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A steam tricycle is a steam-driven
Steam engine

File:Steam-powered fire engine.jpgA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines have a long history, going back at least 2000 years....
 three-wheeled vehicle.

History
In the early days of motorised vehicle development, a number of experimenters built steam-powered vehicles with three wheels.

The first steam tricycle – and probably the first true self-propelled land vehicle – was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a France inventor. He is believed to have built the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle. This claim is disputed by some sources, however, which suggest that Ferdinand Verbiest, as a member of a Jesuit China missions, may have been the first to build a 'car' around 1672....
's 1769 Fardier à vapeur (steam dray), a three-wheeled machine with a top speed of around 3 km/h (2 mph) originally designed for hauling artillery
Artillery

Artillery is a military Combat Arms which employs any apparatus, machine, an assortment of tools or instruments, a system or systems used as weapons for the discharge of large projectiles in combat as a major contribution of fire power within the overall military capability of an armed force....
.






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Cugnotappleton
A steam tricycle is a steam-driven
Steam engine

File:Steam-powered fire engine.jpgA steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines have a long history, going back at least 2000 years....
 three-wheeled vehicle.

History


In the early days of motorised vehicle development, a number of experimenters built steam-powered vehicles with three wheels.

The first steam tricycle – and probably the first true self-propelled land vehicle – was Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was a France inventor. He is believed to have built the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle. This claim is disputed by some sources, however, which suggest that Ferdinand Verbiest, as a member of a Jesuit China missions, may have been the first to build a 'car' around 1672....
's 1769 Fardier à vapeur (steam dray), a three-wheeled machine with a top speed of around 3 km/h (2 mph) originally designed for hauling artillery
Artillery

Artillery is a military Combat Arms which employs any apparatus, machine, an assortment of tools or instruments, a system or systems used as weapons for the discharge of large projectiles in combat as a major contribution of fire power within the overall military capability of an armed force....
. Failing to meet the army's design criteria, no further development was undertaken.

The Long steam tricycle appears to be one of the earliest preserved examples, built by George A. Long around 1880 and patented some time around 1882. One example was built, which after some years of use was dismantled and the parts dispersed. In 1946, one John H. Bateman, with assistance from the 96-year-old Long, reassembled the machine, which is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its Financial endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazine....
.

Tricycleserpollet
In 1881 the Parkyns-Bateman steam tricycle was demonstrated in England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. It used a petroleum-fired steam boiler (making it the first petroleum-powered vehicle), driving a double-acting two cylinder steam engine on the chassis of a Cheylesmore tricycle. Although numerous orders were reportedly placed, British law made such vehicles essentially illegal on the public roads. An example was displayed in the Science Museum
Science Museum (London)

The Science Museum on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a major London tourist attraction....
 from 1912 to 1922.

A small steam tricycle was built by Albert, Comte de Dion in 1887. This had two wheels in the front, between which was mounted the boiler, and a single rear wheel driven by the engine. It was fitted with pneumatic tyre
Tire

Tires, or tyres , are ring-shaped parts, either pneumatic or solid , that fit around wheels to protect them and enhance their function....
s. In the same year Léon Serpollet also constructed a coal-fired steam tricycle, with the "steam generator" (boiler) mounted between two rear wheels.

These and other experimenters also built four-wheeled steam-powered vehicles.

The invention of the internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs in a combustion chamber inside and integral to the engine. In an internal combustion engine it is always the expansion of the high temperature and pressure gases that are produced by the combustion which apply force to the movable component of the engine, such as...
 led to the replacement of steam in most cases, although steam car
Steam car

A steam car is a Automobile powered by a steam engine....
s continue to be built to the present day in small numbers.

Bibliography

  • Singer, Charles Joseph; Raper, Richard. A history of technology : edited by Charles Singer ... [et al.]. Clarendon Press, 1954-1978. History e-book project.. ACLS Humanities E-book. Vol 5. Chapter 18. pp.423-424.


See also

  • History of steam road vehicles
    History of steam road vehicles

    The history of steam road vehicles describes the development of vehicles powered by a steam engine for use on land and independent of Rail transport; whether for conventional road use, such as the steam car and steam waggon, or for agricultural or heavy haulage work, such as the traction engine....
  • Timeline of transportation technology
    Timeline of transportation technology

    Timeline of Transport technology...