History
In 1801, after James Watt's earlier patent on "a carriage propelled by a steam engine" had expired, Richard Trevithick constructed an experimental steam-driven vehicle (Puffing Devil) at Camborne, Cornwall. It 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 rods. It was reported as weighing 1520 kg fully loaded, with a speed of 14.5 km/h (9 mph) on the flat. Trevithick ran this for several hundred yards up a hill with several people hanging on to it. Unfortunately, while the driver and passengers were in a pub celebrating the event, it set fire to a shed in which it had been left unattended, and was destroyed.
The following year, Trevithick and his partner, his cousin Andrew Vivian, patented a steam coach, the patent also describing other uses for Trevithick's new high-pressure engines. The vehicle was assembled at Felton's carriage works at Leather Lane, London, the engine components having been brought from Falmouth where they were made.
Read more about this topic: London Steam Carriage
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