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 true self-propelled land vehicle – was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's 1769 ''Fardier à vapeur'' (steam dray), a three-wheeled machine with a top speed of around 3 km/h (2 mph) originally designed for hauling

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

. Failing to meet the army's design criteria, no further development was undertaken. The

Long steam tricycle The Long steam tricycle appears to be one of the earliest preserved examples of a steam tricycle, built by George A. Long around 1880 and patented in 1883. One example was built, which after some years of use was dismantled and the parts dispers ...

appears to be one of the earliest preserved examples, built by George A. Long around 1880 and patented some time around 1882; an example is on display at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. In 1881 the Parkyns-Bateman steam tricycle was demonstrated in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It used a petroleum-fired steam boiler (making it the first petroleum-powered vehicle), driving a double-acting two cylinder steam engine on the chassis of a Cheylesmore tricycle. Although numerous orders were reportedly placed, British law made such vehicles essentially illegal on the public roads. An example was displayed in the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

from 1912 to 1922. A small steam tricycle was built by Albert, Comte de Dion in 1887. This had two wheels in the front, between which was mounted the boiler, and a single rear wheel driven by the engine. It was fitted with pneumatic tyres. In the same year Léon Serpollet also constructed a coal-fired steam tricycle, with the "steam generator" (boiler) mounted between two rear wheels. These and other experimenters also built four-wheeled steam-powered vehicles. The invention of the

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 combus ...

led to the replacement of steam in most cases, although steam cars continue to be built to the present day in small numbers.

Bibliography

* Singer, Charles Joseph; Raper, Richard. A history of technology : edited by Charles Singer ... t al. Clarendon Press, 1954-1978. History e-book project.. ACLS Humanities E-book. Vol 5. Chapter 18. pp. 423–424.

References

{{Early motorcycles Tricycle Three-wheeled motor vehicles

History

Bibliography

See also

References