self-moving carriage. In the sixteenth century one Johann Haustach, a
Nuremberg watchmaker, produced a vehicle that derived its motive power
from coiled springs, and was in fact a large edition of our modern
clockwork toys. About the same time the Dutch, and among them
especially one Simon Stevin, fitted carriages with sails, and there
are records of a steam-carriage as early as the same century.
But the first practical, and at least semi-successful, automobile
driven by internal force was undoubtedly that of a Frenchman, Nicholas
Joseph Cugnot, who justly merits the title of father of automobilism.
His machine, which is to-day one of the most treasured exhibits in the
Paris Museum of Arts and Crafts, consisted of a large carriage, having
in front a pivoted platform bearing the machinery, and resting on a
solid wheel, which propelled as well as steered the vehicle. The
boiler, of stout riveted copper plates, had below it an enclosed
furnace, from which the flames passed upwards through the water
through a funnel. A couple of cylinders, provided with a simple
reversing gear, worked a ratchet that communicated motion to the
driving-wheel. This carriage did not travel beyond a very slow walking
pace, and Cugnot therefore added certain improvements, after which
(1770) it reached the still very moderate speed of four miles an hour,
and distinguished itself by charging and knocking down a wall, a feat
that is said to have for a time deterred engineers from developing a
seemingly dangerous mode of progression.
Ten years later Dallery built a steam car, and ran it in the streets
of Amiens--we are not told with what success; and before any further
advance had been made with the automobile the French Revolution put a
stop to all inventions of a peaceful character among our neighbours.
In England, however, steam had already been recognised as the coming
power. Richard Trevethick, afterwards to become famous as a railroad
engineer, built a steam motor in 1802, and actually drove it from
Cambourne to Plymouth, a distance of ninety miles. But instead of
following up this success, he forsook steam-carriages for the
construction of locomotives, leaving his idea to be expanded by other
men, who were convinced that a vehicle which could be driven over
existing roads was preferable to one that was helpless when separated
from smooth metal rails. Between the years 1800 and 1836 many steam
vehicles for road traffic appeared from time to time, some, such as
David Gordon’s (propelled by metal legs pressing upon the ground),
strangely unpractical, but the majority showing a steady improvement
in mechanical design.
As it will be impossible, without writing a small book, to name all
the English constructors of this period, we must rest content with the
mention of the leading pioneers of the new locomotion.
Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, an eminent chemist, did for mechanical road
propulsion what George Stephenson was doing for railway development.
He boldly spent large sums on experimental vehicles, which took the
form of six-wheeled coaches. The earliest of these were fitted with
legs as well as driving-wheels, since he thought that in difficult
country wheels alone would not have sufficient grip. (A similar
fallacy was responsible for the cogged wheels on the first railways.)
But in the later types legs were abandoned as unnecessary. His coaches
easily climbed the steepest hills round London, including Highgate
Hill, though a thoughtful mathematician had proved by calculations
that a steam-carriage, so far from mounting a gradient, could not,
without violating all natural laws, so much as move itself on the
level!
Having satisfied himself of their power, Gurney took his coaches
further afield. In 1829 was published the first account of a motor
trip made by him and three companions through Reading, Devizes, and
Melksham. The pace was, we read, at first only about six miles an
hour, including stoppages. They drove very carefully to avoid injury
to the persons or feelings of the country folk; but at Melksham, where
a fair was in progress, they had to face a shower of stones, hurled by
a crowd of roughs at the instigation of some coaching postilions, who
feared losing their livelihood if the new method of locomotion became
general. Two of the tourists were severely hurt, and Gurney was
obliged to take shelter in a brewery, where constables guarded his
coach. On the return journey the party timed their movements so as to
pass through Melksham while the inhabitants were all safely in bed.
The coach ran most satisfactorily, improving every mile. “Our pace was
so rapid,” wrote one of the company, “that the horses of the mail-cart
which accompanied us were hard put to it to keep up with us. At the
foot of Devizes Hill we met a coach and another vehicle, which stopped
to see us mount this hill, an extremely steep one. We ascended it at a
rapid rate. The coach and passengers, delighted at this unexpected
sight, honoured us with shouts of applause.”
In 1830 Messrs. Ogle and Summers completely beat the road record on a
vehicle fitted with a tubular boiler. This car, put through its trials
before a Special Commission of the House of Commons, attained the
astonishing speed of 35 miles an hour on the level, and mounted a hill
near Southampton at 24-1/2 miles an hour. It worked at a boiler
pressure of 250 lbs. to the square inch, and though not hung on
springs, ran 800 miles without a breakdown. This performance appears
all the more extraordinary when we remember the roads of that day were
not generally as good as they are now, and that in the previous year
Stephenson’s “Rocket,” running on rails, had not reached a higher
velocity.
The report of the Parliamentary Commission on horseless carriages was
most favourable. It urged that the steam-driven car was swifter and
lighter than the mail-coaches; better able to climb and descend hills;
safer; more economical; and less injurious to the roads; and, in
conclusion, that the heavy charges levied at the toll-gates (often
twenty times those on horse vehicles) were nothing short of
iniquitous.
As a result of this report, motor services, inaugurated by Walter
Hancock, Braithwayte, and others, commenced between Paddington and the
Bank, London and Greenwich, London and Windsor, London and Stratford.
Already, in 1829, Sir Charles Dance had a steam-coach running between
Cheltenham and Gloucester. In four months it ran 3500 miles and
carried 3000 passengers, traversing the nine miles in three-quarters
of an hour; although narrow-minded landowners placed ridges of stone
eighteen inches deep on the road by way of protest.
The most ambitious service of all was that between London and
Birmingham, established in 1833 by Dr. Church. The rolling-stock
consisted of a single very much decorated coach.
The success of the road-steamer seemed now assured, when a cloud
appeared on the horizon. It had already been too successful. The
railway companies were up in arms. They saw plainly that if once the
roads were covered with vehicles able to transport the public at low
fares quickly from door to door on existing thoroughfares, the
construction of expensive railroads would be seriously hindered, if
not altogether stopped. So, taking advantage of two motor accidents,
the companies appealed to Parliament--full of horse-loving squires and
manufacturers, who scented profit in the railways--and though
scientific opinion ran strongly in favour of the steam-coach, a law
was passed in 1836 which rendered the steamers harmless by robbing
them of their speed. The fiat went forth that in future _every road
locomotive should be preceded at a distance of a hundred yards by a
man on foot carrying a red flag to warn passengers of its approach_.
This law marks the end of the first period of automobilism as far as
England is concerned. At one blow it crippled a great industry,
deprived the community of a very valuable means of transport, and
crushed the energies of many clever inventors who would soon, if we
may judge by the rapid advances already made in construction, have
brought the steam-carriage to a high pitch of perfection. In the very
year in which they were suppressed the steam services had proved their
efficiency and safety. Hancock’s London service alone traversed 4200
miles without serious accident, and was so popular that the coaches
were generally crowded. It is therefore hard to believe that these
vehicles did not supply a public want, or that they were regarded by
those who used them as in any way inferior to horse-drawn coaches.
Yet ignorant prejudice drove them off the road for sixty years; and
to-day it surprises many Englishmen to learn that what is generally
considered a novel method of travelling was already fairly well
developed in the time of their grandfathers.
_Second Period_ (1870 onwards).--To follow the further development of
the automobile we must cross the Channel once again. French invention
had not been idle while Gurney and Hancock were building their
coaches. In 1835 M. Dietz established a service between Versailles and
Paris, and the same year M. D’Asda carried out some successful trials
of his steam “diligence” under the eyes of Royalty. But we find that
for the next thirty-five years the steam-carriage was not much
improved, owing to want of capital among its French admirers. No
Gurney appeared, ready to spend his thousands in experimenting; also,
though the law left road locomotion unrestricted, the railways offered
a determined opposition to a possibly dangerous rival. So that, on the
whole, road transport by steam fared badly till after the terrible
Franco-Prussian war, when inventors again took courage. M. Bollée, of
Mans, built in 1873 a car, “l’Obéissante,” which ran from Mans to
Paris; and became the subject of allusions in popular songs and plays,
while its name was held up as an example to the Paris ladies. Three
years later he constructed a steam omnibus to carry fifty persons, and
in 1878 exhibited a car that journeyed at the rate of eighteen miles
an hour from Paris to Vienna, where it aroused great admiration.
After the year 1880 French engineers divided their attention between
the heavy motor omnibus and light vehicles for pleasure parties. In
1884 MM. Bouton and Trépardoux, working conjointly with the Comte de
Dion, produced a steam-driven tricycle, and in 1887 M. Serpollet
followed suit with another, fitted with the peculiar form of steam
generator that bears his name. Then came in 1890 a very important
innovation, which has made automobilism what it now is. Gottlieb
Daimler, a German engineer, introduced the _petrol gas-motor_. Its
comparative lightness and simplicity at once stamped it as the thing
for which makers were waiting. Petrol-driven vehicles were soon abroad
in considerable numbers and varieties, but they did not attract public
attention to any great extent until, in 1894, M. Pierre Giffard, an
editor of the _Petit Journal_, organised a motor race from Paris to
Rouen. The proprietors of the paper offered handsome prizes to the
successful competitors. There were ten starters, some on steam, others
on petrol cars. The race showed that, so far as stability went,
Daimler’s engine was the equal of the steam cylinder. The next year
another race of a more ambitious character was held, the course being
from Paris to Bordeaux and back. Subscriptions for prizes flowed in
freely. Serpollet, de Dion, and Bollée prepared steam cars that should
win back for steam its lost supremacy, while the petrol faction
secretly built motors of a strength to relegate steam once and for all
to a back place. Electricity, too, made a bid unsuccessfully for the
prize in the Jeantaud car, a special train being engaged in advance to
distribute charged accumulators over the route. The steamers broke
down soon after the start, so that the petrol cars “walked over” and
won a most decisive victory.
The interest roused in the race led the Comte de Dion to found the
Automobile Club of France, which drew together all the enthusiastic
admirers of the new locomotion. Automobilism now became a sport, a
craze. The French, with their fine straight roads, and a not too
deeply ingrained love of horseflesh, gladly welcomed the flying car,
despite its noisy and malodorous properties.
Orders flowed in so freely that the motor makers could not keep pace
with the demand, or promise delivery within eighteen months. Rich men
were therefore obliged to pay double prices if they could find any one
willing to sell--a state of things that remains unto this day with
certain makes of French cars. Poorer folks contented themselves with
De Dion motor tricycles, which showed up so well in the 1896
Paris-Marseilles race; or with the neat little three-wheeled cars of
M. Bollée. Motor racing became the topic of the hour. Journals were
started for the sole purpose of recording the doings of motorists; and
few newspapers of any popularity omitted a special column of motor
news. Successive contests on the highroads at increasing speeds
attracted increased interest. The black-goggled, fur-clad _chauffeur_
who carried off the prizes found himself a hero.
In short, the hold which automobilism has over our neighbours may be
gauged from the fact that in 1901 it was estimated that nearly a
thousand motor cars assembled to see the sport on the Longchamps
Course (the scene of that ultra-“horsey” event, the Grand Prix), and
the real interest of the meet did not centre round horses of flesh and
blood.
The French have not a monopoly of devotion to automobilism. The speedy
motor car is too much in accord with the bustling spirit of the age;
its delights too easily appreciated to be confined to one country.
Allowing France the first place, America, Germany, and Belgium are not
far behind in their addiction to the “sport,” and even in Britain,
partially freed since 1896 from the red-flag tyranny, thanks to the
efforts of Sir David Salomons, there are most visible signs that the
era of the horse is beginning its end.
TYPES OF CAR.
Automobiles may be classified according to the purpose they serve,
according to their size and weight, or according to their motive
power. We will first review them under the latter head.
_A. Petrol._--The petrol motor, suitable alike for large cars of 40
to 60 horse-power and for the small bicycle weighing 70 lbs. or so, at
present undoubtedly occupies the first place in popular estimation on
account of its comparative simplicity, which more than compensates
certain defects that affect persons off the vehicle more than those on
it--smell and noise.
The chief feature of the internal explosion motor is that at one
operation it converts fuel directly into energy, by exploding it
inside a cylinder. It is herein more economical than steam, which
loses power while passing from the boiler to the driving-gear.
Petrol cycles and small cars have usually only one cylinder, but large
vehicles carry two, three, and sometimes four cylinders. Four and more
avoid that bugbear of rotary motion, “dead points,” during which the
momentum of the machinery alone is doing work; and for that reason the
engines of racing cars are often quadrupled.
For the sake of simplicity we will describe the working of a single
cylinder, leaving the reader to imagine it acting alone or in concert
with others as he pleases.
In the first place the fuel, petrol, is a very inflammable
distillation of petroleum: so ready to ignite that it must be most
rigorously guarded from naked lights; so quick to evaporate that the
receptacles containing it, if not quite airtight, will soon render it
“stale” and unprofitable for motor driving.
The engine, to mention its most important parts, consists of a
single-action cylinder (giving a thrust one way only); a heavy
flywheel revolving in an airtight circular case, and connected to the
piston by a hinged rod which converts the reciprocating movement of
the piston into a rotary movement of the crank-shaft built in with the
wheel; inlet and outlet valves; a carburettor for generating petrol
gas, and a device to ignite the gas-and-air mixture in the cylinder.
The action of the engine is as follows: as the piston moves outwards
in its first stroke it sucks through the inlet valve a quantity of
mixed air and gas, the proportions of which are regulated by special
taps. The stroke ended, the piston returns, compressing the mixture
and rendering it more combustible. Just as the piston commences its
second outward stroke an electric spark passed through the mixture
mechanically ignites it, and creates an explosion, which drives the
piston violently forwards. The second return forces the burnt gas
through the exhaust-valve, which is lifted by cog-gear once in every
two revolutions of the crank, into the “silencer.” The cycle of
operations is then repeated.
We see that during three-quarters of the “cycle”--the suction,
compression, and expulsion--the work is performed entirely by the
flywheel. It follows that a single-cylinder motor, to work at all,
must rotate the wheel at a high rate. Once stopped, it can be
restarted only by the action of the handle or pedals; a task often so
unpleasant and laborious that the driver of a car, when he comes to
rest for a short time only, disconnects his motor from the
driving-gear and lets it throb away idly beneath him.
The means of igniting the gas in the cylinders may be either a Bunsen
burner or an electric spark. Tube ignition is generally considered
inferior to electrical because it does not permit “timing” of the
explosion. Large cars are often fitted with both systems, so as to
have one in reserve should the other break down.
Electrical ignition is most commonly produced by the aid of an
intensity coil, which consists of an inner core of coarse insulated
wire, called the primary coil; and an outer, or secondary coil, of
very fine wire. A current passes at intervals, timed by a cam on the
exhaust-valve gear working a make-and-break contact blade, from an
accumulator through the primary coil, exciting by induction a current
of much greater intensity in the secondary. The secondary is connected
to a “sparking plug,” which screws into the end of the cylinder, and
carries two platinum points about 1/32 of an inch apart. The secondary
current leaps this little gap in the circuit, and the spark, being
intensely hot, fires the compressed gas. Instead of accumulators a
small dynamo, driven by the motor, is sometimes used to produce the
primary current.
By moving a small lever, known as the “advancing lever,” the driver
can control the time of explosion relatively to the compression of the
gas, and raise or lower the speed of the motor.
The strokes of the petrol-driven cylinder are very rapid, varying from
1000 to 3000 a minute. The heat of very frequent explosions would soon
make the cylinder too hot to work were not measures adopted to keep it
cool. Small cylinders, such as are carried on motor cycles, are
sufficiently cooled by a number of radiating ribs cast in a piece with
the cylinder itself; but for large machines a water jacket or tank
surrounding the cylinder is a necessity. Water is circulated through
the jacket by means of a small centrifugal pump working off the
driving gear, and through a coil of pipes fixed in the front of the
car to catch the draught of progression. So long as the jacket and
tubes are full of water the temperature of the cylinder cannot rise
above boiling point.
Motion is transmitted from the motor to the driving-wheels by
intermediate gear, which in cycles may be only a leather band or
couple of cogs, but in cars is more or less complicated. Under the
body of the car, running usually across it, is the countershaft,
fitted at each end with a small cog which drives a chain passing also
over much larger cogs fixed to the driving-wheels. The countershaft
engages with the cylinder mechanism by a “friction-clutch,” a couple
of circular faces which can be pressed against one another by a lever.
To start his car the driver allows the motor to obtain a considerable
momentum, and then, using the friction lever, brings more and more
stress on to the countershaft until the friction-clutch overcomes the
inertia of the car and produces movement.
Gearing suitable for level stretches would not be sufficiently
powerful for hills: the motor would slow and probably stop from want
of momentum. A car is therefore fitted with changing gears, which give
two or three speeds, the lower for ascents, the higher for the level:
and on declines the friction-clutch can be released, allowing the car
to “coast.”
_B. Steam Cars._--Though the petrol car has come to the front of late
years it still has a powerful rival in the steam car. Inventors have
made strenuous efforts to provide steam-engines light enough to be
suitable for small pleasure cars. At present the Locomobile (American)
and Serpollet (French) systems are increasing their popularity. The
Locomobile, the cost of which (about £120) contrasts favourably with
that of even the cheaper petrol cars, has a small multitubular boiler
wound on the outside with two or three layers of piano wire, to render
it safe at high pressures. As the boiler is placed under the seat it
is only fit and proper that it should have a large margin of safety.
The fuel, petrol, is passed through a specially designed burner,
pierced with hundreds of fine holes arranged in circles round air
inlets. The feed-supply to the burner is governed by a spring valve,
which cuts off the petrol automatically as soon as the steam in the
boiler reaches a certain pressure. The locomobile runs very evenly and
smoothly, and with very little noise, a welcome change after the very
audible explosion motor.
The Serpollet system is a peculiar method of generating steam. The
boiler is merely a long coil of tubing, into which a small jet of
water is squirted by a pump at every stroke of the cylinders. The
steam is generated and used in a moment, and the speed of the machine
is regulated by the amount of water thrown by the pumps. By an
ingenious device the fuel supply is controlled in combination with the
water supply, so that there may not be any undue waste in the burner.
_C. Electricity._--Of electric cars there are many patterns, but at
present they are not commercially so practical as the other two types.
The great drawbacks to electrically-driven cars are the weight of the
accumulators (which often scale nearly as much as all the rest of the
vehicle), and the difficulty of getting them recharged when exhausted.
We might add to these the rapidity with which the accumulators become
worn out, and the consequent expense of renewal. T. A. Edison is
reported at work on an accumulator which will surpass all hitherto
constructed, having a much longer life, and weighing very much less,
power for power. The longest continuous run ever made with
electricity, 187 miles at Chicago, compares badly with the feat of a
petrol car which on November 23, 1900, travelled a thousand miles on
the Crystal Palace track in 48 hours 24 minutes, without a single
stop. Successful attempts have been made by MM. Pieper and Jenatsky to
combine the petrol and electric systems, by an arrangement which
instead of wasting power in the cylinders when less speed is required,
throws into action electric dynamos to store up energy, convertible,
when needed, into motive power by reversing the dynamo into a motor.
But the simple electric car will not be a universal favourite until
either accumulators are so light that a very large store of
electricity can be carried without inconvenient addition of weight, or
until charging stations are erected all over the country at distances
of fifty miles or so apart.