The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-08-04
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In 1863, Frenchman. named Cugnot, in-
vented a vehicle that was propelled by
steam. and few years later he con-
structed for the French Government gun
carriage which was propelled in the same
way. From this time on various inventors
devised carriages propelled by steam with
more or less success. We are told that be-
tween 1905 and 1880 quite a number OF
steam vehicles were invented and put IN
practical operation. Among these was
steam omnibus made by Hancock, and the
vehicle ran on regular route carrying
passengers from Pentonville to Einsburg
Square, London. Pictures of these various
carriages are given, and while they are
heavy and rude, in general design they
are not unlike the automobiles of the day.
Mr.. Baxter mentions that one of these
horseless carriages was propelled by COM
pressed air, but that is proved to be a fall
ure "for the reason that the inventor
labored under the delusion that the laws
of nature could be circumvented by Skill
fully contrived mechanical devices so as to
obtain something from nothing" In other
words, he proposed to make venice
compress its own air as 1t ran and SO es-
tablish perpetual motion.
Scott Russell. the designer of the Great
Eastern. invented an automobile winch
was operated successfully, and was able
to mount the steepest hills and to attain
high rate of speed. A line OF these
coaches, Mr.. Baxter says. was put in COM
mission in Glasgow in 1886 each one haV-
ing seating capacity of twenty-siX Al
ter several months of successful operation,
the line was withdrawn on account Of the
opposition Of the authorities and the gen.
eral public. 1t was doubtless the same
sort of opposition that George Stephenson
met with when he proposed to run rail-
road, by the old fogies who feared that the
steam locomotive rushing through the
country at the enormous speed of eight
miles an hour would kill the COWS.
King Solomon has said that there is no
new thing under the sun. The automobile
of the present day is not such a wonder
after all when we recall that there were
automobiles long before there were steam
railways. Automobile carriages, as MT.
Baxter has pointed out, were known num-
dreds of years ago. The more recent In
yention is the graded road and the smooth
rail for the car to run upon. Taking
them in their order the horseless carriage
came first, then the railroad, and the i'm
proved automobile is simply a return to
first principles Indeed, the original idea
of railroading was to lay track along the
turnpike and to let any man, upon pay
ment of toll run his own carriage over
the road Our ideas of railroading have
greatly changed since that time, but there
is a place In the commercial world for the
automobile, and while the method of pro-
polling it has not yet been perfected IN
yentors have the choice be-
tween steam, gasoline and cleo
tricity and motors will be i'm
proved from time to time until self-pro-
PEELED vehicles will perhaps largely out
number those drawn by horses. Inventors
are of the opinion that of the three
agencies referred to steam is the best.
We believe that the automobile is des
tined to work revolution In the matter
of country roads. 1t cannot be success
fully employed except on smooth graded
roads, asd as it comes more and more
into use read Improvement will necessarily
progress.