In terms of the lives of average people there is little doubt that the automobile is .
the most revolutionary invention in the history of transportation since the wheel .
itself. The basic idea is simple, choose a wheeled vehicle from the many types typically .
pulled by horses or oxen, add a motor and create a self-propelled, personal transportation .
vehicle.
The automobile as we know it was not invented in a single day by a single .
inventor but rather contains an entire history. The automobile reflects an evolution that .
took place worldwide. It is said that over 100,000 patents created the "modern- .
automobile. As with all great things there are turning points to the many firsts that o.
occurred along the way. Starting with the first theoretical plans for a "horseless carriage- .
that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. .
In 1769 the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented .
by French engineer and mechanic Nicolas Joseph Cugnot . He used a steam engine to .
power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Randolph .
Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2.5 mph .
on only three wheels. Although it had to stop every 10-15 minutes to build up steam .
power it was still carrying its own weight. The steam engine and boiler were separate .
from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the front. It wasn't until but a year later that he .
built a steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers at nearly 4 mph. Almost 8 .
months later Cugnot mananged to "drive- his 2nd tractor into a stone wall, The first car .
accident and the start of bad luck, after the crash one of the men who helped fund the .
project died, and the other was exiled. Bankrupt and injured is dream died. Seven years .
later the first U.S patent for a steam-powered "horseless carriage- was granted to Oliver .
Evans, a banker who sought to revive the earlier French design.