# Motors and Motor-Driving/Chapter 1

MOTORS AND MOTOR-DRIVING
CHAPTER I
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE MOTOR-CAR
By the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat
When I was first invited to write a brief History of the Motor-Car, I at once realised that I could not do so without repeating much which was contained in an article entitled 'Recent Progress of Automobilism in France,' which I wrote for the 'North American Review' in September 1899.
It is more than a century since, in 1769, automobilism was born in France, with the steam carriage of Cugnot. This vehicle was of a crude, rudimentary, and incomplete construction. The ideas of Cugnot were an entire century in advance of the mechanical means by which they could be realised.
The attempt led to no satisfactory results. Everything was defective—motive-power, steering, control. Nevertheless, the carriage ran, and ran so well, they say, that it broke down the enclosure of the ground on which it was tried. It is an incontestable fact that Cugnot is the inventor of automobile locomotion, and that the honour of first having imagined and realised a new method of transport, destined to play an important part in the welfare of many lands, belongs to him.
​At the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, the great wars of American Independence, of the First Republic, and of the First Empire turned the spirit of France aside from new effort in the way of any kind of locomotion.
It was in England, towards the third decade of the nineteenth century, that we saw the idea of Cugnot reappear. The same impulse which moved English engineers to build railroads in
Elevation and Plan of N. J. Cugnot's Steam Car, 1770
order to free the great industrial centres from the economic tyranny of those who constructed canals, urged them to study methods of automobile locomotion on highways. That is to say, in its inception, automobile locomotion was considered as an auxiliary to the railroad, which it really is.
Unfortunately, the promoters of new railway lines did not at all understand the respective spheres of action of the machine on the rail and the machine on the road. They took umbrage at automobile locomotion, and, since they had much capital ​and influence at their disposal, they secured a law from the English Parliament which effectually killed automobile locomotion. It ordained that a man carrying a red flag by day, or a red lantern by night, must be kept a hundred yards in advance of every automobile vehicle.
The report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons which was published in 1831 is extremely instructive, and contains the following remarkable paragraphs:—
These inquiries have led the Committee to believe that the substitution of inanimate for animal power, in draught on common
Hancock's Steam Coach 'Era,' 1833
roads, is one of the most important improvements in the means of internal communication ever introduced. Its practicability they consider to have been fully established; its general adoption will take place more or less rapidly, in proportion as the attention of scientific men shall be drawn by public encouragement to further improvements.
Many circumstances, however, must retard the general introduction of steam as a substitute for horse-power on roads. One very formidable obstacle will arise from the prejudices which always beset a new invention, especially one which will at first appear detrimental to the interests of so many individuals. Tolls to an amount which would utterly prohibit the ​introduction of steam-carriages have been imposed on some roads; on others, the trustees have adopted modes of apportioning the charge, which would be found, if not absolutely prohibitory, at least to place such carriages in a very unfair position as compared with ordinary coaches.
It appears from the evidence that the first extensive trial of steam as an agent in draught on common roads was that by Mr. Gurney, in 1829, who travelled from London to Bath and back in his steam-carriage. He states that, although a part of the machinery which brings both the propelling wheels into action, when the full power of the engine is required, was broken at the onset, yet that on his return he performed the last eighty-four miles, from Melksham to Cranford Bridge, in ten hours, including stoppages.
The committee have also examined Messrs. Summers and Ogle, Mr. Hancock, and Mr. Stone, whose steam carriages have been in daily use for some months past on common roads.
Besides the carriages already described, Mr. Gurney has been informed that from twenty to forty others are being built by different persons, all of which have been occasioned by his decided journey in 1829.
Much, of course, must remain to be done in improving their efficiency; yet Mr. Gurney states that he has kept up steadily the rate of twelve miles per hour; that the extreme rate at which he has run is between twenty and thirty miles per hour.
Mr. Hancock reckons that with his carriage he could keep up a speed of ten miles per hour, without injury to the machine.
Mr. Ogle states: 'That his experimental carriage went from London to Southampton in some places at a velocity of from thirty-two to thirty-five miles per hour.
'That they have ascended a hill rising one in six at sixteen and a half miles per hour, and four miles of the London Road at the rate of twenty-four miles and a half per hour, loaded with people.
'That his engine is capable of carrying three tons weight in addition to its own.'
Mr. Summers adds: 'That they have travelled in the carriage ​at the rate of fifteen miles per hour, with nineteen persons on the carriage up a hill one in twelve.
'That he has continued for four hours and a half to travel at the rate of thirty miles per hour.
'That he has found no difficulty in travelling over the worst and most hilly roads.'
Mr. James Stone states that 'thirty-six persons have been carried on one steam-carriage.
'That the engine drew five times its own weight nearly, at the rate of from five to six miles per hour, partly up an inclination.'
Squire and Macerone Steam Coach, 1833 Ran daily from Paddington to Edgware and Harrow. Average speed, fourteen miles per hour. Speed on level, twenty miles per hour. Cost of coke, 3d, 4d. per mile.
They have annexed a list of those local acts in which tolls have been placed on steam, or mechanically propelled carriages.
Mr. Gurney has given the following specimens of the oppressive rates of tolls adopted in several of these acts. On the Liverpool and Prescot Road, Mr. Gurney's carriage would be charged 2l. 8s., while a loaded stage coach would pay only 4s. On the Bathgate Road the same carriage would be charged 1l. 7s. 1d., while a coach drawn by four horses would pay 5s. On the Ashburnham and Totnes Road, Mr. Gurney would have to pay 2l., ​while a coach drawn by four horses would be charged only 3s. On the Teignmouth and Dawlish Roads the proportion is 12s. to 2s.
The trustees of the Liverpool and Prescot Road have already obtained the sanction of the legislature to charge the monstrous toll of 1s. 6d. per 'horse-power,' as if it were a national object to prevent the possibility of such engines being used.
Sufficient evidence has been adduced to convince your Committee:—
* That carriages can be propelled by steam on common roads at an average rate of ten miles per hour.
* That at this rate they have conveyed upwards of fourteen passengers.
* That their weight, including engine, fuel, water, and attendants, may be under three tons.
* That they can ascend and descend hills of considerable inclination with facility and safety.
* That they are perfectly safe for passengers.
* That they are not (or need not be, if properly constructed) nuisances to the public.
* That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses.
* That, as they admit of greater breadth of tyre than other carriages, and as the roads are not acted on so injuriously as by the feet of horses in common draught, such carriages will cause less wear of roads than coaches drawn by horses.
* That rates of toll have been imposed on steam carriages which would prohibit their being used on several lines of road, were such charges permitted to remain unaltered.
The Committee of 1831 made recommendations as to a Bill to regulate the tolls to be charged for mechanical vehicles and to prevent the imposition of exaggerated tolls. The recommendations, however, were not adopted, and the use of steam vehicles on the road consequently became practically impossible, although Hancock had considerably improved on Gurney's carriage, and up to 1836 was running highly successful vehicles on the road. After 1836 inventors from time to time came forward with improved road carriages, but owing to restrictive legislation they could not be put to any practical use.
GOLDSWORTHY GURNEY'S STEAM COACH. 1833. COKE FUEL
From an old Print
Mr. Onésime Pecqueur, manager of the works connected with the Conservatoire for Arts and Inventions in France, designed in 1827 two very remarkable devices:
(a) The application of a differential gear to driving-wheels.
(b) The abolition of a forecarriage for steering-wheels replaced by the introduction of an axle fitted with two vertical pivots; the wheels pivoting separately on each, and being kept parallel with one another by a connecting-rod.
It is impossible not to notice how very much this invention has controlled the fundamental principles in the construction of automobiles.
It is no exaggeration to say that without these two very important devices, the automobile would not, at the present time, occupy the very prominent and progressive position it does.
In 1873 the firm of Léon Bollée commenced the construction of their vehicles, which attracted so much attention at the Universal Exhibition of 1878 in Paris.
At this period one of the most remarkable carriages was a Victoria weighing approximately 31/2 tons, including its complement of 8 passengers, 390 litres of water, and 300 kilos of coal. The effectual horse-power varied from 8 to 20 h.-p.; the greatest speed obtainable was about 40 kilometres per hour. The design of the vehicle was well proportioned and carried out. The transmission to the driving-wheels was effected by ​two chains and an intermediary shaft. The steering of the car was obtained by the revolving of the front wheels on two pivots set at an angle, giving a dish to the wheels.
The Bollée company constructed about this period many equally interesting cars possessing speed-changing devices. Since then the firm have built very many interesting cars of various designs, but a full description of these would take up too much time and space. Suffice it to say, however, these cars were as well constructed as designed, and that many firms have between then and now constructed cars far inferior to those of Léon Bolée.
In France, about 1885, the automobile vehicle was again in evidence, and attracted attention. At that time the Comte de Dion, at Paris, also constructed steam vehicles which ran in a satisfactory way. Then Serpollet devised his instantaneous vaporisation boilers, which reduce to a minimum the chances of danger, so far as steam engines are concerned.
After that time, automobile locomotion became a subject of talk, but the appearance in 1889 of a petroleum motor, with quaternary explosion features, gave matters an impulse which promises continuance.
In 1894, the 'Petit Journal' asked M. Pierre Giffard to organise the first meeting of automobile vehicles. It took place between Paris and Rouen, with a stop at Mantes. Although the design of the promoters was not that the vehicles should be run with a view to testing speed, the event from the very outset took on the character of a race. The Dion and Bouton steam carriage won the race, making the run at a mean velocity of about twelve miles an hour.
This was a sturdy little four-wheeler, on the back of which rested the pole-bolt of an ordinary carriage, the fore-part of which had been removed. This constituted a six-wheeled affair, remarkably supple and manageable, in spite of its length. The vehicle, empty, weighed 1·4 ton; loaded 2·25 tons, and could develop fifteen horse-power. The two front wheels, steering-wheels, were rubber-tyred; the rear wheels, driving​wheels, iron-tyred. This motor had the interesting arrangements of the Dion carriage—that is, the use of a Cardan joint as a substitute for the Galle chain, and the movement of the wheel by means of a drilled nave.
Almost all the other vehicles were driven by Daimler petroleum motors. The vehicles of the firm Panhard and Levassor, which controls the Daimler patents in France, had at that time the same principal characteristics as they present
Eckstein's Biographischer Verlag, Berlin
to-day, which have been generally adopted. The motor maintained a fairly constant velocity of 750 revolutions; it acted on the drive-wheels situated at the back by means of a friction cone, a series of variable gears, a differential and a Galle chain: the steering-wheels were in front. The four-seated carriage weighed about a ton.
These carriages, as also the Peugeot petroleum vehicles, the motors of which were built by Panhard and Levassor, ​worked with remarkable regularity, which, on the whole, demonstrated to those familiar with mechanics what a future there is in store for the petroleum carriage.
Though this first effort was attended with considerable success, the promoters of new methods of locomotion knew that much more remained to be accomplished. On November 18th, 1894, a most important meeting was held at the residence
Daimler Quadricycle, 1889, with Wilhelm Maybach and Paul Daimler
of M. de Dion, one which marked the beginning of an era of great development of automobiles in France. Those present at the meeting were Messrs. Baron de Zuylen, the Count de Dion, the Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, the Count de Chasseloup-Laubat, P. Gauthier, Ravenez, Peugeot, Levassor, Serpollet, Dufayel, Lavallette, Recoppé, Roger, Menier, de Place, Giffard, Emile Gauthier, Meillan, Nansouty, and Moreau. ​It was decided at this meeting that, in the month of June of the following year, there should be a great race from Paris to Bordeaux and back (732 miles); that the carriages were to perform the whole distance in one trip; and that repairs were to be made only by such means as could be carried. The contestants, according to the formula adopted, were to procure en route nothing but 'entertainment for man and machine.' This was, therefore, a race and nothing but a race.
In a test of this kind it was, as a matter of course, extremely difficult to establish a method of competing which should be at all logical and satisfactory. The elements entering into an appreciation of the merits and faults of automobile carriages are so complex, that up to the present time the most competent specialists consider it almost impossible to establish a general formula for the classification of contestants. It was hence resolved to adhere to the course, since a test of speed, so long and so hard, would of itself eliminate any vehicle presenting the slightest flaw or insufficiency of construction.
These provisions have been completely realised, and to-day a very long and a very hard course is the most assured means of testing a vehicle.
During several months the committee did considerable work; for it was not only necessary to collect funds, but also to elaborate a set of regulations, and to obtain from the proper authorities the permission to make such trials of speed on the various sections of the route. In this arduous task the committee was most efficiently assisted by M. Marcel Desprez, Member of the Institute; M. Georges Berger, Deputy of the Seine; and especially by M. Michel Lévy, Engineer in Chief of Bridges and Roads. Thanks to the efforts of the Committee, the whole matter was organised in spite of a multiplicity of difficulties. Numerous participants arrived; among them it gives me pleasure to note two Americans—Mr. Gordon Bennett and Mr. Vanderbilt.
During the early part of June, when all was ready, the vehicles were for several days placed on view in a permanent ​public exhibition, which attracted much notice. On the 11th of June, at nine o'clock, all the contestants were gathered in Paris, about the Arc de Triomphe. They started in procession, with no attempt at speed, toward Versailles, where the test was to begin. About eleven o'clock all the carriages lined up on the Place d'Armes at Versailles in front of the great château, according to their order of starting, as determined by lot. I verified rapidly all the marks which I had made during the exhibition by means of the stamp with which the Committee had entrusted me. I stamped also all the spare movables carried by the vehicles. Finally, at 12.5 noon, I gave the signals for starting, two minutes apart. This race, favoured by splendid weather, was a success and created much sensation.
Thanks to the co-operation of local authorities, of the Touring Club of France, of the Bicycle Association, and the instructions prepared by M. Varennes, there was not the least accident to any of the riders; all went well. The registration, both at fixed points and moving with the race, worked perfectly; and, on the other hand, the minute verifications of the marks of my stamp showed accurately that the contestants had really accomplished the task 'by their own means.'
M. Levassor returned to Paris, Porte Maillot, June 13, 1895, at 12.57.30, thus accomplishing the formidable course of 732 miles (Versailles-Bordeaux-Versailles-Paris) in 48 hours and 48 minutes. He supervised the machine himself constantly, except when ascending an occasional incline, when the rate of speed was comparatively slow, and then he had entrusted the lever to his mechanic. M. Levassor remained on his machine about fifty-three hours, and nearly forty-nine of these on the run. Yet he did not appear to be over-fatigued; he wrote his signature at the finish with a firm hand; we lunched together at Gillet's, at the Porte Maillot; he was quite calm; he took with great relish a cup of bouillon, a couple of poached eggs, and two glasses of champagne; but he said that racing at night was dangerous, adding that having won he had the ​right to say such a race was not to be run another time at night.
The general mean of his velocity was 14·91 miles an hour; the maximum was eighteen and a half miles an hour, between Orleans and Tours.
The vehicle which had accomplished this marvellous record without a single break-down or any stops (except those required to take in water and petroleum and one stop for cleaning, of about a quarter of an hour, near Bordeaux), weighed 11·87 cwt. without supplies or the weight of the two
'No. 5.' Winner of the Paris-Bordeaux Race, 1895, driven by M. Levassor (Four h.-p. Panhard and Levassor)
men riding. It had three speeds, six, twelve and a half, and eighteen and a half miles an hour, the normal number of revolutions being 750. The motor, a new type of 'Phoenix' built by M. Levassor, was a Daimler, modified and much perfected. The Levassor carriage, like all the swift carriages engaged in this race, was mounted on solid rubber tyres.
A steam carriage, by Dion and Bouton, of about fifteen horse-power, which had been making between thirty and thirty-eight miles an hour on test, kept the lead to near Vouvray, on the banks of the Loire, where a break-down in the shafting ​threw it out of the race. At that moment, in spite of losses of time, occasioned by the cleaning of gratings and the defective organisation of relays, where water and coke had to be taken on, this vehicle was a score of minutes ahead of M. Levassor's carriage. The first steam road-carriage of M. de Dion was probably, until quite recently, the most rapid in existence. After having undergone some modifications and improvements, it was purchased by M. Michelin, a large manufacturer of pneumatics, and it continued for some time one of the swiftest and most stable in the maintenance of velocity. It weighs a little less than two tons, and with its twelve to fifteen horse-power easily and without strain makes thirty to thirty-eight miles an hour on the level.
Other carriages of Panhard and Levassor and of Peugeot likewise made good records.
The characteristic feature of the race of 1895 is the triumph of petroleum over steam. I gave the signal for departure at Versailles to fifteen petroleum and to six steam vehicles; we noted the return to Paris of eight petroleum vehicles and of one solitary steam carriage. This latter was the heavy omnibus by Bolleé, constructed and run by those able engineers of Mans, who covered the course in spite of numerous break-downs, thanks to extraordinary physical endurance, and to a mechanical skill worthy of their excellent reputation.
The only electric vehicle entered in this race was constructed by M. Jeantaud, the eminent builder, who has since then made a speciality of electric carriages. It was a remarkable piece of machinery, especially for that epoch. But owing to the warping of the axle of one of the front wheels, due to a shock, he could not cover the route swiftly enough to utilise the relays of storage batteries which he held in readiness along the line.
After having distributed the prizes, and made its report as a whole, the committee of the Paris-Bordeaux race, on my proposition, declared itself a permanent organisation, designed to give to the automobile industry a rallying centre and ​encouragement based on conditions of competency and impartiality.
Some months later, MM. de Dion and de Zuylen took the initiative in changing the permanent commission into a subcommittee, adjunct of a society for the encouragement of automobile locomotion; thus the Automobile Club was born, which, in three years and a half, had grown, as to the number of its members, from about fifty to nearly two thousand; and now (January 1902) has over two thousand members. This Club, by reason of its large pecuniary resources, and also of the liberal and scientific spirit which animates the encouragement it gives in every way to the new industry, is certainly to-day one of the most useful and commendable institutions in France.
The Automobile Club of France, for which we have selected the abbreviation 'A. C. F.,' resolved to organise a race from Paris to Marseilles and back for September 24, 1896. This course, 1,061 miles in length, could certainly have been covered in a single trip by machines with relays of men; but the incontestable danger which a night run at full speed involves, led the committee to adopt the principle, which has since been followed, of a test by stages, so regulated that vehicles shall not be obliged to run by night save in cases of long delays due to breakdowns on the road.
It was decided that the start should be made at Versailles, and that the course should be divided into ten stages: Auxerre, Dijon, Lyons, Avignon, Marseilles, Avignon, Lyons, Dijon, Sens, Paris. In each of these towns the vehicles were to be put up in a park under surveillance; the replacing of broken parts was prohibited, but ordinary repairs could be made by whatever means came to hand. Of the thirty-two vehicles ranged about the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile on September 24 at nine o'clock in the morning, which began their run to Versailles on the same day towards noon, twenty-nine returned to Paris. The three which broke down were the only steam vehicles. Another triumph for the petroleum carriage.
This race was again won by a Panhard and Levassor ​carriage, which covered the entire course in 67 hours 42 minutes and 58 seconds, equivalent to a mean velocity of 15·65 miles an hour. This carriage was followed closely by other vehicles of the same house. The greatest speed during a single stage was about eighteen miles an hour.
The Peugeot carriages also did good work. The firm Delahaye of Tours made its reputation on this occasion by one of its vehicles, which came in a good fourth.
But the most prominent event of this test was the extra-
'No. 6.' Winner of the Paris-Marseilles and back race, 1896, driven by M. Mayard This was the first four-cylinder carriage built. (Eight h.-p. Panhard and Levassor.) Afterwards purchased by the Hon. C. S. Rolls.
ordinary power of resistance displayed by the new petroleum tricycles constructed by the firm Dion and Bouton. Contrary to all prognostications, these diminutive vehicles, the weight, of which is hardly more than that of the man who mounts them, covered the immense course almost as fast as the carriages, in spite of horrible weather and a veritable èquinoctial cyclone during the second and third days—from Thursday, the 24th, at midnight, to Friday, the 25th, at noon, the barometer fell about 11/8 inch.
​As to the three steam vehicles, they could not accomplish the course. The Dion carriage, which had run the Paris-Bordeaux course, and which was driven by M. Bouton, stopped at Suresnes, even before the start was made, in consequence of a rupture in its large new pneumatic tyres, which M. Michelin had fitted to it without having studied and perfected them sufficiently.
The two other steam vehicles were almost identical brakes, especially constructed for this race, weighing about three tons when made ready for the trip, developing about eighteen horse-power when run in compound, and probably a little more than thirty when run by direct action from the large cylinder. Of these two powerful machines, one, in charge of M. de Dion himself, could not go further than Montereau, about eighty kilometres from Paris. The other, of which my brother and I had taken charge, with a fireman and two machinists, took eighty-five hours to reach Lyons. During this long trip (we had only twelve hours' rest, from Friday midnight till Saturday noon), we spent forty-seven hours on repairs, on the open road part of the time, and that the greater part of it (the night of Thursday to Friday, and of Saturday to Sunday), in a drenching rain. It goes without saying that, at the end of a dozen hours so lost, we made not the least pretence of catching up with our more fortunate competitors, but we wished to make a fight for the honour of the steam-principle by at least finishing the run, a purpose which we did not relinquish until the machine was entirely crippled at Lyons.
Almost every part of the mechanism was out of working order, and we had every break-down conceivable, except an absolute explosion of the boiler. We had even carried away a piece of the frame, which we replaced by means of an iron bar, forged by ourselves in a village.
I shall not attempt to give here complete details of this eventful journey, of which, however, I made most careful notes at the time. Exhaustive enumeration of all that happened to us ​would prove too lengthy. Suffice it to say, that we ran down a dog, overturned two carts (whose drivers, frightened at the sight of our enormous machine, turned to the left at the very last moment), upset a cow, and finally broke down a fence in trying to make a turn on soft and heavy soil. As for ourselves, in spite of our rubber hats, vests, and trousers, and the provisions of all kinds which we carried with us, we were in a condition which I prefer not to describe. My brother and I have been over some pretty rough ground in travelling—notably in India, in Japan, in Central Asia, and in the Sahara—but never were we so utterly tired out and so devoid of every similitude of humanity as when we reached Lyons.
In spite of all that, this carriage is a good vehicle. The accidents that happened to us were due to the fact that the machine had started without sufficient preparation and test. The proof of this is that, a few months later, in January 1897, the same carriage, in charge of my brother, after some modification and improvement, won in a brilliant manner the Marseilles-Nice-Turbie race, covering the 145 miles in 7 hours 45 minutes 9 seconds, a mean velocity of about eighteen miles an hour. This result is still more satisfactory if the exceptionally uneven and sinuous nature of the road is considered, as also the stops necessary to take in water and coke, and in fact that, without facing certain death, one dared not let the heavy vehicle coast on any of the heaviest down-grades.
It was on one of those down-grades that Charron, who was running a Panhard petroleum carriage, and who wanted to catch up with us at any cost, was upset at a turn. Charron and his machinist were thrown out, though they were not hurt at all, but the vehicle turned a complete somersault, and landed on its wheels — as was demonstrated in an undoubted way by the traces of gravel on the upper part of the carriage. It sustained no serious injury, except the destruction of the steering bar, which Charron repaired with a bit of wood. It returned to Fréjus without a stoppage of the motor.
​The tests of Paris-Bordeaux and Paris-Marseilles had shown that automobile carriages can cover long distances on ordinary roads; Marseilles-Nice-Turbie went to show their practical value, by proving that they could get over the heaviest down-grades.
It was also on this last occasion that really considerable velocities were attained for the first time. Between Ollioules and Toulon we made five kilometres (3·1 miles) in less than five minutes; between Cannes and Nice, the speed officially registered for Michelin was about thirty-one miles an hour; ours was a little greater than that, since Michelin had left Cannes on his steam brake five minutes after us, and we were stopped for eight minutes on the outskirts of Nice by an overheated axle, during which time he ran by us like an express train. The second prize was won by a Peugeot petroleum carriage; for, in the first part of the run, Michelin had lost considerable time by the rupturing of his pneumatic tyres, which he had not yet been able to bring to the highest degree of perfection.
In 1899, I wrote:—'This race was the only one ever won by a steam carriage, and it will probably be the last, in view of the incessant progress made to-day in the construction of petroleum motors, making it possible for them, other things being equal, to develop power superior to that of steam apparatus, as far as now known.
'Of course the petroleum motor has not the elasticity of a steam motor, but it has a peculiar steadiness and a wonderful power of endurance. It has but one weak point, its cylinder, and but one delicate structure, its carburetter; while the steam engine has numberless sources of injury in its boiler, its tubings, its pumps, its cylinder-heads, &c., which are simultaneously subjected to extreme pressures, due both to the steam and to violent jolts on rough roads. Besides, to make a one-horse-power hour with a petroleum motor requires about 0·750 kilo of oil, and since the invention of the radiator or surface-condenser, the same water can be used indefinitely ​for cooling the cylinder. On the other hand, the steam motor requires for the horse-power hour about one kilo of fuel and ten kilos of water. The stops necessary to replenish are, therefore, much more frequent with the second of these systems than with the first.'
Since these events speed in races has constantly increased. In the Paris-Dieppe race in July 1897, a small Bollée carriage, a sort of tricycle with rear driving-wheels, made the run at a mean speed of about twenty-six miles an hour. Almost the same record was made by the first contestants taking part in the Paris-Trouville race, 105 miles, in August 1897. In the great race, Paris-Amsterdam-Paris, in July 1898, made in several stages, Charron, running a Panhard two-seated carriage, attained a mean velocity of 27·77 miles. Finally, in the Versailles-Bordeaux race of 1899, one stage without stop, the mean velocity attained by the winner, Charron, on the total run of 351 miles, was 33·30 miles. On certain quite lengthy stretches of the course, the mean speed passed thirty-eight, and at some points reached forty-five to fifty miles an hour. This carriage, from the establishment of Panhard and Levassor, weighs about a ton, and carries an equipoise motor of from twelve to fifteen horse-power.
Having traced the history as far as this interesting event, I must refer the reader for further information to the chapters dealing with the work of the automobile clubs and the records of races and trials.
It would not be out of place for me to make a few remarks concerning those all-important factors which go to make the sport of automobilism a success.
Tyres.—It is impossible to refer to pneumatic tyres without recalling the firm of Michelin et Cie. With iron-tyred wheels it is impracticable to drive quickly without destroying, in a very short space of time, first the wheels and then the carriage.
With solid rubber tyres slightly more speed is obtainable, but the pneumatic is the only one with which, at present, it is possible ​to attain high speeds with a measure of safety, and without causing the wheels to collapse, and damaging the transmission gear of the car, not to mention springs, frames and motor.
The part played by the pneumatic tyre at high speed is enormous: to quote Mr. Michelin's remark, 'it absorbs every obstacle'; it acts as a cushion and a spring, and reduces to minimum the very formidable objection of vibration.
The first Petrol Car introduced into England—the Hon. Evelyn Ellis's 4 h.-p. Panhard and Levassor Car
The revival of interest in mechanical road locomotion in the United Kingdom which followed the extraordinary performance of the carriages of 1895 in France was at first very gradual. The Hon. Evelyn Ellis introduced a four-horsepower car into England in the June of 1895, having used it in France for some time. Mr. J. A. Koosen on November 21, 1895, imported a Lutzmann car. Sir David Salomons ​gave a demonstration of motor vehicles at Tunbridge Wells on October 15, 1895, at which members of Parliament and other prominent people to the number of fully ten thousand were present. In the meantime, a financier had purchased from Mr. F. R. Simms the rights for the United Kingdom in the Daimler patents. An exhibition of motor vehicles was held at the Imperial Institute, London, in 1896. At the same time companies having prodigious capitals were
The Hon. Evelyn Ellis's original 4 h.-p. Panhard Car converted into a Fire-engine.
floated, and when, on November 14, 1896, motor vehicles were allowed to run on the roads, popular enthusiasm had been thoroughly aroused, and the start of what was virtually a race from London to Brighton on that day was witnessed by an enormous crowd.
It is only right that it should be recorded here that Mr. Ellis took up the motor movement from patriotic motives, and ​supported some of the pioneer companies from his private purse to the tune of probably 20,000l. Sir David Salomons, although not financially interested in the industry, worked with great zeal and energy with a view to making the running of motor vehicles on the road permissible, and spent very many hours in advising the Government officials as to what the law should be. Mr. Shaw Lefevre, as President of the Local Government Board, was about to introduce a Bill when in 1895 the Government went out, with the result that the honour of bringing before Parliament the Light Locomotives Act fell to
The first car built by the Daimler Company at Coventry
his successor, Mr. Henry Chaplin. Mr. Henry Sturmey, who had long been associated with the cycle press, was quick to recognise that the motor-car movement was to attain prodigious proportions, and on November 2, 1895, he produced the first number of a newspaper called 'The Autocar.' This he wrote and edited personally himself, unaided, for over a year, and continued the editorship of the paper until 1901. The 'Automotor and Horseless Vehicle Journal,' 'The Motor-Car Journal,' and other journals followed, but the honour of ​being first in the field belongs to Mr. Sturmey, who also did much to illustrate in this country the practical utility of the automobile by making a journey from Land's End to John o' Groat's in October 1897.
Mr. T. R. B. Elliot (who, on December 27, 1898, was the first to drive a motor vehicle, a three-and-a-half horsepower Panhard, in Scotland, and drove 1,250 miles before the Act was passed), and the Hon. C. S. Rolls, who acquired a three-and-a-half horse-power Peugeot in December 1896, are amongst others who followed the lead given by Mr. Ellis and Sir David Salomons, by driving motor vehicles on the English roads before the law of 1896 came into operation.
The later history of automobilism in the United Kingdom and other countries will be found in the chapters on the work of the various Automobile Clubs and on Records.
* ↑ The proprietors of that publication have been good enough to consent to my making use of portions of my article, and I take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of their courtesy.
* ↑ The Gurney steam coach was extremely interesting. It possessed: (1) A water tube boiler analogous to the Thorneycroft boiler, in which the circulation was remarkable. (2) The pressure was considerable (5 kilos per sq, centimetre).
* ↑ An illustration of this car is included in the chapter on Steam Cars.