When was the internal combustion engine invented?
The internal combustion engine burns petrol as fuel. It is
light but powerful. The first such engine appeared in 1876.
A German engineer called Nikolaus Otto had been experimenting
with ‘gas engines’ since the 1860s. So too had other inventors. In 1876 Otto
built the first petrol engine that worked well. It was a four-stroke engine; burning petrol gas forced a piston up and down a cylinder.
This up-and-down motion could be carried through belts,
chains or rods to turn wheels. So the petrol engine could be used to drive a
wheeled vehicle.
Otto’s assistant was Gottlieb Daimler, who fitted a petrol
engine to a tricycle in 1886, Another German, Carl Benz, built a
single-cylinder engine which drove a three-wheeled car at 14 kilometres an hour
in 1885. These two machines were the forerunners of the modern automobile.
The internal combustion engine had many advantages over the
older steam engine. It was smaller, lighter and quieter. So it became the
standard engine for use in motor cars and motorcycles.
In the petrol engine, the petrol gas is burnt by an electric
spark. In the diesel engine, compressed air gives the heat needed to light the
gas. The diesel engine is named after its inventor, Rudolf Diesel of Germany,
who built the first one in 1894.
When was the first
motor car built?
The first cars were known as ‘horseless carriages’. They took
to the roads in the 1880s. It was the petrol engine that made possible the age
of the motor car.
In 1770 Nicolas Cugnot, a French inventor built a steam
tractor. It was the world’s first powered vehicle, but it was very slow.
Although other steam cars were built, steam engines were not really suitable
for road transport.
During the 1860s the problems of making a reliable petrol
engine were solved. In 1886 Gottlieb Daimler of Germany made the first car
fitted with a petrol engine.
By 1893 cars such as the Benz Velo were being built and sold
to enthusiastic motorists in Europe and America. Henry Ford built his first car
in 1896 and went on to start the world’s first car factory. He used the
production line system to make cars quickly and cheaply.
When were motor cycles
first produced?
In the early days of motoring, there was little difference
between motor cars and motor bicycles. The first machine to be called a ‘motorcycle’ was made in 1893.
In the 1860s people tried fitting steam engines to tricycles, but the machines were slow and heavy. Gottlieb Daimler in Germany and Edward Butler in Britain experimented with petrol engine cycles in the 1880s.
In 1893 Hildernad and Wolfmuller of Germany built a
motorcycle which could do 38 kilometers an hour. Cycles with motors quickly
became popular. In 1895 de Dion and Bouton of France built a motorcycle with a
small, lightweight petrol engine. Most other early motorcycles were based on
this machine. In many ways, it helped decide the shape of the motorcycle.
Motorcycle racing began in the early 1900s.
When were the first
racing cars built?
Soon after the first motor cars appeared on the roads, people
began racing them. Road races started in the 1890s. Grand Prix (‘Chief Prize’)
racing began in 1906.
The first races were held on ordinary roads. They were tests
of endurance rather than speed, and the first racing cars were much the same as
the models sold to the public.
As cars got faster, accidents became common, and in 1993 road
races were banned.
Instead, cars raced on special tracks. Today there is a huge
difference between Grand Prix racers and ordinary family cars.
The first Grand Prix was the French. The first race took
place in 1906, near Le Mans.
The drivers had to complete 12 laps in two days around a
103-kilometre course. Only 11 of the 32 starters finished the race. After World
War I other countries started their own Grand Prix races.
When did buses first
appear on the roads?
In medieval times, few people travelled far from home. But in
the 1800s, as towns grew larger, people needed a cheap form of transport. The
bus was the answer.
In the 1700s, travellers on long journeys faced days of
discomfort inside a bumpy stagecoach pulled by horses. By the 1800 railways had
replaced the coach for long journeys. And, for short distances, horse-drawn
buses had taken to the roads.
Horse buses ran in London’s streets from the 1820s. Instead
of walking to work, people could now ride. Soon after came the tram, a bus
running on rails through the streets.
Horse-drawn buses were used until the early 1900s. Then motor buses took over. Electric trams ran in city streets until more recently. Then, as the roads grew busier with cars, it was decided that tram lines were a nuisance. So trams were abolished in many of the world’s cities.