Born on this day, Sir Frederick Henry Royce, a self-taught engineer of outstanding skills and joint founder of Rolls Royce Ltd
Friday 27th March 1863 Born on this day, Sir Frederick Henry Royce, a self-taught engineer of outstanding skills and joint founder of Rolls Royce Ltd. The first Rolls-Royce car, the Rolls-Royce 10 hp, was unveiled at the Paris Salon in December 1904. In 1906 Rolls and Royce formalised their partnership by creating Rolls-Royce Limited, with…
Curtis Veeder
Friday 31st January 1862 Born on this day, Curtis Veeder, US inventor of the odometer and tachometer and the founder of the Veeder Manufacturing Company. Curtis Veeder received his first patent at the age of 18 for a new type of bicycle seat. He started his own company in 1895 in Hartford, the Veeder Manufacturing…
Driving a three-wheeled steam carriage, the Earl of Caithness, accompanied by his wife and the Reverend William Ross, set out on a 146-mile journey over the mountainous terrain from Inverness to Barrogill Castle (now the Castle of Mey), near Thurso, Scotland
Friday 3rd August 1860 Driving a three-wheeled steam carriage, the Earl of Caithness, accompanied by his wife and the Reverend William Ross, set out on a 146-mile journey over the mountainous terrain from Inverness to Barrogill Castle (now the Castle of Mey), near Thurso, Scotland. The stoker was the carriage builder Thomas Rickett. The 2-cylinder…
Karl Friedrich Benz, German engineer and entrepreneur who designed and developed the world’s first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine, was born
Monday 25th November 1844 Karl Friedrich Benz, German engineer and entrepreneur who designed and developed the world’s first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine, was born. He and his wife Bertha were the founding members of the Mercedez-Benz company. Benz was born into a poor family. His father died when he was two years…
The world’s first streetcar, named the John Mason, began operation in New York City, running between Prince and 14th Streets in Lower Manhattan
Wednesday 14th November 1832 The world’s first streetcar, named the John Mason, began operation in New York City, running between Prince and 14th Streets in Lower Manhattan. For a long time, Americans had relied on horse-drawn carriages to get them around cities. In 1827, a new form of mass transit was built in New York…
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
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…
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