History of the automobile, the first steam machines that replaced the horse vehicles .

The adventurous spirits in all the times have ardently wished to fly through the air, like the birds, to cross the earth and to furrow the seas, at great speed and with perfect freedom of movements. Mythology and primitive literature abound in stories and speculations with respect to such aspirations, but until the invention of the steam engine, the most the man could do was to take advantage of the winds to move his boats and to use the animals for the fast transport by the earth. The invention of the steam engine and the gas motor in the past altered all this and has made the airplane and marine navigation possible, and to suppress the land distances in a way that almost justifies the old mythological superstitions. It seems that the period of modern speculation about this problem began towards the XIII century. Roger Bacon, an English Francisca monk, who lived in that time of ignorance about mechanical questions, wrote, nevertheless, in one of its treatises : "We will get to be able to construct machines with which we will be able to impel great boats with higher speeds than all a trimming of rowers, and with which only a pilot who governs the boat will be needed; we will impel vehicles with incredible speeds, without the aid of any animal and we will construct machines that, by means of wings, will allow us to fly in the air, like birds " .









STEAM CAR DEVISED BY SIR ISAAC NEWTON


Everything indicated in this outstanding prophecy written in a time in which none of necessary means for its fulfillment was known nor were signals that it would happen has gotten to be a reality, and would be interesting to know the foundations on which the philosopher based his predictions.
Bacon did not make practical indication about how he hoped that those things would happen; but, in 1680, sir Isaac Newton suggested the idea of a vehicle automobile as it is indicated in the attached figure. It consisted of a spherical steam generator, B, under which it was located a small furnace, D, and all parts mounted on a vehicle with four wheels.

A long slightly conical horizontal tube protruded in the generator in opposite direction of the advance of the vehicle. The steam produced in the generator, B, by the action of the fire of small furnace D, was exhausted by the conical tube, C, at great speed, with which it reacted against the air, causing that the vehicle march forwards. The valve, F, that allowed the exit of the steam by the tube, was under the action of the coachman, by means of the handle, No data exists to demonstrate that Newton got to construct such machine; but the idea, although imperfect is practicable.