Combustion

Part 5 - America

Top:  Durea Buggy

The first gasoline-powered tractor, was made by John Froelich in Iowa and shipped to South Dakota in September, 1892. It had a vertical single-cylinder gasoline engine and drove a J. I. Case threshing machine.

On September 21, 1893, Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts, road-tested the first American gasoline-powered automobile. They used a horse drawn buggy purchased for $70 into which they installed a 4 hp, single cylinder gasoline engine. The automobile (or buggy) had a spray carburetor, low voltage ignition and a dry, single-plate clutch. This was the first use of a clutch in an automobile.  Demand increased after their motorized buggy won America's first car race in Chigago, on November 28, 1895. 

In 1896, they started Duryea Motor Wagons, in Springfield, Massachusetts and the buggy was the first commercially successful automobile in the USA.

In 1903 Germany, Frederick Richard Simms and Robert Bosch devised a practical magneto powered, spark ignition system to replace the hot tube method. It was quickly adopted by most engines makers.

By 1904 most automobile designers were using sliding-gear transmissions where gears were slid along their shafts while a clutch was used to disconnect the engine from the drive shaft. Changing gears required careful throttle and clutch work so the gears would be spinning at the same speed when engaged (a process known as double de-clutching); otherwise, the gear teeth would not mesh. These transmission were often called 'crash boxes' because of the loud grinding sound that often resulted. Much later, synchronizers acted as automatic brakes, to equalize gear speeds, and constant-mesh transmissions (synchro-mesh) made gear changing much easier, while later automatic transmissions eliminated the problem altogether.

In 1897, a car built by Léon Bollée, with a 650 cc (cubic centimetres) (40 cu in) engine of his own design, averaged 45 km/h (kilometres per hour) (28 mph) in the 1897 Paris-Tourville rally.

Founded in 1897, the Autocar Company, remains the oldest, still operating, motor vehicle manufacturer in the United States. Autocar built the first motor truck commercially available in the United States in 1899. It had a payload capacity of 700 pounds and optional 5 or 8 horsepower motors.

In 1899, Louis Renault, influenced by de Dion-Bouton cars, founded the Renault Motor Company in France. His first car, "Voiturette," (little car) used a reverse gear and a three-speed transmission. Renault patented many revolutionary designs including hydraulic shock absorbers, drum brakes, an engine turbo-charger (an air compressor to obtain more power from the engine) and a transmission that transferred power from the engine to the wheels through shafts and gears thus avoiding the use of less reliable belts and chains.

In 1899, cabdriver Jacob German started a tradition for New York City cabdrivers when he sped down Lexington Avenue, at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19 km/h). 

The same year, Akron, Ohio, bought the first self-propelled paddy wagon.

Ransom E. Olds started a production line at his Olds Motor Vehicle Company to build the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, in 1901. Horatio Nelson Jackson's successful drive across the United States in 1903 demonstrated the usefulness of the automobile.

During 1903, Rambler standardized on the steering wheel, moved the driver's position to the left-hand side of the vehicle and sold 1,500 in its first year. Within a year, Henry Ford formed the Cadillac Company while the Studebaker brothers started making electric and internal combustion automobiles in 1902 and 1904.

In the early years, the automobile was an expensive novelty. Breakdowns were frequent, fuel was hard to find, roads were poor and rapid innovation meant that a year-old car was nearly worthless. And development was rapid. Engines were designed with, 4, 6, 8 and even 16 cylinders with displacements up to 12 litres (12000 cc) and overhead camshafts driving multi-valves per cylinder. Vehicle plans included,- front and rear wheel drives, four-wheel drives, chain or shaft transmissions and electric hybrids.