Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-02-28
Evolution of the Automobile


The first record we have of We
hicle travelling without animal power
is found in ancient Chinese records
which give an account of the kite
carriages, according to c. S. Rieman,
a Chicago automobile manufacturer.
These vehicles were driven by the
wind blowing against a sail attached
to the carriage. In the early reign
of King James / of England, a patent
was issued to Hugo Upton, reading
as follows: "For the sole making of
an instrument which shall be driven
by the wind for the transportation or
carriage of anything by land" Some
believe that Upton secured his idea
from kite carriages in old China.
The history of mechanically driven
carriages dates back to 1850 when Sir
Isaac Newton proposed a steam car
riage to be driven by the reactive eff
feet of jet Of steam issuing from
nozzle at the rear Of the vehicle. (Ac-
oording to some authorities the first
known self-propelling carriage was
built in 1649 by Johann Hantsch, of
Nuremberg. 1t ran by clock-work.)
Some years later a crude carrieg was
built, an early record of which read
as follows: "Mr. Pinchbeck has re-
Gently built a curious machine that
has travelled without horses for 40
minutes and has covered a consider
able distance"
In 1859 there appeared an English
advertisement reading as follows:
"Mr. Ladd's patent four-wheel car
riage, that goes without horses will
carry four or five persons at the rate
of six miles an hour, is built on solid
mechanical principles. I'm 1902 Rich
ard Trevithick built steam carriage
which was exhibited at London, hav-
ing driven itself 80 miles. In 1880
a horseless carriage named "the auto
notion" was built by Walter Hand
cock. This was really the first steam
carriage that proved at all practical.
1t covered 1920 miles during its life
and carried a total of over 1900
passengers.
The first internal combustion en-
CINE was invented by Able d. Haute-
feuille in 1878, in which the explosive
power of gunpowder was employed to
drive a piston in cylinder. This
was the forerunner of the modern
gasoline engine.
The first internal combustion motor
which used gas was invented in 1884
by Gottlieb DAIMLER. In 1885 he sue
cessfully applied this engine to a
bicycle and in 1886 Carl Benz invent
ed his single horizontal cylinder, wa
ter-jackted engine, which he applied
to a three-wheeled carriage. The
first practical gasoline automobile
built in America was constructed by
G. +. Duryea in 1892, but it was
found to be under-powered. Several
other Americans have laid claim to
this distinction.)
In 1894 he built a new four-cylin-
der car which proved quite successful
in Chicago race. The first automo-
bile endurance race of international
Importance was held in France in
1894. Two Panhard machines con-
tested. Both claimed three-and-a-half
horse power and were driven by
Messrs. Panhard and Peugeot. In
1895 the second automobile endurance
race was held in France and covered
a distance Of 1,730 miles at the then
remarkable average speed Of 10 miles
per hour. Six years later, however,
the same course was covered at the
rate of 80 miles per hour. In 1897
at the Paris-Trouville road race, a
speed Of 20 miles an hour was devel-
oped in a gasoline automobile. What
a difference today. Not long ago q
800 horse power car raced at q ter
rife speed Of 143 miles an hour. Even
pleasure cars easily run OF 80 miles
an hour. What next?