Tommy Wilk, age 11, of Williamsport, Pa., for his question:
WHEN WAS THE FIRST AUTOMOBILE MADE?
The enactment and enforcement of the Red Flag Act of 1836, which wasn't repealed until 1896, hindered and slowed the automotive industry for more than 60 years. The act made it mandatory for all self propelled vehicles to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag or a lantern, and the speed of the vehicle was limited to four miles per hour in the country and two miles per hour in the city.
French inventor Nicolas Cugnot is given credit for building in 1769 the first mechanically propelled vehicle. It was powered by a steam engine and had three wheels, a single one in front being the driver. It reached the speed of three miles an hour.
The French were back again in the late 1800s with a gasoline powered internal combustion engine built by Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor. In Germany Gottlieb Daimler adapted it to a bicycle in 1886, and B. Benz, in the same year, used it in a tricycle type carriage.
America got into the act when Charles Duryea came out with a one cylinder car in 1892. The Haynes and Winton cars were close behind and these were followed by Ford, Selden, Buick, Bristoe, Maxwell, Franklin, White and others.
Almost every type of car imaginable was produced between 1903 and 1915. Cylinders ranged in number from one to 16. Roads improved and the business of building automobiles took off in full force to become one of the world's most important industries.
The internal combustion engine was probably the most important item that boosted the auto industry into prominence. Major parts include the pistons, cylinders, connecting rods, crankshaft, fuel system, ignition and cooling systems and a lubrication system. The piston is pushed by an explosion of fuel in the cylinder, and it thrusts the connecting rod which in turn moves the crankshaft. The crankshaft is connected to a mechanism which rotates the wheels of the car.
Most gasoline powered automobiles operate on what are called four cycle engines. The piston moves the length of the cylinder four times to take in gasoline, compress the fuel mixture, burn it and then remove the waste products of combustion through the exhaust pipe.
What does the future spell for automobiles? We can't tell for sure, but we can safely guess there will be some marvelous developments. Compact cars, introduced during the 1950s, will probably continue to please the buying public. Designs will improve, and extra luxuries will be added. And many marvelous changes and improvements can be expected in the engines of the future.