Edmund, 131
Church, W. H., 87
Clement Adolf, 175
Clive, 139
Copeland, 166
Cowan, T. W., 162
Cugnot, Nicholas Joseph, 31
Daimler, Gottlieb, 95
Dallery, Thomas Charles Auguste, 122
Dance, Charles, 142
Darracq, A., 175
Darwin, Erasmus, 118
Davidson, Robert, 148
Decauville, 174
De Detrich, 171
De Dion, Count A., 167
De Knyff, René, 175
Delahaye, Emile, 170
Dietz, 144
Dudgeon, Richard, 155
Dumbell, John, 126
Du Quet, 126
Edgeworth, Richard Lovell, 120
Evans, Oliver, 38
Farfleur, Stephen, 112
Field, Joshua, 143
Fisher, J. K., 153
Foreword, 5
Fourness, Robert, 123
Genevois, J. H., 126
Gibbs, 141
Goodman, 153
Gordon, David, 56
Griffiths, Julius, 130
Guedon, Joseph, 174
Gurney, Goldsworthy, 64
Hancock, Walter, 71
Harland, 137
Hautsch, Johann, 111
Hayball, Charles T., 162
Heaton, W. G., 148
Hill, F., 150
Holland, T. S., 135
Huygens, Christiaan, 111
Inventors, Pioneer, 29
Investigators, Noted, 105
James, William Henry, 59
James, William T., 77
Jeanteaud, Charles, 165
Johnson, 70
Kestler, J. S., 121
Krieger, Louis, 171
Knyff, René de, 175
Le Blant, 169
Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm von, 115
Lenoir, Jean Joseph Etienne, 89
Levassor, 99
Lough and Messenger, 155
Maceroni, Francis, 78
Mackworth, Humphrey, 115
Marcus, Siegfried, 93
Masurier, 121
Medhurst, George, 124
Messenger, 155
Millichap, G., 144
Moore, Francis, 120
Mors, 169
Murdock, William, 34
Nasmyth, James, 135
Neville, James, 134
Newton, Isaac, 113
Norrgber, 153
Noted Investigators, 105
Ogle, Summers and, 140
Origin and Development of the Automobile, 11
Papin, Denis, 116
Parker, T. W., 133
Pecqueur, 138
Peugeot, Armand, 168
Pioneer Inventors, 29
Planta, 121
Pochain, 171
Pocock, George, 133
Pyott, L. T., 164
Raffard, 165
Ramsey, David, 110
Ravel, Pierre, 164
Read, Nathan, 48
Renault, Louis, 101
Renault, Marcel, 101
Richard, Elié, 114
Richard, Georges, 171
Richter, A., 164
Rickett, Thomas, 156
Roberts, Richard, 82
Robinson, 118
Roger, 170
Roper, Sylvester Haywood, 165
Russell, John Scott, 83
Salomons, Sir David, 172
Selden, George B., 91
Serpollet, Leon, 100
Stirling, 159
Stevin, Simon, 109
Summers and Ogle, 140
Symington, William, 45
Tangye, Richard, 161
Tindall, Thomas, 129
Thompson, R. W., 154
Trevithick, Richard, 50
Vaucauson, 117
Vegelius, 114
Verbiest, Fernando, 112
Viney, James, 138
Vivian, Andrew, 125
Volk, Magnus, 169
Von Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 115
Ward, Radcliffe, 168
Watt, James, 122
Wildgosse, Thomas, 110
Yates, 144