Evening star., 1933-08-20
In the Motor World
BY G. ADAMS HOWARD.
\ HE following story released by
writer for the Associated Press
might be more timely if printed
arMInd automobile show time.


q writer for the Associated Press
might be more timely If printed
around automobile show time.
But that time is pretty far on
and interesting stories do not always
Who actually invented the automo-
bile? This question Is one OF the
quickest ways to start prolonged dis.
cnssion, If not an actual argument
among automobile men. In the popus,
lar mind the motor car was conceived
in the early nineties
first marketed about 1900. Actually.
according to a survey made by the
Associated Press, the experiments
that led to the present-day automobile
extended considerably further back
than the COS.
Title Goes to Frenchman.
In q general way the title Of father
Of the automobile" probably belongs to
who applied the principle OF steam
propulsion to a gun carriage several
years before the Revolutionary War.
That his efforts left much to be de-
sired Is evidenced by the numerous ex-
periments that followed with steam
propelled carriages in the ensuing $50
years Some of these experimental
vehicles were Of the three-wheel type,
but in the main they resembled the
modern fire engine.
One seeking to provoke discussion
among automotive men might suggest
in this connection that the automobile
in its more modern development dates
from the time of the first gasoline en-
gine, yet the beginning of the volume
production era in the manufacture Of
automobiles little more than Is
years ago-saw a wide difference OF
opinion among the makers of motor
cars as to whether gasoline. steam or
electricity furnished the best power
plants. And steam cars did not sur
render without a stiff competitive
battle.
Steam driven cars were entered in
and were presented in all other forms
of competition with the gasoline-pro-
PEELED vehicles. During the last decade
or two there have been recurring ru-
morS that a comeback" by steam
driven automobiles would be attempted,
but always these have failed Of ma
terialization.
Currently there is more often heard
announcement of the successful appli-
cation of the Diesel oil-burning prin-
ciple Of motive power to the automobile.
Several such cars already have been de-
veloped in experimental form but none
has yet reached the stage where volume
production has been proposed. 1t has
older automobile companies has been
carrying on experiments with this OBJ
ject In view, but the rumors have not
been given even unofficial substantial
tion.
Claims ChaIIenxed
There were many inventors with
handmade automobiles in the early
'9Os, but their claims to the title of
father Of the automobile" can be chal-
lenged by innumerable circumstances.
Henry Ford made his initial expert
mentS in 1928. Long before that,
however, the Duryea brothers had been
tinkering with gasoline driven buggies,
and in the historic automobile race in
Chicago in 1894, Charles E. Duryea was
the only inventor to get his car started.
Elwood Haynes also was one of the
early inventors.
But there was yet another, less fire.
quently thought of outside the realm Of
the automotive engineer, who laid claim
to preceding the inventors who present.
ed their cars in the contest Of '94. This
was Carl Benz Of Mannheim. Germany,
who had been experimenting in the
'80s. and brought gasoline propelled
vehicle to the United States and eX-
hibited it at the Worlds Fair in 1893.
It wasn't the "Blitzen Benz" Of Barney
Oldfield's day, but it was one of the
earliest gasoline driven cars
Automobile men of today like to think
that no one man was father of the au-
tomobile" Rather, they say, the motor
car was the progeny Of scores of in
ventors, each of whom contributed his
part to the development of the car, from