History of the car 1990

An air engine was patented in England in , and a grid of compressor stations was proposed to service vehicles. An air-powered vehicle is said to have been produced in Steam propulsion was proposed as early as the 16th century, and in Ferdinand Verbiest , a Belgian Jesuit missionary to China, made a model steam carriage based on a principle suggestive of the modern turbine.

In the 18th century a French scientist, Philippe Lebon , patented a coal-gas engine and made the first suggestion of electrical ignition. In Paris, Isaac de Rivas made a gas-powered vehicle in ; his engine used hydrogen gas as fuel, the valves and ignition were operated by hand, and the timing problem appears to have been difficult. Most historians agree that Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot of France was the constructor of the first true automobile.

Cugnot was an artillery officer, and the more or less steam-tight pistons of his engine were made possible by the invention of a drill that accurately machined cannon bores. Steam buses were running in Paris about Oliver Evans of Philadelphia ran an amphibious steam dredge through the streets of that city in Less well-known were Nathan Read of Salem, Massachusetts, and Apollos Kinsley of Hartford, Connecticut, both of whom ran steam vehicles during the period — In March the magazine Scientific American described tests of a vehicle that weighed only pounds about kg and achieved a speed of 20 miles 30 km per hour.

Another American, Frank Curtis of Newburyport, Massachusetts, is remembered for building a personal steam carriage to the order of a Boston man who failed to meet the payment schedule, whereupon Curtis made the first recorded repossession of a motor vehicle. English inventors were active, and by the s the manufacture and use of steam road carriages was flourishing.

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Watt was opposed to the use of steam engines for such purposes; his low-pressure steam engine would have been too bulky for road use in any case, and all the British efforts in steam derived from the earlier researches of Thomas Savery and Thomas Newcomen. Sir Goldsworthy Gurney , the first commercially successful steam carriage builder, based his design upon an unusually efficient boiler.

He was not, however, convinced that smooth wheels could grip a roadway, and so he arranged propulsion on his first vehicle by iron legs digging into the road surface. His second vehicle weighed only 3, pounds 1, kg and was said to be capable of carrying six persons. He made trips as long as 84 miles km in a running time of 9 hours and 30 minutes and once recorded a speed of 17 miles 27 km per hour.

Gurney equipment was used on the Gloucester-Cheltenham service of four daily round trips; under favourable conditions the equipment could complete the 9 miles 15 km in 45 minutes.

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Between February 27 and June 22, , steam coaches ran 4, miles 6, km on this route, carrying some 3, passengers. The equipment was noisy, smoky, destructive of roadways, and admittedly dangerous; hostility arose, and it was common for drivers to find the way blocked with heaps of stones or felled trees.

Nevertheless, numerous passengers had been carried by steam carriage before the railways had accepted their first paying passenger. The most successful era of the steam coaches in Britain was the s. Ambitious routes were run, including one from London to Cambridge. But by it was clear that the steam carriages had little future.

The crushing blow was the Locomotives on Highways Act of , which reduced permissible speeds on public roads to 2 miles 3 km per hour within cities and 4 miles 6 km per hour in rural areas. This legislation was known as the Red Flag Act because of its requirement that every steam carriage mount a crew of three, one to precede it carrying a red flag of warning. The act was amended in , but it was not repealed until , by which time its provisions had effectively stifled the development of road transport in the British Isles.

The decline of the steam carriage did not prevent continued effort in the field, and much attention was given to the steam tractor for use as a prime mover.

In a bid to offer something slightly larger and more up-market, Ford generates the somewhat redundant Explorer Sport Trac for , a crew-cab pickup that looks like an Explorer. Its position in the market is not unlike that of today's mid-size pickups, which are larger than the then-compact Ranger which has been resurrected after a multi-year hiatus for For its third-generation Explorer, Ford ditches the first two generation models' Bronco II heritage for good. An all-new rear-drive platform four-wheel drive is optional , in an Explorer first, incorporates an independent rear suspension. The two-door Explorer Sport officially dies, leaving only the four-door Explorer; the Sport Trac, still based on the old Explorer and Ranger thus using a solid rear axle , carries on largely unchanged through The ol' SOHC 4.

A mid-cycle refresh cuts down on some of the third-generation Explorer's generic boxiness with a new waterfall grille design and reshaped headlights. The easiest giveaway that you're looking at a Explorer and not, say, a — model? The little round elements poking out from beneath each of those headlights. In our first drive review of the '06 Explorer , we note that despite its updated styling, the SUV remains "the vehicular equivalent of a pair of khaki Dockers.

Engine choices again include the trusty hp 4. A five-speed automatic comes with the six, while the eight uses a six-speed. Think Honda's Ridgeline is the only modern mid-size pickup truck with an independent rear suspension? Think again! The second-generation Explorer Sport Trac, which Ford finally redesigns to match the third-generation Explorer for , gains its SUV sibling's independent rear suspension, as well as its updated-for front-end styling. For , the Explorer makes arguably its biggest shift yet, transitioning from a rear-wheel-drive-based, body-on-frame truck to a car-based, front-wheel-drive crossover with unitized body construction.

All-wheel drive is optional. Even though the bones are new to the Explorer, they aren't new, per se: The "D-platform" underpinnings are derived from Volvo's P2 architecture that first appeared in the late s.

Volvo had been owned by Ford as part of the latter's "Premium Auto Group. The EcoBoost-powered Explorer proves quick in our testing, leaping from zero to 60 mph in 5.

Saturation in developed markets

Well-proportioned, Range Rover—esque styling makes the Explorer crossover an instant hit, with , units sold in —more than double the previous year's sales. And despite its heavy curb weight, lackluster fuel economy, and mediocre interior packaging, it continues to grow sales throughout its lifespan, becoming the best-selling three-row vehicle in the U. A refresh in makes the Range Rover styling connection even stronger, although the Explorer doesn't change much mechanically beyond the addition of a new turbocharged 2.

Ford's all-new Explorer enters on a new rear-wheel-drive platform, returning at least partially to its roots. As before, it looks vaguely like it came from a Land Rover factory, mostly because Ford doesn't mess with the angular look that made the Explorer's predecessor so popular. A turbocharged 2. For the first time, Ford offers a hybridized Explorer, as well as a high-performance ST model. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Cheapest Trucks You Can Buy for —