Essai du Fardier de Nicolas Cugnot sur sa terre originelle, dans le camp qui porte le nom du général qui l'a commandité au... XVIIIe siècle. 2e partie.
What a beautiful machine... This was built the year Charles III of Spain began colonization of California, as well as converting the people here to Catholicism. That was the year 1769, think about how long ago that was. That was before the signing of the U.S. Constitution. That was before the American Declaration of Independence. This is HISTORY.
I love to see the huge billows of steam. Very dramatic. I'm sure the opposing armies wondered what hellish kind of contraption the French had trundling around behind their lines. Very good for intimidation, I should think!
This is an outstanding model of the very first automobile ever to run under its own power. and it was only about 240 years ago.... 1770 sadly built for war....
Crazy that they managed to get something like that going even before figuring out the principle of the full-rotation crankshaft, instead having to rely on a ratchet-like system. Or indeed, that an exhaust chimney (or at least a pipe to carry it behind the driver) might be a good idea. Also, good on the French to come up with such a pioneering idea, but ... just a cannon-carrier, for weights too heavy for a practical horse team? Such a lack of ambition. MOUNT the cannon on there, add a bit of token armour to deflect sword blades and musket rounds, and you've got yourself an 18th century tank... 120 years or so before they were actually first "invented"...
Not much, the engine looses pressure, because of the lack of expansion the water produces when it turns to steam, therefore the engine looses power. It just grinds to a halt.
Considering that even much more advanced steam locomotives would explode when their boilers ran out of water, I wouldn't trust this thing not to do the same...
It puzzles me that the designers of this vehicle put all the paraphernalia in front of the operator, thus obstructing his vision. A middle-mounted power unit would have made more sense. It must have been fun to have someone walking in front to refuel the fire!
Maybe not a power unit in the middle, but definitely the boiler. The power unit is attached to the front wheel, after all. But alas, this is the very first drivable motor vehicle.
