Development of Automobile

• Present age is called the age of 'Automobile' or self propelled vehicle. A vehicle producing power within itself for its propulsion is known as self propelled vehicle. e.g. moped, scooter, motorcycle,etc. Germany is the birth place of automobile. 
• The first automobile powered by steam engine was built in France by Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769-70.It was a three wheel vehicle having speed 2.5 miles/hour.
• Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles large enough to transport people and cargo were first devised in the late 18th century. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his fardier à vapeur ("steam dray"), an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor, in 1770 and 1771. As Cugnot's design proved to be impractical, his invention was not developed in his native France. The center of innovation shifted to Great Britain. By 1784, William Murdoch had built a working model of a steam carriage in Redruth ^[5] and in 1801 Richard Trevithick was running a full-sized vehicle on the roads in Camborne. The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789. 
• Oliver Evans in 1805,operated his Evan Amphibian for the first time in Philadelphia,America. This vehicle was designed with four wheels and the body was in the form of a flat boat.Two outstanding successes in America were the Stanley Steamer and the White Steam car introduced in 1895 and 1902 respectively.The Stanley Steamer is credited with being the first self propelled vehicle to attain a road speed of 160 km per hour.

The early history of the automobile can be divided into a number of eras, based on the prevalent means of propulsion. Later periods were defined by trends in exterior styling, size, and utility preferences.

• In 1769 the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.
• In 1808, François Isaac de Rivaz designed the first car powered by an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen.
• In 1870 Siegfried Marcus built the first gasoline powered combustion engine, which he placed on a pushcart, building four progressively sophisticated combustion-engine cars over a 10-to-15-year span that influenced later cars. Marcus created the two-cycle combustion engine. The car's second incarnation in 1880 introduced a four-cycle, gasoline-powered engine, an ingenious carburetor design and magneto ignition. He created an additional two models further refining his design with steering, a clutch and a brake.
• The four-stroke petrol (gasoline) internal combustion engine that still constitutes the most prevalent form of modern automotive propulsion was patented by Nikolaus Otto. The similar four-stroke diesel engine was invented by Rudolf Diesel. The hydrogen fuel cell, one of the technologies hailed as a replacement for gasoline as an energy source for cars, was discovered in principle by Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838. The battery electric car owes its beginnings to Ányos Jedlik, one of the inventors of the electric motor, and Gaston Planté, who invented the lead–acid battery in 1859.
• In 1885, Karl Benz developed a petrol or gasoline powered automobile.This is also considered to be the first "production" vehicle as Benz made several other identical copies. The automobile was powered by a single cylinder four-stroke engine.
• In 1913, the Ford Model T, created by the Ford Motor Company five years prior, became the first automobile to be mass-produced on a moving assembly line. By 1927, Ford had produced over 15,000,000 Model T automobiles.
• At the turn of the 20th century electrically powered automobiles became a popular alternative method of automobile propulsion.
• The first automobile industry in India, Hindustan Motor Limited at Kolkata, came in the year 1947 and then Premier Automobile Limited at Mumbai,in 1948.