Early Steam Cars
Although the first applications of steam to propelling a road vehicle were attempted in the 17th century, it was not until the advent of high pressure steam engines, in the early 19th century, that such vehicles became a practical proposition. Limitations in manufacturing technology and the poor condition of road surfaces meant that nothing that could be realistically regarded as a 'steam car', suitable for personal transportation, was created until the end of the 19th century. Despite this, the story that a pair of Yorkshiremen, engineer Robert Fourness and his cousin, physician James Ashworth had a steam carriage running in 1788, after having been granted a British Patent, No.1674 of December 1788, insists on cropping up. An illustration of it even appeared in Hergé's book "Tintin raconte l'Histoire de l'Automobile" (Casterman, 1953).
Read more about this topic: Steam Car
Famous quotes containing the words early, steam and/or cars:
“We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.”
—Henry Reed (1914–1986)
“A steam ran small and terrible and shrill;
it was so still;
the stream ran from the oak-copse
and returned and ran
back into shadow.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“Cuchulain stirred,
Stared on the horses of the sea, and heard
The cars of battle and his own name cried;
And fought with the invulnerable tide.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)