An Everyday Journey Through Motoring History, Facts & Trivia
This Day In Automotive History
Saturday 1st December 1804 Engine pioneer Philippe LeBon died in Paris, France aged just 37. In 1801, LeBon invented an engine that improved on earlier designs by others. It used coal gas ignited by an electric spark. This is believed to be the first internal combustion engine. Although, very inefficient it would be later improved…
Thursday 24th December 1801 British inventor Richard Trevithick took seven of his friends for a test ride on his “Puffing Devil,” or “Puffer,” the first steam-powered passenger vehicle, on this day in 1801. Unlike the steam engine pioneered by the Scotsman James Watt, Trevithick’s used “strong steam”–that is, steam at a very high pressure (145…
Monday 29th December 1800 Charles Goodyear, who patented a process to vulcanize rubber in 1842, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, US. Goodyear began his career as a partner in his father’s hardware business, which went bankrupt in 1830. He then became interested in discovering a method of treating india rubber so that it would…
Monday 29th December 1800 Born on this day, Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanized rubber. The industrial use of rubber is possible only because of vulcanization. Goodyear’s process made millions of dollars, but not for him. Widespread infringements on his patents, together with poor luck in business, left him deep in debt at his death in…
Saturday 2nd August 1800 English inventor George Medhurst was issued with a British patent for his ‘Aeolian’ engine which used compressed air to power vehicles. In his pamphlet ‘On the properties, power, & application of the Aeolian engine, with a plan and particulars for carrying it into execution’, Medhurst proposed the establishment of Aeolian coach…
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