Cars In The Past Vs. Cars Of The Future

1081 Words3 Pages

Cars of the Past vs. Cars of the Future Cars are amazing! All the different parts—the engine, the wheels, the gears, and all the fiddly bits like the windscreen wipers—came together, very gradually, over a period of about five and a half thousand years. People tended to stay put, living more locally than they do now. If they needed to move things about, they had to float them down rivers or drag them by sledge. All that started to change when humans realized the animals around them had raw power that they could use. These animals were the first engines. Then the Native Americans invented the travois: a strong, A-shaped wooden frame that a horse could drag behind it like a cart without wheels. The travois was still used well into the 19th century. The next big step was to add wheels and turn sledges into carts. The wheel was one of the last great inventions of prehistoric times and a huge advance. It allowed people and animals to pull heavier loads further and faster. …show more content…

Many people consider this the world 's first car.. In the early 1800s, Cornishman Richard Trevithick started building steam carriages with wobbly wheels. Around this time, Trevithick 's American counterpart Oliver Evans built a steam-powered river digger called the Oruktor Amphibolos that could drive on either land or water. Both Trevithick and Evans ultimately switched their attention to making steam trains, but another Cornish inventor, Goldsworthy Gurney, was convinced the idea of steam road vehicles still had legs. He designed an early steam carriage that would gallop along on rickety pins, just like a horse. When Gurney realized wheels could do the job much better, he built impressive steam buses and ran a service between London and Bath. Ultimately he was driven out of business by horse-powered stage coaches, which were faster and

More about Cars In The Past Vs. Cars Of The Future

Open Document