POWER SOURCES


17th and 18th centuries
Ferdinand Verbiest
Member of a Jesuit mission in China
-built a steam-powered vehicle around 1672 as a toy for the Kangxi Emperor
-It was small-scale and could not carry a driver
-Quite possibly,the first working steam-powered vehicle.

19th century
Attempts were made to introduce practical steam powered vehicles.
Innovations
-hand brakes, multi-speed transmissions and better steering developed. 1816
-A professor at Prague Polytechnic, Josef Bozek, built an oil-fired steam car. -Walter Hancock, builder and operator of London steam buses, in 1838 built a 2 seated car phaeton. 1865
-which he began building in 1865, was a high-wheeled carriage with bracing to support a two-cylinder steam engine mounted on the floor 1867
-Canadian jeweller Henry Seth Taylor demonstrated his 4-wheeled "steam buggy" at the Stanstead Fair in Stanstead, Quebec and again the following year.
20th century


Electric automobiles