Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (26 February 1725 – 2 October 1804) was a French
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
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
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
.
Background
He was born in
Void-Vacon
Void-Vacon () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
See also
*Communes of the Meuse department
The following is a list of the 499 communes of the Meuse department of France.
The communes cooperate in th ...
,
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...
, (now ' of
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
), France. He trained as a military
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
. In 1765, he began experimenting with working models of
steam-engine-powered vehicles for the French Army, intended for transporting
cannons
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder dur ...
.
First self-propelled vehicle
French Army captain Cugnot was one of the first to successfully employ a device for converting the reciprocating motion of a steam piston into a rotary motion by means of a
ratchet
Ratchet may refer to:
Devices
* Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction
* Ratchet, metonomic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device
* Ratchet (instrument), a music instrument and a ...
arrangement. A small version of his three-wheeled ''fardier à vapeur'' ("steam
dray") was made and used in 1769 (a ''fardier'' was a massively built two-wheeled horse-drawn cart for transporting very heavy equipment, such as cannon barrels).
In 1770, a full-size version of the ''fardier à vapeur'' was built, specified to be able to carry four tons and cover two ''lieue'' (7.8 km, or 4.8 miles) in one hour, a performance it never achieved in practice. The vehicle weighed about 2.5 tonnes
tare, and had two wheels at the rear and one in the front where the horses would normally have been. The front wheel supported a steam boiler and driving mechanism. The power unit was articulated to the "trailer", and was steered from there by means of a double handle arrangement. One source states that it seated four passengers and moved at a speed of .
The vehicle was reported to have been very unstable owing to poor weight distribution, a serious disadvantage for a vehicle intended to be able to traverse rough terrain and climb steep hills. In addition, boiler performance was also particularly poor, even by the standards of the day. The vehicle's fire needed to be relit, and its steam raised again, every quarter of an hour or so, which considerably reduced its overall speed and distance.
After running a small number of trials, variously described as being between
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Vincennes
Vincennes (, ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is next to but does not include the Château de Vincennes and Bois de Vincennes, which are attached ...
and at
Meudon
Meudon () is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of t ...
, the project was abandoned. This ended the French Army's first experiment with mechanical vehicles. Even so, in 1772,
King Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
granted Cugnot a pension of 600 ''livres'' a year for his innovative work, and the experiment was judged interesting enough for the ''fardier'' to be kept at the arsenal. In 1800 it was transferred to the
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...
, where it can still be seen today.
241 years later, in 2010, a copy of the "fardier de Cugnot" was built by students from
ParisTech, in conjunction with Cugnot's native
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
of
Void-Vacon
Void-Vacon () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
See also
*Communes of the Meuse department
The following is a list of the 499 communes of the Meuse department of France.
The communes cooperate in th ...
. This replica worked perfectly, demonstrating the validity of the concept and the veracity of the tests carried out in 1769. The replica was exhibited at the 2010
Paris Motor Show
The Paris Motor Show (french: Mondial de l'Automobile) is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently take ...
before returning for exhibit in Void-Vacon.
First automobile accident
There are reports of a minor incident in 1771, when the second prototype vehicle is said to have accidentally knocked down a brick or stone wall, either that of a Paris garden or part of the Paris Arsenal walls, in perhaps the first known
automobile accident. The incident is unrecorded in contemporary accounts, first appearing in 1804, thirty-three years after the alleged accident. Nevertheless, the story persists that Cugnot was arrested and convicted of dangerous driving, another first for him if true.
Later life
Following the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, Cugnot's pension was withdrawn in 1789 and he went into exile in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
where he lived in poverty. Shortly before his death, Cugnot's pension was restored by
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and he eventually returned to Paris where he died on 2 October 1804.
See also
*
History of steam road vehicles
The history of steam road vehicles comprises the development of vehicles powered by a steam engine for use on land and independent of rails, whether for conventional road use, such as the steam car and steam waggon, or for agricultural or heavy ...
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
Further reading
* Max J. B. Rauck, ''Cugnot, 1769-1969: der Urahn unseres Autos fuhr vor 200 Jahren'', München: Münchener Zeitungsverlag, 196
* Bruno Jacomy, Annie-Claude Martin: ''Le Chariot à feu de M. Cugnot'', Paris, 1992, Nathan/Musée national des techniques, .
* Louis Andre: ''Le Premier accident automobile de l'histoire'', in La Revue du Musée des arts et métiers, 1993, Numéro 2, p 44-46
External links
* The ''fardier'' exhibit at the
Musee National des Arts et Métiers:
*
Catalogue entry, with specifications
*
Detail images of exhibit
*
Additional reference sources
at
DB Museum
The Nuremberg Transport Museum (') is based in Nuremberg, Germany, and consists of the Deutsche Bahn's own DB Museum and the Museum of Communications ('). It also has two satellite museums at Koblenz-Lützel (the '' DB Museum Koblenz'') and Halle ...
, showing a reconstruction of the ''fardier'' in action (B&W)
Replica at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum
page in French about Cugnot and his invention, hosted at an
Île-de-France
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regional government web site and credited to the
Société des ingénieurs de l'automobile
The ''Société des ingénieurs de l'automobile'' is an association of French engineers, managers, technicians and automotive professionals working in the automotive sector in France.
This association is regulated under the '' loi de 1901''.
It ...
(Society of Automotive Engineers).
Biography of Cugnot from 'World of Invention'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cugnot, Nicolas-Joseph
1725 births
1804 deaths
French automotive pioneers
People from Meuse (department)
18th-century French inventors
People of the French Revolution
French mechanical engineers
Steam road vehicles
Military vehicles of the late modern period
18th-century French engineers