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The history of steam road vehicles comprises the development of
vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...
s powered by a
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...
for use on land and independent of
rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...
, whether for conventional
road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...
use, such as the
steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
and
steam waggon A steam wagon (or steam lorry, steam waggon or steamtruck) is a steam-powered truck for carrying freight. It was the earliest form of lorry (truck) and came in two basic forms: ''overtype'' and ''undertype'', the distinction being the position ...
, or for agricultural or heavy haulage work, such as the
traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...
. The first experimental vehicles were built in the 18th and 19th century, but it was not until after
Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...
had developed the use of high-pressure steam, around 1800, that mobile steam engines became a practical proposition. The first half of the 19th century saw great progress in steam vehicle design, and by the 1850s it was viable to produce them on a commercial basis. This progress was dampened by legislation which limited or prohibited the use of steam-powered vehicles on roads. Nevertheless, the 1880s to the 1920s saw continuing improvements in vehicle technology and manufacturing techniques, and steam road vehicles were developed for many applications. In the 20th century, the rapid development of
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal co ...
technology led to the demise of the steam engine as a source of propulsion of vehicles on a commercial basis, with relatively few remaining in use beyond the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. Many of these vehicles were acquired by enthusiasts for preservation, and numerous examples are still in existence. In the 1960s the air pollution problems in California gave rise to a brief period of interest in developing and studying steam-powered vehicles as a possible means of reducing the pollution. Apart from interest by steam enthusiasts, the occasional replica vehicles and experimental technology no steam vehicles are in production at present. Early steam-powered vehicles which were uncommon but not rare, had considerable disadvantages, as seen from the viewpoint of 100 years later. They were slow to start as water had to be boiled to generate the steam. They used dirty fuel (coal) and put out dirty smoke. Fuel was bulky and had to be put on the vehicle by hand using a
shovel A shovel is a tool used for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Most shovels are hand tools consisting of a broad blade fixed to a medium-length handle. Shovel blades are usually made o ...
. The engine needed water, if it were used at top speed, it needed water more often. Most vehicles had metal wheels and less than excellent traction. They were heavy. Like a furnace, hot ash had to be removed and disposed of. In most cases the user had to do their own maintenance. Speed was slow about per hour and acceleration was very slow. At the same time, this was "
high tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
" for the time. Later developments were a great improvement, using cleaner liquid fuel (
kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning " wax", and was re ...
), being fitted with condensers and rubber tyres, and being much lighter.


Early pioneers

Early research on the
steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...
before 1700 was closely linked to the quest for self-propelled vehicles and ships, the first practical applications from 1712 were stationary plant working at very low pressure which entailed engines of very large dimensions. The size reduction necessary for road transport meant an increase in steam pressure with all the attendant dangers, due to the inadequate boiler technology of the period. A strong opponent of high pressure steam was
James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was ...
who along with
Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton (; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engin ...
did all he could to dissuade
William Murdoch William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...
from developing and patenting his steam carriage built and operated in model form in 1784. In 1791 he built a larger steam carriage which he had to abandon to do other work. During the latter part of the 18th century, there were numerous attempts to produce self-propelled steerable vehicles. Many remained in the form of models. Progress was dogged by many problems inherent to road vehicles in general, such as adequate road surfaces, suitable power plant giving steady rotative motion, tyres, vibration resistant bodywork, braking, suspension and steering among other issues. The extreme complexity of these issues can be said to have hampered progress over more than a hundred years, as much as hostile legislation.


Verbiest steam carriage

Ferdinand Verbiest Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in the County of Flanders (now part of Belgium). He is known as Nan Huairen () in Chi ...
is suggested to have built what may have been the first steam carriage in about 1679, but very little concrete information on this is known to exist. Also it seems that the Belgian vehicle served as an inspiration for the Italian Grimaldi (early 1700) and the French Nolet (1748) steam carriage successor.


Cugnot "''Fardier à vapeur''"

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (26 February 1725 – 2 October 1804) was a French inventor who built the world's first full-size and working self-propelled mechanical land-vehicle, the "Fardier à vapeur" – effectively the world's first automobile. B ...
's "''machine à feu pour le transport de wagons et surtout de l'artillerie''" ("fire engine for transporting wagons and especially artillery") was built in two versions, one in 1769 and one in 1771 for use by the French Army. This was the first
steam wagon A steam wagon (or steam lorry, steam waggon or steamtruck) is a steam-powered truck for carrying freight. It was the earliest form of lorry (truck) and came in two basic forms: ''overtype'' and ''undertype'', the distinction being the position ...
that was not a toy, and that was known to exist. Cugnot's ''fardier'' a term usually applied to a massive two wheeled cart for exceptionally heavy loads, was intended to be capable of transporting 4 tonnes (3.9 tons), and of travelling at up to 4 km/h (2.5 mph). The vehicle was of
tricycle A tricycle, sometimes abbreviated to trike, is a human-powered (or gasoline or electric motor powered or assisted, or gravity powered) three-wheeled vehicle. Some tricycles, such as cycle rickshaws (for passenger transport) and freight trikes ...
layout, with two rear wheels and a steerable front wheel controlled by a
tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder ...
. There is considerable evidence, from the period, that this vehicle actually ran, making it probably the first to do so, however it remained a short lived experiment due to inherent instability and the vehicle's failure to meet the Army's specified performance level.


Symington steam carriage

In 1786
William Symington William Symington (1764–1831) was a Scottish engineer and inventor, and the builder of the first practical steamboat, the Charlotte Dundas. Early life Symington was born in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, to a family he described as ...
built a steam carriage.


Fourness and Ashworth steam car

A British patent No.1674 of December 1788 was granted for a steam car by Fourness and Ashworth.


Trevithick steam carriage

In 1801
Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...
constructed an experimental steam-driven vehicle (''Puffing Devil'') which was equipped with a firebox enclosed within the boiler, with one vertical cylinder, the motion of the single piston being transmitted directly to the driving wheels by means of
connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the crank ...
s. It was reported as weighing 1520 kg fully loaded, with a speed of 14.5 km/h (9 mph) on the flat. During its first trip it was left unattended and was "self destructed". Trevithick soon built the ''
London Steam Carriage The London Steam Carriage was an early steam-powered road vehicle constructed by Richard Trevithick in 1803 and the world's first self-propelled passenger-carrying vehicle. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, Cugnot had built a steam vehicle 30 years previous ...
'' that ran successfully in London in 1803, but the venture failed to attract interest and soon folded up. In the context of Trevithick's vehicle, an English writer by the name of "Mickleham" in 1822 coined the term ''Steam engine'': :"It exhibits in construction the most beautiful simplicity of parts, the most sagacious selection of appropriate forms, the most convenient and effective arrangement and connexion uniting strength with elegance, the necessary solidity with the greatest portability, possessing unlimited power with a wonderful pliancy to accommodate it to the varying resistance: it may indeed be called ''The steam engine''."


Evans Steam-powered amphibious craft

In 1805
Oliver Evans Oliver Evans (September 13, 1755 – April 15, 1819) was an American inventor, engineer and businessman born in rural Delaware and later rooted commercially in Philadelphia. He was one of the first Americans building steam engines and an advoca ...
built the ''Oruktor amphibolos'' (literally ''Amphibious digger''), a steam-powered, flat bottomed dredger that he modified to be self-propelled on both water and land. It is widely believed to be the first
amphibious vehicle An amphibious vehicle (or simply amphibian), is a vehicle that is a means of transport viable on land as well as on or under water. Amphibious vehicles include amphibious Amphibious cycle, bicycles, Amphibious ATV, ATVs, Amphibious automobile, ca ...
, and the first steam-powered road vehicle to run in the United States. However, no designs for the machine survive, and the only accounts of its achievements come from Evans himself. Later analysis of Evans's descriptions suggests that the engine was unlikely to have been powerful enough to move the vehicle either on land or water, and that the chosen route for its demonstration would have had the benefit of gravity, river currents and tides to assist with the vehicles' progress. The dredger was not a success, and after a few years lying idle, was dismantled for parts.


Summers and Ogle steam carriage

In around 1830 or 1831
Summers and Ogle Day, Summers and Company was a British steam locomotive manufacturer and shipbuilder in the Southampton area. The company's history is complex and involves five men: , John Thomas Groves, Charles Arthur Day, William Baldock and Nathaniel Ogle. F ...
based at the Iron Foundry, Millbrook, Southampton, made two three wheeled steam carriages. In 1831 the firm's
Nathaniel Ogle Day, Summers and Company was a British steam locomotive manufacturer and shipbuilder in the Southampton area. The company's history is complex and involves five men: , John Thomas Groves, Charles Arthur Day, William Baldock and Nathaniel Ogle. F ...
gave evidence on the steam carriage to the "Select Committee of the House of Commons on Steam Carriages". In 1832 one of their steam carriages travelled via Oxford to Birmingham and Liverpool. A June 1833 newspaper report described a demonstration in London:


Early steam carriage services

More commercially successful for a time than Trevithick's carriage were the steam carriage services operated in England in the 1830s, principally by associates of
Sir Goldsworthy Gurney Sir Goldsworthy Gurney (14 February 1793 – 28 February 1875) was an English surgeon, chemist, architect, builder, lecturer and consultant. He was a prototypical British gentleman scientist and inventor of the Victorian era. Amongst many a ...
and by
Walter Hancock Walter Hancock (16 June 1799 – 14 May 1852) was an English inventor of the Victorian era, Victorian period. He is chiefly remembered for his Steam power, steam-powered road vehicles, but also received a patent for preparing and cutting natu ...
among others and in Scotland by
John Scott Russell John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built '' Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brune ...
. However, the heavy road tolls imposed by the Turnpike Acts discouraged steam road vehicles and for a short time allowed the continued monopoly of horse traction until railway trunk routes became established in the 1840s and 1850s. Sir James C. Anderson and his engineering partner Jasper Wheeler Rogers were the first to bring steam-propulsion vehicles to Ireland. Rogers and Anderson created their versions of these devices in the 1830s and early 1840s where they advocated for an island-wide conveyance network that would utilize Ireland's mail coach roads. An 1838 Cork Southern Reporter article on Anderson's “steam drag, or carriage for common roads” recounts how Anderson and his father (both of Buttevant Castle) spent “a fortune in building twenty-nine unsuccessful carriages to succeed in the thirtieth." Jasper Rogers built his Irish steam-driven cars in a former flint-glass factory, Fort Chrystal, located on what is now known as Dublin's East Wall. Accompanying Rogers’ and Anderson's interests in improvements in Irish conveyance of goods and people, they particularly advocated steam-propelled individual vehicles because the operators, road network staff, and work crews needed to maintain the system were much more encompassing than those utilized by a railway system alone, at a time when Rogers and Anderson were trying to maximize Irish wage employment. They could see that their immediate competitor, the railway, would greatly diminish labor needs within Ireland's transportation infrastructures. Similarly, a national railway system would contract, rather than expand, inner-island travel destinations. Rogers’ and Anderson's steam-vehicle system called for numerous way-stations for refueling and supplying fresh water, and at the same time, these stations could house a “road police” as well as telegraph depots. Essentially most Irish villages, no matter how remote, would participate in this grand steam-vehicle network. Locals would be able to earn extra money by carrying rocks to the fuel stations, rocks that would be used to build, repair, or maintain the roadways. In addition, every village would require a local road repair crew.


Military application of steam road vehicles

During the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
(1853–1856) a
traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...
was used to pull multiple open trucks. In the 1870s many armies experimented with
steam tractor :''This article refers to the steam-powered agricultural tractor; for other types of steam tractor, see: Traction engine'' A steam tractor is a vehicle powered by a steam engine which is used for pulling. In North America, the term ''steam ...
s pulling
road train A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Early ...
s of supply wagons. By 1898
steam traction engine A traction engine is a steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engin ...
trains with up to four wagons were employed in military manoeuvres in England. In 1900 John Fowler & Co. provided armoured road trains for use by the British forces in the
Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...
.


Victorian Age of steam

Although engineers developed ingenious steam-powered road vehicles, they did not enjoy the same level of acceptance and expansion as steam power at sea and on the railways in the middle and late 19th century of the "Age of steam". Ransomes built a portable steam engine, that is a farm steam engine on wheels, hauled from farm to farm by horses in 1841. The next year Ransomes automated it and had the engine drive itself to farms. Harsh legislation virtually eliminated mechanically propelled vehicles from the roads of Great Britain for 30 years, the ''
Locomotive Act The Locomotive Acts (or Red Flag Acts) were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom regulating the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century. The first three, the Lo ...
'' of 1861 imposing restrictive speed limits on "road locomotives" of 5 mph (8 km/h) in towns and cities, and 10 mph (16 km/h) in the country. In 1865 the ''Locomotives Act'' of that year (the famous
Red Flag Act The Locomotive Acts (or Red Flag Acts) were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom regulating the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century. The first three, the Lo ...
) further reduced the speed limits to 4 mph (6.4 km/h) in the country and just 2 mph (3.2 km/h) in towns and cities, additionally requiring a man bearing a red flag (red lantern during the hours of darkness) to precede every vehicle. At the same time, the act gave local authorities the power to specify the hours during which any such vehicle might use the roads. The sole exceptions were street
trams A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ar ...
which from 1879 onwards were authorised under licence from the
Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
. In France the situation was radically different from the extent of the 1861 ministerial ruling formally authorising the circulation of steam vehicles on ordinary roads. Whilst this led to considerable technological advances throughout the 1870s and 1880s, steam vehicles nevertheless remained a rarity. To an extent competition from the successful railway network reduced the need for steam vehicles. From the 1860s onwards, attention was turned more to the development of various forms of
traction engine A traction engine is a steam engine, steam-powered tractor used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin ''tractus'', meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any t ...
which could either be used for stationary work such as sawing wood and threshing, or for transporting outsize loads too voluminous to go by rail. Steam trucks were also developed but their use was generally confined to the local distribution of heavy materials such as coal and building materials from railway stations and ports.


Rickett of Buckingham steam car

In 1854 Thomas Rickett of
Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
built the first of several steam cars and in 1858 he built the second. Instead of looking like a steam car it resembled a small locomotive. It consisted of a steam engine mounted on three wheels: two large driven rear wheels and one smaller front wheel by which the vehicle was steered. The weight of the machine was 1.5 tonnes and somewhat lighter than Rickett's steam car. The whole was driven by a
chain drive Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles. It is also used in a wide variety of machines besides vehicles. ...
and a maximum speed of twelve miles per hour was reached. Two years later in 1860 Rickett built a similar but heavier vehicle. This model incorporated
spur-gear A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...
drive instead of chain. In his final design resembling a railway locomotive, the
cylinder A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an ...
s were coupled directly outside the cranks of the
driving-axle On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled tog ...
.


Roper steam car

Sylvester H. Roper drove around
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, Massachusetts on a steam car he invented in 1863. One of his 1863 steam cars went to the
Henry Ford Museum The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...
, where in 1972 it was the oldest car in the collection. Around 1867–1869 he built a steam velocipede, which may have been the first
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: Long-distance ...
. Roper died in 1896 of heart failure while testing a later version of his steam motorcycle.


Manzetti steam car

In 1864 Italian inventor
Innocenzo Manzetti Innocenzo Vincenzo Bartolomeo Luigi Carlo Manzetti (; 17 March 1826 – 15 March 1877) was an Italians, Italian inventor born in Aosta. Following his primary school studies he went to the Jesuit-run Saint Bénin Boarding School and then on to ...
built a road steamer.Innocenzo Manzetti - Le invenzioni
/ref> It had the boiler at the front and a single cylinder engine.


Holt Road steamer

H.P. Holt constructed a small road steamer in 1866. Able to reach a speed of twenty miles per hour on level roads, it had a vertical boiler at the rear and two separate twin cylinder engines, each of which drove one rear wheel by means of a
chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. ...
and sprocket wheels.


Taylor Steam buggy

In 1867 Canadian jeweller Henry Seth Taylor demonstrated his four wheeled steam buggy at the Stanstead Fair in
Stanstead, Quebec Stanstead is a town in the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, located on the Canada–United States border across from Derby Line, Vermont. The Town of Stanstead was created in 1995 by the merger of t ...
and again the following year. The basis of the buggy which he began building in 1865 was a high wheeled carriage with bracing to support a two cylinder steam engine mounted on the floor.


Michaux-Perreaux Steam velocipede

Around 1867–1869 in France a
Louis-Guillaume Perreaux Louis-Guillaume Perreaux (19 February 1816 – 5 April 1889) was a French inventor and engineer who submitted one of the first patents for a working motorcycle in 1869. Early life Perreaux was born in the village of Almenêches, in Normandy, Fran ...
commercial steam engine was attached to a Pierre Michaux metal framed
velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation ...
, creating the
Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede The Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede was a steam powered velocipede made in France sometime from 1867 to 1871, when a small Louis-Guillaume Perreaux commercial steam engine was attached to a Pierre Michaux manufactured iron framed pedal bicycle ...
. Along with the
Roper steam velocipede The Roper steam velocipede was a Steam engine, steam-powered velocipede built by inventor Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, United States sometime from 1867–1869. It is one of three machines which have been called the first m ...
, it might have been the first motorcycle. The only Michaux-Perreaux Steam velocipede made is in the Musée de l'Île-de-France, Sceaux, and was included in The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition in New York in 1998.


Knight of Farnham steam carriage

In 1868-1870 John Henry Knight of
Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tri ...
built a four wheeled steam carriage which originally only had a
single-cylinder engine A single-cylinder engine, sometimes called a thumper, is a piston engine with one cylinder. This engine is often used for motorcycles, motor scooters, go-karts, all-terrain vehicles, radio-controlled vehicles, portable tools and garden machinery ...
.


Catley and Ayres of York steam car

In 1869 a small three wheeled vehicle propelled by a horizontal twin cylinder engine which drove the rear axle by spur gearing, only one rear wheel was driven, the other turning freely on the axle. A vertical
fire-tube boiler A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating ...
was mounted at the rear with a polished copper casing over the fire box and chimney, the boiler was enclosed in a mahogany casing. The weight was only 19 cwt and the front wheel was used for steering.


Thomson of Edinburgh Road steamer

In 1869 the road steamer built by
Robert William Thomson Robert William Thomson PRSSA FRSE (29 June 1822–8 March 1873), from Stonehaven, Scotland, was the inventor of the fountain pen and original inventor of the pneumatic tyre. Life He was born on 29 June 1822 in Stonehaven in the northeas ...
of
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
became famous because its wheels were shod with heavy solid rubber tyres. Thomson's first road steamers, manufactured in his own small workshop in Leith, were fitted with three wheels, the small single wheel at the front being directly below the steering wheel. The tyres, which were thick, were corrugated internally and adhered to the wheel by friction. He then turned to T. M. Tennant and Co of Bowershall Iron and Engine Works, Leith for their manufacture, but as they could not keep up with demand in 1870 some of the production was moved to
Robey & Co Robey and Co. was an engineering company based in Lincoln, England which can be traced back to at least 1849. In 1854 Watkinson and Robey ''Engineers and Millwrights'' were manufacturing Portable Engines and machinery of every description in Rum ...
of Lincoln. Over the next two years Robeys built 32 of these vehicles, which were either versions. A large proportion were exported. These included one to Italy (for an experiment of public transport in Bergamo), three to Austria (Vienna) and others to Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, India, Ireland, Chile, Russia (Moscow) and Greece. A further Thomson steam vehicle was built in 1877, but apart from traction engines, Robeys appear to have discontinued making road steam vehicles until 1904, when they started manufacturing steam road lorries.


Kemna of East-Prussia Road steamer

In 1871
Julius Kemna Julius Kemna (December 8, 1837 in Barmen – June 8, 1898 in Breslau) was a German machine manufacturer and industrialist. He was the founder of Kemna Bau. Biography Early life Julius Kemna was born the only son of Johann Abraham Kemna ...
, a German industrialist, started selling English steam threshing systems. A couple of years later Kemna started producing various other steam-powered vehicles (such as
road roller A road roller (sometimes called a roller-compactor, or just roller) is a compactor-type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations. Similar rollers are used also at la ...
s) but also high quality steam ploughing engines and road steamers.


Randolph of Glasgow Steam bus

In 1872 a steam coach by
Charles Randolph Charles Randolph is an American screenwriter and producer for film and television. In 2015, he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay along with Adam McKay for co-writing ''The Big Short''. In 2019, he wrote and produced the film '' ...
of
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
weighed , was in length, but had a maximum speed of only . Two vertical twin cylinder engines were independent of one another and each drove one of the rear wheels by spur gearing. The entire vehicle was enclosed and fitted with windows all around, carried six people, and even had two driving mirrors for observing traffic approaching from behind, the earliest recorded instance of such a device.


Bollée Steam bus

From 1873 to 1883
Amédée Bollée Amédée-Ernest Bollée (11 January 1844 – 20 January 1917) was a French bellfounder and inventor who specialized in steam cars. After 1867 he was known as "Amédée père" to distinguish him from his similarly named son, Amédée-Ernest- ...
of
Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...
built a series of steam-powered passenger vehicles able to carry 6 to 12 people at speeds up to , with such names as ''La Rapide'', ''La Nouvelle'', ''La Marie-Anne'', ''La Mancelle'' and ''L'Obéissante''. To ''L'Obeissante'' the boiler was mounted behind the passenger compartment with the engine at the front of the vehicle, driving the differential through a shaft with chain drive to the rear wheels. The driver sat behind the engine and steered by means of a wheel mounted on a vertical shaft. The lay out more closely resembled much later motor cars than other steam vehicles. Moreover, in 1873 it had
independent suspension Independent suspension is any automobile suspension system that allows each wheel on the same axle to move vertically (i.e. reacting to a bump on the road) independently of the others. This is contrasted with a beam axle or deDion axle system ...
on all four corners., p.61.


Grenville of Glastonbury steam car

In 1875-1880 R. Neville Grenville of
Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
constructed a 3 wheeled steam vehicle which travelled a maximum of . This vehicle is still in existence, preserved for many years in the Bristol City Museum but since 2012 at the
National Motor Museum, Beaulieu The National Motor Museum (originally the Montagu Motor Museum) is a museum in the village of Beaulieu, set in the heart of the New Forest, in the English county of Hampshire. History The museum was founded in 1952 by Edward Douglas-Scot ...
.


Cederholm of Sweden steam car

In 1892 painter Joens Cederholm and his brother, André, a blacksmith, designed their first car, a two seater, introducing a condensor in 1894. It was not a success. G.N. Georgano ''Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930''. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985).


Shearer of South Australia steam car

Starting in 1894
David Shearer David James Shearer (born 28 July 1957) is a New Zealand United Nations worker and politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for the Labour Party from 2009 to 2016, serving as Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013. Shear ...
designed and built the first car in Australia. It was capable of on the streets of Adelaide, South Australia. The boiler was his own design, being a horizontal boiler of the semi flash type. Steering was by a tiller type design and a photograph of the vehicle shows it carrying eight passengers. The news article on the car has a sectional drawing of the design. The car's first official road trial was in 1899.


De Dion & Bouton Steam vehicles

:''See
steam tricycle A steam tricycle is a steam-driven three-wheeled vehicle. History In the early days of motorised vehicle development, a number of experimenters built steam-powered vehicles with three wheels. The first steam tricycle – and probably the first ...
'' The development by
Léon Serpollet Léon Serpollet (4 October 1858 – 1 February 1907) was a French engineer and developer of flash steam boilers and steam automobiles. Léon Serpollet was born in Culoz, in the Ain department of France in 1859, son of the carpenter August ...
of the flash steam boiler brought about the appearance of various diminutive steam tricycles and quadricycles during the late 80s and early 90s, notably by de Dion and Bouton, these successfully competed in long distance races but soon met with stiff competition for public favour from the internal combustion engine cars being developed, notably by
Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and then ...
, that quickly cornered most of the popular market. In the face of the flood of IC cars, proponents of the steam car had to fight a long rear guard battle that was to last into modern times.


Locomobile Company of America

This American firm bought the patents from the Stanley brothers and began building their steam buggies from 1898 to 1905.
Locomobile Company of America The Locomobile Company of America was a pioneering American automobile manufacturer founded in 1899, and known for its dedication to precision before the assembly-line era. It was one of the earliest car manufacturers in the advent of the automo ...
went into building gas cars and lasted until the Depression.


Stanley Motor Carriage Company

In 1902 the twins Francis E. Stanley (1849–1918) and Freelan O. Stanley formed the
Stanley Motor Carriage Company The Stanley Motor Carriage Company was an American manufacturer of steam cars; it operated from 1902 to 1924. The cars made by the company were colloquially called Stanley Steamers, although several different models were produced. Early history ...
. They made famous models such as the 1906 Stanley Rocket, 1908 Stanley K Raceabout and 1923 Stanley Steam Car.


Early to mid-20th century

In 1906 the
land speed record The land speed record (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regul ...
was broken by a Stanley steam car, piloted by Fred Marriott, which achieved at
Ormond Beach, Florida Ormond Beach is a city in central Florida in Volusia County. The population was 43,080 at the 2020 census. Ormond Beach lies directly north of Daytona Beach and is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL Metropolita ...
. This annual week-long "Speed Week" was the forerunner of today's
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of thre ...
. This record was not exceeded by any land vehicle until 1910, and stood as the steam-powered world speed record till 25 August 2009.


Doble steam car

Attempts were made to bring more advanced steam cars on the market, the most remarkable being the
Doble Steam Car The Doble steam car was an American steam car maker from 1909 to 1931. Its latter models of steam car, with fast-firing boiler and electric start, were considered the pinnacle of steam car development. The term "Doble steam car" comprises any o ...
which shortened start up time very noticeably by incorporating a highly efficient mono tube steam generator to heat a much smaller quantity of water along with effective automation of burner and water feed control. By 1923 Doble's steam cars could be started from cold with the turn of a key and driven off in 40 seconds or less.


Paxton Phoenix steam car

Abner Doble developed the Doble Ultimax engine for the Paxton Phoenix steam car, built by the Paxton Engineering Division of
McCulloch Motors Corporation McCulloch Motors Corporation is an American manufacturer of chainsaws and other outdoor power tools. The company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1943 by Robert P. McCulloch, Robert Paxton McCulloch as a manufacturer of small Two-stroke e ...
, Los Angeles. Its sustained maximum power was . The project was eventually dropped in 1954.


Decline of steam car development

Steam cars became less popular after the adoption of the
electric starter A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. T ...
, which eliminated the need for risky hand cranking to start gasoline-powered cars. The introduction of assembly-line mass production by
Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
, which hugely reduced the cost of owning a conventional automobile, was also a strong factor in the steam car's demise as the
Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
was both cheap and reliable.


Late 20th century

:''See steam car#Air pollution, fuel crises, resurgence and enthusiasts''


Renewed interest

In 1968 renewed interest was shown, sometimes prompted by newly available techniques. Some of these designs used safer and more responsive
water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gen ...
s. A prototype car was built by Charles J. & Calvin E. Williams of Ambler, Pennsylvania. Other high-performance steam cars were built by Richard J. Smith of Midway City, California, and A.M. and E. Pritchard of Caulfeld, Australia. Companies/organisations as Controlled Steam Dynamics of Mesa, Arizona,
General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
, Thermo-Electron Corp. of Waltham, Massachusetts, and Kinetics Inc., of Sarasota, Florida all built high-performance steam engines in the same period.
Bill Lear William Powell Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding Learjet, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed the ...
also started work on a closed circuit steam turbine to power cars and buses, and built a transit bus and converted a
Chevrolet Monte Carlo The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a two-door coupe that was manufactured and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors. Deriving its name from the city in Monaco, the Monte Carlo was marketed as the first personal luxury car of the Chevr ...
sedan to use this turbine system. It used a proprietary working fluid dubbed Learium, possibly a
chlorofluorocarbon Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are fully or partly halogenated hydrocarbons that contain carbon (C), hydrogen (H), chlorine (Cl), and fluorine (F), produced as volatile derivatives of methane, ethane, and p ...
similar to DuPont Freon. In 1970 a variant of the steam car was made by
Wallace L. Minto Wallace L. Minto (August 6, 1921 in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States – September 3, 1983) had a passion for science at a very young age. For instance, at age 13, he and his father, Wallace Milton Minto, stock piled more than 50 tons of ur ...
, which works on Ucon U-113
fluorocarbon Fluorocarbons are chemical compounds with carbon-fluorine bonds. Compounds that contain many C-F bonds often has distinctive properties, e.g., enhanced stability, volatility, and hydrophobicity. Fluorocarbons and their derivatives are commerci ...
as the working fluid instead of water. The car was called the Minto car.


Land speed record

On 25 August 2009 a team of British engineers from
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
ran their steam-powered car "
Inspiration Inspiration, inspire, or inspired often refers to: * Artistic inspiration, sudden creativity in artistic production * Biblical inspiration, the doctrine in Judeo-Christian theology concerned with the divine origin of the Bible * Creative inspirat ...
" at
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is ...
in the
Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily ...
, and averaged over two runs, driven by Charles Burnett III. The car was long and weighed , built from
carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...
and
aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
and contained 12
boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central ...
s with over of
steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
tubing.


Gallery

File:1831-View-Whitechapel-Road-steam-carriage-caricature.jpg, 1831 satire on steam coaches


See also

*
Charles Dance (motorist) Sir Charles Dance was an English pioneer of motoring in the first third of the 19th century. An enthusiastic motorist, he did a great deal to encourage engineers who were engaged in the invention and development of steam road vehicles. He was fina ...
* History of the automobile ''mainly covers later, internal combustion vehicles'' *
List of motorized trikes List of motorized trikes is a list of motorized tricycles also called trikes, and sometimes considered cars. There are three typical configurations: motorized bicycle with sidecar; two wheels in the rear, one in the front (aka trike); and two in ...
*
List of steam car makers The steam car manufacturers listed here were mostly active during the first period of volume production, roughly 1860–1930, with a peak around 1900. From 1940 onwards, steam cars have tended to be either experimental or prototypes. The first ex ...
*
Steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
*
Steam bus A steam bus is a bus powered by a steam engine. Early steam-powered vehicles designed for carrying passengers were more usually known as steam carriages, although this term was sometimes used to describe other early experimental vehicles too. ...
*
Steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...
*
Steam wagon A steam wagon (or steam lorry, steam waggon or steamtruck) is a steam-powered truck for carrying freight. It was the earliest form of lorry (truck) and came in two basic forms: ''overtype'' and ''undertype'', the distinction being the position ...
*
The Steam House ''The Steam House'' (french: La maison à vapeur) is an 1880 Jules Verne novel recounting the travels of a group of British colonists in the Raj in a wheeled house pulled by a steam-powered mechanical elephant. Verne uses the mechanical house ...
(
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the '' Voyages extra ...
novel) *
Timeline of motor vehicle brands This is a chronological index for the start year for motor vehicle brands (up to 1969). For manufacturers that went on to produce many models, it represents the start date of the whole brand; for the others, it usually represents the date of appea ...


References


External links


History of the Automobile
– ''includes drawings of many early steam vehicles (Newton, Cugnot, Trevithick, Gurney, Hancock) including plan views''

– ''Some early drawings, plus detail of Verbiest's toy and a related book title...''
Smithsonian library entry for book about model of Verbiest's 'toy'.
an
''Amazon entry for the same book''
''by Horst O. Hardenberg'' {{Steam engine configurations, state=collapsed Road vehicles History of steam road vehicles
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
Steam road vehicles