Steam car

A steam car is an automobile (car) powered by a steam engine. The first automobile, a three-wheeled vehicle, was powered by a steam engine.  

 History 

The steam carriage was invented in 1769 by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French engineer.Smithsonian; Timelines of science (New York: DK Publishing, 2013), p. 151 It was a large three wheeled vehicle that used coal to make steam in a boiler.Marshall Cavendish ,Inventors and Inventions (New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008), p. 89 The boiler was mounted in front which made the vehicle unstable.

In the United States, about the time of the American Civil War, a number of inventors were working on steam-powered cars.Leslie A. White; et al., Modern Capitalist Culture (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2008), p. 112 In England about 1868 J. H. Knight had created a very successful design of steam car. In 1883 in France, Jules-Albert de Dion and Georges Bouton began building steam cars. In 1886 Ransom E. Olds was producing a steam car in the US. In 1899 the Stanley brothers, Francis and Freelan began making the famous Stanley Steamers.

 Advantages and disadvantages 

Steam engines in cars have a great amount of torque.Allen Fuhs, Hybrid Vehicles: and the Future of Personal Transportation (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2009), p. 2 With all this torque they can accelerate very quickly. Because the torque is available over a broad range of speeds, a transmission wasn't needed. They could also carry heavy loads with ease. The speed of a steam car is controlled by the throttle alone and the engine never stalls. Steam cars had fewer moving parts than gasoline powered cars.Michael L. Bromley, William Howard Taft and the First Motoring Presidency, 1909-1913 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2003), p. 54 Also steam cars are very quiet.

A major disadvantage is that a steam car has to "fire up" its boiler (has to get up to operating temperature). This can take as much as 20 minutes before the car can move. In the winter there was the added problem of water freezing. The open-cycle steam engine in cars and steam locomotives could not go far without adding water. The water turned to steam, which was lost when it exited the engine. Steam condensers were added to these cars later. This converted the steam back to water. It was too late; by then steam cars had lost out to cars with internal combustion engines.

 Gallery 

 Related pages 

 Stanley Motor Carriage Company
 Locomobile Company of America
 White Motor Company
 Doble steam car
 De Dion-Bouton

 References 

 Other websites 
 Stanley Steamers
 Early Steam Power The first Automobiles The Steam Cars! 

Category:Automobiles