History of the Automobile Essay

Starting in the late 1700s, europiuman engineers began tinkering with motor powered vehicles. Steam, burn, and electrical motors had all been attempted by the mid 1800s. By the 1900s, it was uncertain which font of engine would power the locomote. At archetypical, the electric railway automobile was the most popular, but at the time a battery did not exist that would allow a car to move with much speed or over a long distance. Even though some of the earlier speed records were set by electric cars, they did not stay in production past the first decade of the 20th century.The steam-driven motorcar lasted into 1920s. However, the price on steam powered engines, either to build or maintain was incompar qualified to the louse up powered engines. Not only was the price a problem, but the risk of a boiler fusillade also kept the steam engine from becoming popular. The combustion engine continually beat pop the competition, and the early American automobile pioneers like Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford built reliable combustion engines, rejecting the ideas of steam or electrical power from the start. Automotive production on a commercial dental plate started in France in 1890.Commercial production in the joined States began at the beginning of the 1900s and was competent to that of Europes. In those days, the European assiduity consisted of small independent firms that would turn out a hardly a(prenominal) cars by means of precise engineering and handicraft methods. The American automobile plants were assembly line operations, which meant development parts made by independent suppliers and putting them together at the plant. In the early 1900s, the United States had about 2,000 firms producing one or more(prenominal)(prenominal) cars. By 1920 the number of firms had decreased to about 100 and by 1929 to 44.In 1976 the push back Vehicle Manufacturers Association had only 11 members. The same situation occurred in Europe and Japan. The first automobile pr oduced for the masses in the US was the three-horsepower, curved-dash Oldsmobile 425 of them were sold in 1901 and 5,000 in 1904this model is pipe down prized by collectors. The firm prospered, and it was noted by others, and, from 1904 to 1908, 241 automobile-manufacturing firms went into business in the United States. One of these was the Ford Motor Company which was organized in June 1903, and sold its first car on the following July 23.The company produced 1,700 cars during its first full year of business. Henry Ford produced the Model T to be an economical car for the medium American. By 1920 Ford sold over a million cars. At the beginning of the century the automobile entered the transit market as a toy for the rich. However, it became increasingly popular among the general universe of discourse because it gave motive powerers the liberty to travel when they wanted to and where they wanted. As a result, in North America and Europe the automobile became cheaper and more a ccessible to the middle class. This was facilitated by Henry Ford who did two important things.First he priced his car to be as affordable as possible and second, he paid his workers enough to be able to purchase the cars they were manufacturing. This helped push wages and auto sales upward. The convenience of the automobile freed lot from the need to springy near rail lines or stations they could choose locations almost anywhere in an urban area, as long as roads were available to connect them to other places. Many states in the US naturalized motor fuel taxes that were used only to build and maintain highways helping the auto highway trunk become self-supporting.Popularity of the automobile has consistently moved with the state of the economy, growing during the boom period after earth War I and dropping abruptly during the Great Depression, when unemployment was high. World War II saw a large increase in mass transit because employment was high and automobiles were scarce. T he rapid growth of car owners after World War II, particularly in the United States and Western Europe demonstrated the populations favor towards automobiles. During the war, automobile motors, fuel, and tires were in short supply.There was an unsatisfied demand when the war end and plenty of production capacity as factories turned off the war machine. Many people had relieve money because there was little to buy, beyond necessities, in the war years. Workers relied heavily on mass transportation during the war and longed for the freedom and flexibility of the automobile. A historian has said that Henry Ford freed common people from the limitations of their geography. The automobile created mobility on a scale never known before, and the total effect on nutriment habits and social customs is endless.In the days of horse-drawn transportation, the practical limit of wagon travel was 10 to 15 miles, so that meant any community or individual farm more than 15 miles from a city, a rail road, or a navigable waterway was isolated from the mainstream of economic and social life. Motor vehicles and paved roads have narrowed the gap between rural and urban life. Farmers can ship easily and economically by truck and can drive to town when it is convenient. In addition, such(prenominal) institutions as regional schools and hospitals are now accessible by bus and car. Yet, the effect on city life has been, if anything, more prominent than the effect on the farms.The automobile has radically changed city life by accelerating the outward involution of population into the suburbs. The suburban trend is emphasized by the fact that highway transportation encourages business and industry to move outward to sites where land is cheaper, where access by car and truck is easier than in crowded cities, and where blank shell is available for their one or two story structures. Better roads were constructed, which further increased travel throughout the nation. As with other automo bile-related phenomena, the trend is most noticeable in the United States but is apace appearing elsewhere in the world.Before the automobile, people both lived in the city and worked in the city, or lived in the country and worked on a farm. Because of the automobile, the growth of suburbs has allowed people to live on the outskirts of the city and be able to work in the city by commuting. New jobs due to the impact of the automobile such as fast food, city/highway construction, state patrol/police, convenience stores, gas stations, auto set up shops, auto shops, etc. allow more employment for the worlds growing population.