Car History. 01 Birth of the Steam Engine

Getting on and moving on something was a symbol of power and wealth. In the East, a high government post was required to ride a sedan chair, and in the West, the higher the nobility, the more horses pulling the wagon. Moving on something represents the social status, and riding has become an object of envy for those who want to increase their status.

Ride. This was the first human-powered vehicle, but soon a cow or horse that could move faster became towed away. Soon, it was the engine that humans built, needing something that could travel faster without cows or horses. An engine is the heart of a car. Depending on the performance of the engine, the performance of the car would be a world-class difference.

Early 1700s. One night.

At a home in Firth of Clyde, Scotland, Muirhead, James Watt (19 January 1736 – 25 August 1819), the aunt of James Watt, was boiling a water kettle for tea. When the kettle was heated and the water boiled, the cap of the kettle started to move due to the steam. As it passed by, young Watt saw the lid of the kettle moving, and he was looking closely at the lid and fiddling with it.

When Watt shows such behavior even after about an hour, Muirhead begins to blame Watt with an absurd expression.

"James Watt, why have you been staring at the kettle for an hour like you? Did you do all the homework your mother gave you?"

Watt's first meeting with the steam engine would be a movie, but it is very different from the truth. Watt did not create the steam engine from the steam from the kettle when he was young. Already invented by Thomas Newcoman (1663-1729), the steam engine was widely used to pump groundwater from British coal mines 50 years before Watt's steam engine came out.

James Watt (19 January 1736 - 25 August 1819).

As a child, James Watt was Latin at the Grammer school. Greek. Learned mathematics, built models such as crane and barrel organ at his father's workshop, where he was an accountant for Grinnock, a junior judge, and engaged in conditions and construction business.

Watt, who turned 18, learned mechanical manufacturing in London due to his mother's death and father's poor health. This is the basic foundation for Watt to later repair the broken New Common steam engine. Watt tried hard to learn mechanical manufacturing and work as a machinist, but at the time, he obstructed Watt's opening at the London Machinery Manufacturing Association, which eventually prevented him from opening his business.

Watt did not get frustrated, but learned hard for a year at a chemical machinery manufacturer in London and went to Glasgow in 1757, which is a port city at the mouth of the Clyde River in Edinburgh, about 330 km northwest of London. Here, Watt was established in 1451 and opened an experimental equipment manufacturing and repair shop on the premises of the highly academic Glasgow University.

Glasgow University, Strathclyde, United Kingdom

He became friends with many scientists while making mathematical tools such as quarter, compass, and scale in stores and repairing machinery in the university. After time passed, Watt opened at the University of Glasgow, where he was recognized for his outstanding skills and integrity, and repaired most of the machinery in the university. In 1763, Watt was instructed by the university's Professor John Anderson to repair the New Common steam engine, which he encountered with. Watt was not even aware of what a 'steam engine' was until 1763.

Having learned hard in London as a young man and access to the high-tech machines at the University of Glasgow, Watt soon fixed them after scanning the cause and structure of the New Common steam engine's failure and was shocked by the waste of steam. (The New Common steam engine could only convert about 1 percent of its heat into electricity.)

James Watt's steam engine

Later, with interest, he studied the relationship between heat and force to make a more efficient steam engine. Watt, who woke up to the steam engine because of New Common's steam engine, had the opportunity to learn about thermodynamics from Joseph Black, a physics professor at the University of Glasgow, and by continuing to study the model of the New Common steam engine for classes in physics experiments, he has accurately grasped the problems and improvements of the steam engine.

In other words, he accidentally invented a 'separator' that can make a more efficient steam engine than New Common's steam engine. The biggest disadvantage of the New Common engine is the loss of ' latent heat', so it was found that it is connected to the cylinder, but condensation must be made in a separate chamber.

(Hidden heat: Also called hidden heat. It refers to the amount of energy that a substance absorbs or releases when its physical state changes without any change in temperature.)

Watt designed an early model that would later lead to Watt's steam engine and began manufacturing and assembling the machine at his own expense in a corner of the University of Glasgow. Watt's early model began operating with a loud sound one afternoon in 1765. People were initially appalled at the sight of a machine moving with loud noises, but soon began to look at it with a new type of steam engine.

A handsome young man was watching the city in the warm sunshine in Glasgow, England, just as Watt was testing the initial model. After a while, I heard a sharp wind somewhere as I reached the University of Glasgow. People nearby were also traveling in search of the epicenter of this strange sound, and this young man mixed into the crowd and moved out of curiosity to know what the sound was. There was a large machine operating there, emitting steam that made a continuous sharp wind sound. The young man looked at the machine curiously and asked a middle-aged man who seemed to know the machine around him.

"Excuse me. I have a question: what the hell is that big machine?"

Then the person replied with a kind smile.

"Oh, that's a steam engine. I think it's the most advanced steam engine that exists. Currently, steam engines are used as machines to pump water from coal mines, but I think that steam engine looks a little stronger."

The young man nodded and looked at Watt, who made the machine, and was lost in thought.

'That's an interesting machine. I'll go back to my home country and study more. I'm sure it'll be a great help to our French Army.'

This young man was Nicholas Quino, a French army officer who caused the world's first car accident and built a steam car that was on the verge of being used to conquer Napoleon's world. After examining Watt's machine in detail, this young man returned to France shortly after.

Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, a military engineer who was a captain in French engineers, returned home and studied Watt's steam engine, remembering the Seven Years' War, which ended two years ago in 1763. At that time, he thought about how to use this machine for the military in the French Army, which was defeated by Britain in the colonial war during the Seven Years' War.

One day, Quino was agonizing while walking alone on the road at an army training center.

"What should we make using the steam engine to become a boomer for military power?"

He was walking with these concerns when he saw soldiers leading cannons from a distance. The soldiers were sweating heavily carrying heavy cannons, and the idea of lightning passing through Quino's head occurred to him.

"Yes, this is it!"

After four years of research and effort, Quino finally invented a steam car capable of towing cannons in 1769 at his workshop in downtown Paris. (At the time, there was no concept of a car. There was no concept of moving a wagon with steam. But I'll call it a steam car for your understanding.)

Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot's Steam Car

The world's first steam car was made by modifying a cart, and the body was made of wood with a large boiler on the front wheel. The diameter of the rear wheel was 2 m and weighed 5 tons. It was a 'two-cylinder steam-powered front-wheeler' with two pipe-type cylinders attached outside, equipped with a furnace for coal under the front wheel and a copper boiler for boiling water to obtain steam pressure. After completing this steam car, Quino reported to Duke Swasol, the then commander of the army, that he had built a steam car capable of towing cannons without humans or words. At that time, amid the dark cloud of revolution, it was a situation where war might break out at any time, and the purpose was to somehow secure combat power. Seeing Quisol's steam car that could pull cannons without horses or people, Duke Swasol instructed his staff to test-run it to see if it was useful in the battlefield.

Quiño was busy from early dawn on the day of the test drive. After thoroughly preparing for the test drive from his workshop in downtown Paris to the Vincennes Forest, a suburb of Paris, Quiño finally began his historical steam car run from his workshop.

Many people who had been gathered even before driving to watch the rolling steam car, which emitted fire, smoke, and strange sounds like a monster, were simply astonished. The cart that rolled on my own without horses or people pulling seemed magical to them. As a result, some people ran away, shouting, 'It's a devil,' 'It's a monster,' and 'It's a magic.'

The steam car's speed was about 4 km per hour, so many people followed the strange cart. Quino was satisfied with the steam car, which ran smoothly by changing the water in the boiler every 15 minutes.

Soon, on a hillside in the suburbs of Paris, there appeared a road that required a sharp curve in front of it. Quino tried to steer by adjusting the front wheels, but his car, which was driven by a heavy boiler and two cylinders, had difficulty steering. And the biggest problem with Quino's car was the lack of a brake system. Although it was slow at a speed of 4 km/h, the steering was so difficult and he couldn't slow down that he couldn't turn the curve properly.

Quiño's steam car crashed into the wall in front of the curve and fell, causing a fire, and bystanders and soldiers who were following it ran agitated and ran away. Quiño suffered bad luck in prison and the test was immediately suspended. Quiño's attempt was thus halted by the French Revolution, but his car, recorded as the beginning of the automobile, was also recorded as the first car in automobile history to cause a traffic accident.

Quino's Steam Car Makes World's First Traffic Accident

When the test drive failed, the commander, Duke Suosol, lost interest. Quiño, who was released from prison shortly after, repaired his broken car and traveled through downtown Paris to attract public attention. However, as a result of public outcry that this strange lump of iron monster frightened him, the first car was imprisoned in a warehouse and Lieutenant Quiño was imprisoned.

After being released from prison, Quino made another one, but he was not recognized and had to throw it in a warehouse, and he wandered around Europe out of deep frustration before finally dying.

Afterwards, his steam car caught sight of Napoleon Bonaparte and repaired it to be used as a weapon to conquer the world, but was distracted by the war and could no longer see the light. This unfortunate first automobile is still preserved at the Paris Museum of Crafts.