The Rise of the Automobile
Melissa M. Jones
History 204
Dennis Magnuson
March 22, 2009
The automobile has been a very popular item, ever since the day it was invented. Many people make them, many companies sell them and make money off them, and every consumer has one or definitely wants one. So what makes this invention so great and wanted? Well throughout this essay I would like to share the history behind this great invention.
Personally I did not know much about automobiles or as they are called in modern day terms, cars. All I really knew is I do not have a great working one, they break down a lot, take a great deal of maintenance, are expensive to get a new one, and cost a lot of money to fix. Now that I have researched the history of the automobile, I have gained new insights, that a car is more than just a piece of metal.
Automobile touring, White River Valley
A three point seat belt in a Lincoln Town Car.
One-cylinder gasoline engine (ca. 1910)The word automobile is defined as "A self-propelled passenger vehicle that usually has four wheels and an internal-combustion engine, used for land transport." (American Heritage dictionary)
Before the automobile was invented there were many ways of transportation. People rode bicycles, took trains, used street cars, and rode horse drawn buggies. These methods of transportation were very slow, limited and not very private, but they did get people from place to place. Throughout the decades there were many changes and improvements within this invention. The first unit consists of the years 1865-1976. This was just some of the beginning years for the automobile. Up until the about 1880, inventors experimented with building a "horseless carriage", obviously trying to get a moving object or carriage that did not require a horse to pull. These experiments were powered mainly by steam. They traveled...