The aeolipyle.

	A carriage which moves on its own ! Horses dreamt of it from time immemorial but it only came true in the 18th Century when man invented it. Steam, petroleum gas, electricity or petrol (sold at the chemist's in the beginning) started being used for driving these funny carriages.   The pioneer Father Verbiest, a Belgian who was a Jesuit missionary in China constructed the first scale model of a steam-driven carriage at the end of the 17th Century. At the end of the 18th Century, an officer from Lorraine constructed the first steam-driven automobile. Just before 1860 in Paris, Etienne Lenoir, a Belgian, constructed an engine which used a new form of energy, viz., coal gas. He then achieved the major feat of replacing coal gas with petroleum gas. The first car running on petrol thus came into being.   Panhard-Levassor
	Panhard Catalogue, 1892.		Gottlieb Daimler, a German, invented the petrol engine which was later used by Emile Levassor to create the Panhard-Levassor. The Panhard-Levassor was the prototype of the car which later became popular. It was characterised by the engine at the front, a clutch box and chain transmission at the rear wheels.

	©2005 - Autoworld Brussels - Contact us - Privacy Statement