Old Engraving depicting the

1771 crash of Nicolas

Joseph Cugnot's steam-
powered car into a stone
wall.

The History of the Automobile

Early Steam Powered Cars
Old Engraving depicting the
1771 crash of Nicolas
Joseph Cugnot's steam-
powered car into a stone
wall.

More of This Feature

By Mary Bellis • Part I:Steam Cars
• Part 2: Electric Cars
• Part 3:The First Gas-Powered
The automobile as we know it was not invented in a single day by Cars
a single inventor. The history of the automobile reflects an • Part 4:The Assembly Line
evolution that took place worldwide. It is estimated that over Related Resources
100,000 patents created the modern automobile. However, we • More Car History
can point to the many firsts that occurred along the way. Starting • Car Model History
with the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that had been • Car Parts History
• History of Steam Engines
drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. • Railroads
• Car Invention Trivia

In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French
engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steam engine
to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Brezin. It
was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2 1/2 mph on only
three wheels. The vehicle had to stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power.
The steam engine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the
front (see engraving above). The following year (1770), Cugnot built a steam-powered
tricycle that carried four passengers.

In 1771, Cugnot drove one of his road vehicles into a stone wall, making Cugnot the first
person to get into a motor vehicle accident. This was the beginning of bad luck for the
 inventor. After one of Cugnot's patrons died and the other was exiled, the money for
Cugnot's road vehicle experiments ended.

Steam engines powered cars by burning fuel that heated water in a boiler, creating steam
that expanded and pushed pistons that turned the crankshaft, which then turned the
wheels. During the early history of self-propelled vehicles - both road and railroad vehicles
were being developed with steam engines. (Cugnot also designed two steam locomotives
with engines that never worked well.) Steam engines added so much weight to a vehicle
that they proved a poor design for road vehicles; however, steam engines were very
successfully used in locomotives. Historians, who accept that early steam-powered road
vehicles were automobiles, feel that Nicolas Cugnot was the inventor of the first
automobile.

After Cugnot Several Other Inventors Designed Steam-Powered Road Vehicles

 Cugnot's vehicle was improved by Frenchman, Onesiphore Pecqueur, who also invented
the first differential gear.
 In 1789, the first U.S. patent for a steam-powered land vehicle was granted to Oliver
Evans.
 In 1801, Richard Trevithick built a road carriage powered by steam - the first in Great
Britain.
 In Britain, from 1820 to 1840, steam-powered stagecoaches were in regular service.
These were later banned from public roads and Britain's railroad system developed as a
result.
 Steam-driven road tractors (built by Charles Deitz) pulled passenger carriages around
Paris and Bordeaux up to 1850.
 In the United States, numerous steam coaches were built from 1860 to 1880. Inventors
included: Harrison Dyer, Joseph Dixon, Rufus Porter, and William T. James.
 Amedee Bollee Sr. built advanced steam cars from 1873 to 1883. The "La Mancelle" built
in 1878, had a front-mounted engine, shaft drive to the differential, chain drive to the
rear wheels, steering wheel on a vertical shaft and driver's seat behind the engine. The
boiler was carried behind the passenger compartment.
 In 1871, Dr. J. W. Carhart, professor of physics at Wisconsin State University, and the J.
I. Case Company built a working steam car that won a 200-mile race.

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“Ideas rise out of communities of creative people.

Priority is usually meaningless.”
 (John H. Lienhard, University of Houston)

What do the following have in common: a derailleur gear, an

aluminum frame, the freewheel, disc wheels, anatomical saddles,
clipless pedals, suspension, folding bikes? Answer: they were all
ideas that originated in the late 1800s. The late English cycling
historian, John Pinkerton, once remarked, “Think of a new idea in
bicycle design and someone will have already invented it,
probably in the nineteenth century.”

Mouseover the image to see the future

After the fundamentals of bicycle design had been conceived by the end of the 1860s, a multitude of
subsequent improvements were suggested and tried. In some cases the ideas died, marking the end of that
particular evolutionary branch. In other instances, the concepts were embraced to the point that they led to
commercial successes. It’s worth noting that Jim Hurd, the former curator of the Bicycle Museum of America,
says that at the turn of the century there were two buildings in Washington DC that held every patent in the
U.S. One building held patents covering every type of product you can think of. The other building was
reserved specifically for bicycle patents. It’s a manifestation of how much energy had gone into refining the
bicycle and it’s the reason why it’s such a challenge for modern designers to make any sea-change
improvements.

When browsing through the timeline below, remember that bicycle inventions that were successful were
rarely the result of a spontaneous flash of inspiration by one person. More commonly, they were built on
previous ideas and experiments and no one date or individual can always be attributed to a particular design.
Furthermore, many viable prototypes were abandoned and not pursued until years later. One could argue,
perhaps, that an invention should have successful “progeny” to be considered a true milestone. Some
“milestones” can thus be challenged in that they only gained importance in retrospect; they might have
marked a stepping stone to something more advanced from which there was no turning back but in reality,
the innovation was quickly forgotten and had no permanent impact. All this creates both ambiguity and
controversy as to who the “true” inventor was and the date when the first successful version was produced.

To add to the confusion, in recent years several early icons of bicycle history have been relegated to the
hopper of popular myth. Most, if not all, alleged developments before the granting of the
Von Drais patent in 1818 are highly conjectural.

For example, the drawing of a “bicycle” (circa 1493) purported to be by Giacomo Caprotti, a
pupil of Leonardo da Vinci (photo left; click to enlarge; source #1), is now acknowledged by most to be a hoax.

The Flemish or German “Bicycle Window,” which was installed in Stoke Poges church in the
16th or 17th century (photo right; click to enlarge; source #2), shows an angel on a device
that some argue looks like a prototype hobbyhorse. It is far more likely to be a one-wheeled
contraption that was often associated with cherubims and seraphims in mediaeval
iconography.

There is also the risk that, unless there is credible documentary evidence, some early innovations are actually
subsequent bicycle priority claims from the 1890s or later and are thus false stepping stones that do not
convey an accurate history.

For example, a vehicle with two wheels in-line (photo left; click to enlarge; source #3) was
attributed to a Comte de Sivrac around 1791 but this story was most likely created by the

historian Baudry de Saunier in 1891 and has erroneously been copied by numerous authors
ever since.

Other claims are more problematical. A case in point is the chain and rear cog-driven
velocipede attributed to Meyer and Guilmet in 1869 (photo right; click to enlarge; source #4)
and which is now in the Musée des Arts et Métiers. Serious questions remain unanswered as to the date and
history of the bike even though it is held up by some to be a true missing link in bicycle evolution.

Arguments about who invented the bicycle are thus rarely fruitful and never conclusive. In all likelihood, the
Baron von Drais (Germany), Kirkpatrick Macmillan (Scotland), the Michaux family (France),
Henry Lawson (England) and many others, all contributed critical elements but it was the
Starley family of Coventry, England who can perhaps lay claim to bringing it all together as a
commercial venture even though their first models were unsuccessful and they did not
necessarily “invent” the designs that they incorporated. Nevertheless, within 20 years after
the Boneshaker appeared in the 1860s, most of the basic elements of modern bicycle design had appeared
and were included in Starley’s 1885 “Rover” (photo left; click to enlarge; source #5).

Even though controversy still surrounds Macmillan’s machine, it was prophetic in that it included three of
these critical design elements: (1) two smallish, equally-sized wheels with the rider sitting between them (2) a
rear-wheel drive and (3) a front wheel that was steered and was independent of the transmission. The
additional two pieces of the puzzle that were subsequently incorporated by Starley and others were (4) a
“geared-up” drivetrain (such that the number of pedal revolutions does not equal the number of wheel
rotations) and (5) the chain drive itself which was eventually to become ubiquitous.

Since those early days, there have been periods of relative famine when it comes to dramatic improvements in
bicycle or component design. This was largely a result of two phenomena. First was the rise of the automobile
in the 1920s. The second cause was rather more ominous, namely the perverse policy of the Union Cycliste
Internationale and other cycling organizations to ban radical or innovative bicycles from competing in their
sanctioned events. These prohibitions included derailleur gears, wheel rims made of anything except wood
and frames of a configuration other than the standard diamond. Not surprisingly, nothing earth shattering
shows up between 1910 and 1930, until Tullio Campagnolo begins to influence the industry. There seems to be
another period of relative inactivity in the 1950s and 60s but this was followed by the bicycle boom of the 80s
led by Japanese and American companies and which spawned the high-tech machines of today. Trickle-down
of the technology means that sophisticated bicycles can now be had for relatively modest prices.

In the last two decades, there have been many recent advances in materials, especially the increasingly
widespread use of carbon fiber and titanium. In addition, the demise of the threaded fork and quill stem in
favor of the threadless fork/stem combination, the increased numbers of gears and the improvements in
wheel design are valid contributions to bicycle evolution. Finally, the fat-tire folks would probably consider the
new fork and frame suspensions as fairly revolutionary changes in their bikes even though there were
marketable versions of effective suspension systems that date back 100 years. Other design changes, such as
larger steerer tubes, integrated headsets, and compact frames may still be controversial but do seem to be
working their way into the mainstream of bicycle development.

And what of the future? For the mass market, the industry will need to continue to improve those things that
discourage more people from riding: comfort, finicky gears, oily chains, flat tires etc. The road bike business
got a severe wake-up call when the mountain bike phenomenon occurred although the playing field has
leveled out somewhat since the heady days of the 1980s and 90s when the fat-tire contingent were outselling
their skinny-wheeled brethren.However, since then, the “comfort” and hybrid bikes have now created a
sizable niche in the market. Some form of suspension could soon end up on every good bike, road or mountain
of any style. Perhaps recumbents and small-wheeled bicycles will now move further into the mainstream; their
aficionados always claim that they should not be regarded as “velo-eccentrics” but sales figures do not really
support them … yet. Even though they might be an anathema to the hard-core sports riders, new pedaling-
assist mechanisms may also become more common.

At some point, maybe the crank/chain/cogs system of the drivetrain will be replaced by something totally
different or at least by non-metallic components that need no lubrication. In the meantime, it is inevitable that
still further increases in the number of gears is probably being considered though with thirty-speed systems
now readily available, one must continue to ask what the practical limit is. Perhaps CVT (Continuous Variable
Transmission) shifting system will achieve the light weight, robustness and efficiency to become a market
player.

Effective electronic/automatic shifting will undoubtedly remain on the radar screens of component
manufacturers. Even though the innovative attempts by Browning Research and Mavic failed as commercial
ventures, Shimano is still in that market with their Nexus Auto-D unit, rolled out in 1999, which analyzes
cadence and speed and automatically shifts for the rider. More importantly, Campagnolo’s Electronic Record,
possibly due in 2005, will offer both front and rear on-demand automated shifting. In addition, the hundred-
year-old Anglo-French competition between hub and derailleur gears might not be over. In 1998 Rohloff
introduced a 14-speed hub gear that uses needle bearings, thus mitigating in part, one of hub gears’ inherent
disadvantages, that of increased frictional resistance.

Tire developments will continue, especially in respect of lower hysteresis losses and greater puncture
resistance through improved materials. Practical tubeless or lightweight solid tires would be a boon to cyclists
if weight and rolling resistance remain within acceptable limits. Clipless pedals that are truly safe for
recreational cyclists have yet to appear. [Editor’s note: It’s possible to get injured if you aren’t practiced
enough.] Shimano tried it and admitted it was one area of research in which they failed.

Good quality spokeless wheels for the masses could go hand in hand with a move to smaller wheels which are
less affected by sidewinds. Something similar to Mike Burrows’ monoblade wheel mounting system which
enables tires and chains (or drive belts) to be easily be removed without taking the wheel off or splitting the
chain might also gain mainstream acceptance. Lightweight disc brakes might well end up on all high-end bikes
as they too continue to improve.

Looking further out in time, magnetorheological or electrorheological brake and suspension systems (which
rely on fluids which change in viscosity when exposed to electrical or magnetic fields) might become viable.
Bicycle computers will unquestionably get more and more sophisticated and minicomputer-controlled
applications for various functions will become commonplace.

As if to reinforce the premise made at the beginning of this article, many of these ideas have been tried in the
past but time will tell which of them will qualify for future lists of milestones.

Innovation Year Country Details

1817 Germany Baron von Drais invents the “running machine” or Laufmaschine.
Patented the following year. Known in various forms as: Draisine,
Draisienne, Vélocipède. English version was the Hobby Horse (Denis
Johnson). All have two, in-line wheels and the ability to steer.

Click to enlarge
source #6

hand drive 1821 England Louis Gompertz adds a hand-driven, ratchet mechanism to the front
wheel of a Hobby Horse but the innovation, as with Drais’ was never
really followed up.

1839- Scotland Kirkpatrick Macmillan is traditionally credited with a machine in which

1840 power was supplied to the back wheel via rods connected to treadle-
type pedals. Thomas McCall marketed copies; an 1845 version is in the
Dumfries Museum. It is questionable whether significant progress
resulted from either.

Click to enlarge
 source #5

rear-wheel-drive 1843 France Alexandre Lefebvre is credited with a rear-drive machine; he took it to
bicycle America twenty years later and it still exists in the “History San Jose”
museum (the earliest extant bicycle?).

pneumatic tire 1845 England R. W. Thompson invents the pneumatic tire but with no commercial
follow-up.

treadle drive 1847 Scotland Gavin Dalzell builds a two-wheeled hobbyhorse with a treadle-drive,
possibly copied from the Macmillan design.

crank-driven 4-wheeler 1851 England Willard Sawyer exhibits his four-wheeled, crank-driven vehicle at the
Great Exhibition and subsequently becomes established as a
velocipede manufacturer.

Boneshaker bicycle 1864 France J. Townsend Trench documents his purchase of a velocipede from the
Michaux family. Possibly the first record of a “production” front wheel,
pedal-driven bicycle (but note that it was not presented until 1895).
This style became known as the “Boneshaker.” Historians still debate
the claim of Pierre Lallement that he had previously invented the first
pedal-driven machine.

1866 USA Lallement, now in the USA, gets the backing of an investor, James
Carroll, and their patent application is granted; probably the world’s
first public record of the pedal-powered two-wheeler.

Click to enlarge
source #9

1870 England James Starley produces the “Ariel” High Wheeler (aka “Ordinary” or
“Penny Farthing”). Later versions had front wheel sizes of up to 5 feet.

Click to enlarge
source #10

wire-spoked wheel 1870 England W.H.J. Grout patents the radially spoked, nipple adjusted bicycle wheel
(unlike prior load-bearing wheels). Some credit Meyer with this design
two years previously.

ball bearings 1872 German Friedrich Fischer first mass-produces steel ball bearings, patented by
Jules Suriray in 1869.

caliper brake 1876 England Browett and Harrison patent an early caliper brake.

differential gear 1877 England James Starley patents a differential gear; probably the first for a
bicycle but the principle was not new.
internal hub gearings 1878 England Scott and Phillott patent the first practicable epicyclic change-speed
gear fitted into the hub of a front-driving bicycle.

folding highwheeler 1878 England Grout patents a folding High Wheeler, the first “portable” bicycle

1879 England Henry J. Lawson patents a rear wheel, chain-driven safety bicycle, the
“Bicyclette” (his earlier models were lever driven).

Click to enlarge
source #14

chain 1880 England Thomas Humber adapts the block chain for use with his range of
bicycles.

safety bicycle 1885 England John Kemp Starley (James Starley's nephew) markets the
revolutionary Safety Bicycle (the “Rover”) with a chain/rear-sprocket
drive and tangentially-spoked, similar sized wheels. Includes many of
the major features of modern bicycles.

seamless tubing 1886 Germany The Mannessman brothers are credited with the invention of the
process to manufacture seamless steel tubing.

1888 Scotland Commercial development of the pneumatic bicycle tire by Dr. John
Boyd Dunlop.

Click to enlarge
source #11

1890s France Cycles Aluminium becomes one of the earliest manufacturers of an

aluminum bicycle.

Click to enlarge
source #12

derailleur 1896 England E.H. Hodgkinson patents a 3-speed Gradient gear, a pre-cursor of the
modern derailleur.

internal hub gearing 1896 England William Riley patents a two-speed hub gear. His later three-speed
version was put into production by Sturmey Archer in 1902.

butted frame tubes 1897 England Alfred M. Reynolds takes out a patent on "butted" steel bicycle tubes.

freewheel 1898 Germany First major commercialization of the freewheel by Ernst Sachs. William
Van Anden had obtained the first freewheel patent in 1869.
 1910 France The first, easy-to-use derailleur is invented by Paul de Vivie (Velocio)
that shifted among four gears at the pedals.

Click to enlarge
source #13

recumbent 1914 France Peugeot markets their production recumbent bicycle. Charles Challand
had exhibited his “Horizontal Bicyclette Normale” in Geneva in 1895.

dual-suspension 1915 Italy Bianchi produced a folding bicycle for the Italian Army with telescoping
mountain bike seatstays, a leaf spring at the bottom bracket, a spring fork and large
profile pneumatic tires. Bianchi now calls it the first dual suspension
mountain bike! There are earlier versions of military folding bicycles.
And Pierce had the Pan American dual-suspension road bicycle
at the turn of the century.

1930 Italy Tullio Campagnolo introduces the bicycle hub quick-release.

Click to enlarge
source #13

recumbent 1932 France Charles Mochet designs the Velocar, a recumbent bicycle on which
Francois Faure breaks both the mile and kilometer records.

1933- USA Introduction by Schwinn of the balloon tire and “streamlined” bikes
1934 which leads to rugged bikes that can take the abuse of teenage boys
and which set a forty-year trend. CORRECTIONS by Leon Dixon of
the National Bicycle History Archive of America: "The implication here
is that Schwinn invented something that did not exist, which is one of
the biggest myths in bicycle history. Schwinn merely copied what they
Click to enlarge
saw going on in Europe. Both Sears and Montgomery Ward had
source #8
bicycles in 1932 that had balloon tires in the USA, a full year BEFORE
Schwinn. And the streamline movement in bicycles was really
pioneered by Sears and Huffman. Schwinn had a clunky diamond
frame with straight tubes and a streamlined tank in 1934, but Sears
Elgin (1935) and Huffman Dayton (1936) had fully streamlined frames,
tanks, etc."

mountain bike 1938 USA Schwinn markets the "Fore-wheel" brake, "Cantilever Frame" and the
"Spring Fork." Resulted in what was to be the Grandfather of today's
mountain bikes.

small-wheel folding 1939 France A.J. Marcelin patents “Le Petit Bi”, a 16-inch wheeled folding bicycle,
bicycle remarkably similar to the Moulton and Bickerton of later years. There
had already been full-size folding military bicycles in 1915.

shifter 1946 Italy Campagnolo markets the dual-rod "Cambio Corsa" gear shifter (over
ten years after the prototype) widely used for at least a decade.
 index shifting 1949 England The Hercules Herailleur is launched; a rear derailleur with indexed shift
levers. Marketed for five years.

derailleur 1951 Italy Introduction of Campagnolo's modern Gran Sport derailleur.

1962 England Launch of the Moulton small-wheeled bicycle with separately sprung
suspension and custom tires. Competed successfully in time trials and
track pursuit events.

Click to enlarge

Sting-Ray 1963 USA Schwinn introduces the Sting-Ray that subsequently helped launch the
BMX craze. Leon Dixon of the National Bicycle History Archive of
America notes: "This is a very serious myth. First, Schwinn merely
copied the Huffy Penguin which existed BEFORE the Sting-Ray. And
these bicycles were pioneers in the 20-inch bicycle revolution/genre,
but certainly did not necessarily father BMX. AND... the first Sting-Ray
was officially stated by Schwinn as being NOT a 1963 model, but
officially known as a "1963-1/2" model. Either way, Huffy was on the
market first."

rear derailleur 1964 Japan The SunTour Grand Prix is marketed as the first slant parallelogram
derailleur, a design that has held up till the present day.

index shifting 1969 Japan SunTour launch their indexed shift lever, the Five-Speed Click, and a
combined freewheel-plus-rear hub, the Unit Hub. Neither of them
found a market, and were abandoned. Bayliss Wiley in England had
also experimented with unit hubs as far back as 1938.

1970 England The aluminum Bickerton portable folding small-wheel bicycle is

developed. Followed by the successful Brompton in 1976 and Dahon in
1980.

Click to enlarge

BMX 1970 USA The movie On Any Sunday by Bruce Brown debuts. Although it is a
(Bicycle Motocross) motorcycle documentary, a brief scene during the beginning of the
movie shows kids on Sting-Ray bikes emulating motocross. This small
spark eventually evolves into full-fledged, organized BMX racing by
1974.

mass-produced 1974 USA Teledyne markets the first titanium bike that was produced in any
titanium frame/fork quantity (Speedwell of England had some Ti production frames as far
back as the 1960s, welded by Lamborghini!) Litespeed brought
titanium frames to a broader market in the 1980s.
 1975 USA The first carbon-tubed, metal lugged frame appears: the Exxon
Graftek. Suffered from frequent frame failure. The technology was
later perfected by Look, Trek and others.

Click to enlarge
source #7

oversize aluminum 1975 USA Gary Klein displays his welded and heat-treated aluminum frames with
frames/bikes oversize tubing at the International Bike show. Klein’s frame was the
result of an MIT design project in the early 1970’s under Professor
Shawn Buckley. Alan (Italy) and Vitus (France) were producing their
lugged aluminum frames around the same time. Cannondale launched
their “Aluminum for the Masses” in 1983. (Background on the
Klein/MIT connection courtesy of John S Allen and Donald W. Gillies).

1978 USA Fomac Corporation designs the Avatar recumbent. It is one of the
many styles that constituted the 1980s renaissance of recumbents
which included Lightning Cycles winning the HPV-RAAM relay and Easy
Racers breaking the 65 mph barrier.

Click to enlarge
source #7

high-quality folding 1978 USA Specialized introduce the first high-quality foldable clincher tire (the
clincher tire Turbo) which launches the demise of the tubular.

aerodynamic 1980 East Germany Introduction of aerodynamic bicycles with a stable construction.
road/track bicycles Culminated in the American "Super Bike" at the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics.

mass-produced 1981 USA The Specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike is launched nationwide,
mountain bike capitalizing on the Marin County vogue inspired by Californian icons,
Gary Fisher, Joe Breeze, Tom Richey et al. (all of whom also produced
earlier mountain bikes).

electronic cycle 1983 USA Avocet launch the first electronic cyclometer (bike computer).
computer

Moulton 1983 England Moulton launches his second generation of “space-frame” small-
wheeled bicycles.

clipless pedals 1984 France LOOK markets their clipless pedal (following on an earlier track model
launched by Cinelli in 1970; the “Death Cleats,” no automatic release).
There was also the circa 1983 Cyclebinding clipless pedal designed in
the USA by Rick Howell. It featured a self-righting pedal and a
walkable shoe. For more on pedal history visit the Speedplay Museum.

index shifting 1985 Japan Shimano introduces SIS indexed shifting (learning from their inferior
product, the Positron, from 1977).
 1986 USA Kestrel introduces their production non-lugged, carbon fiber frame and
Trek market their first lugged carbon frame.

Click to enlarge

suspended mountain 1987 USA Paul Turner demonstrates a full suspension bicycle with front and rear
bike shocks. Eventually becomes a partner in Rock Shox. Diversified the
sport of off-road biking.

aero handlebars 1987 USA Scott USA manufactures the first mass-produced aerobars in 1987, the
(1984)* design, called the DH, is the brainchild of Boone Lennon. *However,
the first aerobars were invented in 1984 by Richard Bryne for Jim Elliot
to use in the 1984 Race Across America.

high-performance 1989 USA Hanz Scholz designs the Bike Friday "World Tourist". A reasonably
folding bike compact folding bicycle that matches the performance of conventional
touring machines.

integrated brake/shift 1990 Japan Shimano introduces integrated brake/gear levers.

levers

electric derailleurs 1993 France Mavic markets their ZAP electronic shifting. Ceases production in 2001.
Possible future follow-up by Campagnolo. Browning Research had
invented a prototype electronic system in 1974. Shimano introduces
it's Di2 electric drivetrain in 2008.

hydraulic disc brake 1994 USA Sachs (SRAM) introduces PowerDisc, the first mass-produced hydraulic
disc brake system.

1998 Germany Rohloff develops the Speedhub, 14 equally-spaced hub gears which
are operated by a twist-grip with no overlapping ratios and a gear
range as wide as a 27-speed derailleur system.

Click to enlarge

30-speed derailleur 2002 Italy Campagnolo offers a 30-speed derailleur drivetrain with the Record 3-
drivetrain x-10 drivetrain

Note

Bicycle history marches on. The chart ends with a Rohloff hub transmission, and Campagnolo 10-
speed drivetrain. Currently, Campy has the Super Record component group, which has an 11-
speed cassette for building drivetrains with up to 33 gears. And, there have been developments
in internal hub gearing, too, such as the ingenious NuVinci infinitely variable transmission. While
Shimano just debuted their Di2 electric road drivetrain.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I used many published and Internet sources for the above list. It was remarkable how many
inaccuracies and red herrings needed to be purged from my first drafts as I learned more about
the controversies surrounding both the early claims and the more recent history. In this effort, I
received many invaluable comments from the individuals listed below. Notwithstanding their
generous assistance, any remaining errors that remain are mine alone. It is also worth observing
that controversies still abound, not all my correspondents were necessarily in agreement but it
would be most presumptuous of me to claim that resolution of such differences of opinion is
within either my ability or the scope of this article.

 Clarice Burgwardt of the Pedaling History Bicycle Museum in Orchard Park, New York.
 David B. Perry, author of Bike Cult, 1995.
 David Henshaw, A to B, alternative transport magazine. Castle Gary, England.
 David Herlihy, directeur of the Lallement Memorial Committee in Boston and author of
many papers on history of the bicycle.
 David Metz of the Metz Bicycle Museum, Freehold, New Jersey.
 Dave Stromberger of Nostalgic.net, classic bicycle restoration.
 Derek Roberts, bicycle historian, author of Cycling History: Myths and Queries (1991)
and founder member of the Veteran Cycle Club
 Ed Charlesworth, Stress Management Recumbents, Houston
 Frank Berto, author of The Birth of Dirt (1999) and The Dancing Chain (2000). He was
the engineering editor for Bicycling Magazine for many years.
 Gary Klein of Klein Bicycles Inc.
 Harry Haltman, San Antonio who shared in several stimulating discussions
 Industry contacts at: Kestrel, Trek, Litespeed, Cannondale, Specialized, the Corus Group
(formerly British Steel) and the International Aluminium Institute.
 Jeff Archer of First Flight Bicycles, antique vintage bicycles, parts and accessories.
Statesville, North Carolina
 Jim Langley, Content Director for SmartEtailing, author and editor of many cycling
articles and books, and one time Chief Technical Editor for Bicycling Magazine.
 John H. Lienhard, M.D. Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and History at the
University of Houston.
 Leon Dixon of the National Bicycle History Archive of America.
 Pryor Dodge, author of The Bicycle, 1996 and inspiration behind the national tour of the
Pryor Dodge Collection which “offered a glimpse of the 19th Century from the handlebars
of a bicycle”.
 Rob van der Plas of Van der Plas Publications (publisher of cycling books), San Francisco.
 Scotford Lawrence, Trustee of the National Cycle Museum, Llandrindod Wells, United
Kingdom.
 Tony Hadland, author of several bicycle history books including The Sturmey Archer
Story (1987) and The Moulton Bicycle (1981).
 John S. Allen, cycling writer, former Bicycling Magazine editor, expert cycling witness and
bicycle advocate.

Photo Credits

1. On Your Bicycle, An Illustrated History Of Cycling by James McGurn

2. The Bicycle, A Guide & Manual by R John Way
3. King Of The Road, An Illustrated History Of Cycling by Andrew Ritchie
4. The Bicycle by Pryor Dodge
5. The Book Of The Bicycle by Roger St. Pierre
6. A History Of Bicycles by Serena Beeley
7. The High-Tech Bicycle by Edward P. Stevenson
8. Schwinn Bicycles by Jay Pridmore and Jim Hurd
9. Lallement Memorial Committee, Box 15077, Boston, MA 02215
10. Early Bicycles by Nick Clayton
11. Bartleet's Bicycle Book, The Story of Cycles & Cycling by H. W. Bartleet
12. 100 Years of Bicycle Posters by Jack Rennert
13. The Dancing Chain by Frank Berto, Ron Shepherd, Raymond Henry
14. Cycles in Colour by Robert Wilkinson-Latham

to the RIDE page

Copyright © 2010 ~ Email me at jim @ jimlangley.net

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 electricity

The History of Electric Vehicles

The Early Years - Electric Cars (1890 - 1930)
 Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert More of This EV History
Feature
Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage. A
• EV History - Early Years
small-scale electric car was designed by Professor Stratingh of • EV History - Middle Years
Groningen, Holland, and built by his assistant Christopher Becker • EV History - Current Years
in 1835. Practical and more successful electric road vehicles were
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invented by both American Thomas Davenport and Scotsmen
• Solar Powered Cars
Robert Davidson around 1842. Both inventors were the first to use • Alternative Energy
non-rechargeable electric cells. Frenchmen Gaston Plante invented • History of Cars
a better storage battery in 1865 and his fellow countrymen • History of Streetcars
• History of Electricity
Camille Faure improved the storage battery in 1881. This • Car Invention Trivia
improved-capacity storage battery paved the way for electric
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France and Great Britain were the first nations to support the widespread development of
electric vehicles in the late 1800s. In 1899, a Belgian built electric racing car called "La
Jamais Contente" set a world record for land speed - 68 mph - designed by Camille Jénatzy.

It was not until 1895 that Americans began to devote attention to electric vehicles after an
electric tricycle was built by A. L. Ryker and William Morrison built a six-passenger wagon
both in 1891. Many innovations followed and interest in motor vehicles increased greatly in
the late 1890s and early 1900s. In 1897, the first commercial application was established as
a fleet of New York City taxis built by the Electric Carriage and Wagon Company of
Philadelphia.

The early electric vehicles, such as the 1902 Wood's Phaeton

(top image), were little more than electrified horseless
carriages and surreys. The Phaeton had a range of 18 miles, a
top speed of 14 mph and cost $2,000. Later in 1916, Woods
invented a hybrid car that had both an internal combustion
engine and an electric motor.

By the turn of the century, America was prosperous and cars,

now available in steam, electric, or gasoline versions, were
becoming more popular. The years 1899 and 1900 were the high
point of electric cars in America, as they outsold all other types of
cars. Electric vehicles had many advantages over their
competitors in the early 1900s. They did not have the vibration,
smell, and noise associated with gasoline cars. Changing gears
on gasoline cars was the most difficult part of driving, while
electric vehicles did not require gear changes. While steam-
powered cars also had no gear shifting, they suffered from long
start-up times of up to 45 minutes on cold mornings. The steam
cars had less range before needing water than an electric's range on a single charge. The
 only good roads of the period were in town, causing most travel to be local commuting, a
perfect situation for electric vehicles, since their range was limited. The electric vehicle was
the preferred choice of many because it did not require the manual effort to start, as with
the hand crank on gasoline vehicles, and there was no wrestling with a gear shifter.

While basic electric cars cost under $1,000, most early electric vehicles were ornate,
massive carriages designed for the upper class. They had fancy interiors, with expensive
materials, and averaged $3,000 by 1910. Electric vehicles enjoyed success into the 1920s
with production peaking in 1912.

The decline of the electric vehicle was brought about by several major developments:

 By the 1920s, America had a better system of roads that now connected cities, bringing
with it the need for longer-range vehicles.
 The discovery of Texas crude oil reduced the price of gasoline so that it was affordable to
the average consumer.
 The invention of the electric starter by Charles Kettering in 1912 eliminated the need for
the hand crank.
 The initiation of mass production of internal combustion engine vehicles by Henry Ford
made these vehicles widely available and affordable in the $500 to $1,000 price range.
By contrast, the price of the less efficiently produced electric vehicles continued to rise.
In 1912, an electric roadster sold for $1,750, while a gasoline car sold for $650.

Next page > History of Electric Cars - The Middle Years (1930 - 1990)

Photos and partial information provided by the U. S. Department of Energy

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The History of the Automobile

The Internal Combustion Engine and Early Gas-Powered Cars
 More of This Car Feature
The very first self-powered road vehicles were powered by steam -Part I: Steam Cars
engines and by that definition Nicolas Joseph Cugnot of France -Part 2: Electric Cars
-Part 3: Gas Cars
built the first automobile in 1769 - recognized by the British Royal -Part 4: Assembly Lines
Automobile Club and the Automobile Club de France as being the
Related Car Resources
first. So why do so many history books say that the automobile
-More Car History
was invented by either Gottlieb Daimler or Karl Benz? It is
-Car Model History
because both Daimler and Benz invented highly successful and -Car Parts History
practical gasoline-powered vehicles that ushered in the age of -Understanding Engines
-Nicolaus August Otto
modern automobiles. Daimler and Benz invented cars that looked
-Karl Benz
and worked like the cars we use today. However, it is unfair to say -Gottlieb Daimler
that either man invented "the" automobile. -Gasoline
-Car Invention Trivia

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History of the Internal Combustion Engine - The Heart of the Automobile

An internal combustion engine is any engine that uses the explosive combustion of fuel to
push a piston within a cylinder - the piston's movement turns a crankshaft that then turns
the car wheels via a chain or a drive shaft. The different types of fuel commonly used for car
combustion engines are gasoline (or petrol), diesel, and kerosene.

A brief outline of the history of the internal combustion engine includes the following
highlights:

 1680 - Dutch physicist, Christian Huygens designed (but never built) an internal
combustion engine that was to be fueled with gunpowder.
 1807 - Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland invented an internal combustion engine
that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Rivaz designed a car for his engine
- the first internal combustion powered automobile. However, his was a very unsuccessful
design.
 1824 - English engineer, Samuel Brown adapted an old Newcomen steam engine to burn
gas, and he used it to briefly power a vehicle up Shooter's Hill in London.
 1858 - Belgian-born engineer, Jean JosephÉtienne Lenoir invented and patented (1860)
a double-acting, electric spark-ignition internal combustion engine fueled by coal gas. In
1863, Lenoir attached an improved engine (using petroleum and a primitive carburetor)
to a three-wheeled wagon that managed to complete an historic fifty-mile road trip. (See
image at top)
 1862 - Alphonse Beau de Rochas, a French civil engineer, patented but did not build a
four-stroke engine (French patent #52,593, January 16, 1862).
 1864 - Austrian engineer, Siegfried Marcus*, built a one-cylinder engine with a crude
carburetor, and attached his engine to a cart for a rocky 500-foot drive. Several years
later, Marcus designed a vehicle that briefly ran at 10 mph that a few historians have
considered as the forerunner of the modern automobile by being the world's first
gasoline-powered vehicle (however, read conflicting notes below).
  1873 - George Brayton, an American engineer, developed an unsuccessful two-stroke
kerosene engine (it used two external pumping cylinders). However, it was considered
the first safe and practical oil engine.
 1866 - German engineers, Eugen Langen and Nikolaus August Otto improved on Lenoir's
and de Rochas' designs and invented a more efficient gas engine.
 1876 - Nikolaus August Otto invented and later patented a successful four-stroke engine,
known as the "Otto cycle".
 1876 - The first successful two-stroke engine was invented by Sir Dougald Clerk.
 1883 - French engineer, Edouard Delamare-Debouteville, built a single-cylinder four-
stroke engine that ran on stove gas. It is not certain if he did indeed build a car,
however, Delamare-Debouteville's designs were very advanced for the time - ahead of
both Daimler and Benz in some ways at least on paper.
 1885 - Gottlieb Daimler invented what is often recognized as the prototype of the
modern gas engine - with a vertical cylinder, and with gasoline injected through a
carburetor (patented in 1887). Daimler first built a two-wheeled vehicle the "Reitwagen"
(Riding Carriage) with this engine and a year later built the world's first four-wheeled
motor vehicle.
 1886 - On January 29, Karl Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435) for a gas-
fueled car.
 1889 - Daimler built an improved four-stroke engine with mushroom-shaped valves and
two V-slant cylinders.
 1890 - Wilhelm Maybach built the first four-cylinder, four-stroke engine.
 Further Reading - The Mechanics of Internal Combustion Engines - What is a 2-stroke?
4-stroke?

Engine design and car design were integral activities, almost all of the engine designers
mentioned above also designed cars, and a few went on to become major manufacturers of
automobiles. All of these inventors and more made notable improvements in the evolution
of the internal combustion vehicles.

The Importance of Nicolaus Otto

One of the most important landmarks in engine design comes from Nicolaus August Otto
who in 1876 invented an effective gas motor engine. Otto built the first practical four-stroke
internal combustion engine called the "Otto Cycle Engine," and as soon as he had completed
his engine, he built it into a motorcycle. Otto's contributions were very historically
significant, it was his four-stoke engine that was universally adopted for all liquid-fueled
automobiles going forward. (Learn more about Nicolaus Otto)

The Importance of Karl Benz

In 1885, German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz designed and built the world's first
practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. On January 29, 1886,
Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435) for a gas-fueled car. It was a three-wheeler;
Benz built his first four-wheeled car in 1891. Benz & Cie., the
company started by the inventor, became the world's largest
manufacturer of automobiles by 1900. Benz was the first
inventor to integrate an internal combustion engine with a
chassis - designing both together. (Learn more about Karl
Benz)

The Importance of Gottlieb Daimler

In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler (together with his design partner
Wilhelm Maybach) took Otto's internal combustion engine a step further and patented what
is generally recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine. Daimler's connection to
Otto was a direct one; Daimler worked as technical director of Deutz Gasmotorenfabrik,
which Nikolaus Otto co-owned in 1872. There is some controversy as to who built the first
motorcycle Otto or Daimler.

The 1885 Daimler-Maybach engine was small, lightweight, fast, used a gasoline-injected
carburetor, and had a vertical cylinder. The size, speed, and efficiency of the engine allowed
for a revolution in car design. On March 8, 1886, Daimler took a stagecoach and adapted it
to hold his engine, thereby designing the world's first four-wheeled automobile. Daimler
is considered the first inventor to have invented a practical internal-combustion engine.

In 1889, Daimler invented a V-slanted two cylinder, four-stroke engine with mushroom-
shaped valves. Just like Otto's 1876 engine, Daimler's new engine set the basis for all car
engines going forward. Also in 1889, Daimler and Maybach built their first automobile from
the ground up, they did not adapt another purpose vehicle as they had always been done
previously. The new Daimler automobile had a four-speed transmission and obtained speeds
of 10 mph.

Daimler founded the Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft in 1890 to manufacture his designs.

Eleven years later, Wilhelm Maybach designed the Mercedes automobile. (Learn more about
Gottlieb Daimler & Wilhelm Maybach)

*If Siegfried Marcus built his second car in 1875 and it was as claimed, it would have been
the first vehicle powered by a four-cycle engine and the first to use gasoline as a fuel, the
first having a carburetor for a gasoline engine and the first having a magneto ignition.
However, the only existing evidence indicates that the vehicle was built circa 1888/89 - too
late to be first.

Next page > The Start of the Assembly Line

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 Nicolaus Otto

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The History of the Automobile

The First Mass Producers of Cars - The Assembly Line

1891 Panhard-Levassor vehicle with front

 engine
More of This Feature
By the early 1900s, gasoline cars started to outsell all other types • Part I: Steam Cars
of motor vehicles. The market was growing for economical • Part 2: Electric Cars
• Part 3: Gas Cars
automobiles and the need for industrial production was pressing. • Part 4: Assembly Line

Related Resources
The first car manufacturers in the world were French: Panhard & • More Car History
Levassor (1889) and Peugeot (1891). By car manufacturer we • Car Model History
mean builders of entire motor vehicles for sale and not just engine • Car Parts History
• American Roads
inventors who experimented with car design to test their engines - • Panhard and Levassor
Daimler and Benz began as the latter before becoming full car • Duryea Brothers
manufacturers and made their early money by licensing their • Henry Ford
• Car Invention Trivia
patents and selling their engines to car manufacturers.

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Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor

Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor were partners in a woodworking machinery business,
when they decided to become car manufacturers. They built their first car in 1890 using a
Daimler engine. Edouard Sarazin, who held the license rights to the Daimler patent for
France, commissioned the team. (Licensing a patent means that you pay a fee and then you
have the right to build and use someone's invention for profit - in this case Sarazin had the
right to build and sell Daimler engines in France.) The partners not only manufactured cars,
they made improvements to the automotive body design.

Panhard-Levassor made vehicles with a pedal-operated clutch, a chain transmission leading

to a change-speed gearbox, and a front radiator. Levassor was the first designer to move
the engine to the front of the car and use a rear-wheel drive layout. This design was known
as the Systeme Panhard and quickly became the standard for all cars because it gave a
better balance and improved steering. Panhard and Levassor are also credited with the
invention of the modern transmission - installed in their 1895 Panhard.

Panhard and Levassor also shared the licensing rights to Daimler motors with Armand
Peugot. A Peugot car went on to win the first car race held in France, which gained Peugot
publicity and boosted car sales. Ironically, the "Paris to Marseille" race of 1897 resulted in a
fatal auto accident, killing Emile Levassor. (Learn more about Panhard and Levassor)

Early on, French manufacturers did not standardize car models - each car was different from
the other. The first standardized car was the 1894, Benz Velo. One hundred and thirty four
identical Velos were manufactured in 1895.

Charles and Frank Duryea

America's first gasoline-powered commercial car manufacturers were Charles and Frank
 Duryea. The brothers were bicycle makers who became interested in gasoline engines and
automobiles and built their first motor vehicle in 1893, in Springfield, Massachusetts. By
1896, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company had sold thirteen models of the Duryea, an
expensive limousine, which remained in production into the 1920s. (Learn more about
Charles and Frank Duryea)

Ransome Eli Olds

The first automobile to be mass produced in the United States was the 1901, Curved Dash
Oldsmobile, built by the American car manufacturer Ransome Eli Olds (1864-1950). Olds
invented the basic concept of the assembly line and started the Detroit area automobile
industry. He first began making steam and gasoline engines with his father, Pliny Fisk Olds,
in Lansing, Michigan in 1885. Olds designed his first steam-powered car in 1887. In 1899,
with a growing experience of gasoline engines, Olds moved to Detroit to start the Olds
Motor Works, and produce low-priced cars. He produced 425 "Curved Dash Olds" in 1901,
and was America's leading auto manufacturer from 1901 to 1904.

Henry Ford
American car manufacturer, Henry Ford (1863-1947) invented an improved assembly line
and installed the first conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory in Ford's Highland
Park, Michigan plant, around 1913-14. The assembly line reduced production costs for cars
by reducing assembly time. Ford's famous Model T was assembled in ninety-three minutes.
Ford made his first car, called the "Quadricycle," in June, 1896. However, success came
after he formed the Ford Motor Company in 1903. This was the third car manufacturing
company formed to produce the cars he designed. He introduced the Model T in 1908 and it
was a success. After installing the moving assembly lines in his factory in 1913, Ford
became the world's biggest car manufacturer. By 1927, 15 million Model Ts had been
manufactured.

Another victory won by Henry Ford was patent battle with George B. Selden. Selden, who
had never built an automobile, held a patent on a "road engine", on that basis Selden was
paid royalties by all American car manufacturers. Ford overturned Selden's patent and
opened the American car market for the building of inexpensive cars. (Learn more about
Henry Ford)

 The Selden - Ford Patent Battle

 The Origins of the Name "Automobile"

Return > History of Cars

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