subject: A Short History Of Cars And Transport [print this page] Many people consider the means of available transport as less important and few think how life could have been different if man had never invented the wheel or tamed the first wild horse. Archeologists believe that the first step towards man-made transportation started with the invention of wheel. It was either in Asia or Mesopotamia roughly around 4000 3500 BC.
The car was also not invented in a single day and its history reflects a global evolution. There were more than one inventor involved and according to an estimate there are more than 100,000 patents behind the creation of the modern car.
The very early means of transportation started with the domestication of horse which was generally used for farming purposes. The invention of wheel made the transport of crops from one place to another less awkward. It was definitely the invention of wheel which led to the development of mass transport. The very next evolutionary step from the wheel was the invention of the cart and chariot.
Nicolas Cugnot was a French engineer who invented the first self-propelled road vehicle. It was in the shape of a military tractor and was powered by steam engine. The French Army used this vehicle but its demerit was that it had to stop after every every fifteen minutes for gaining steam power.
With the passage of time, a simple boat was developed which had a large cloth mounted on it called sail using wind for moving. Later the boat turned in a self-propelled ship which gave a new addition to man to use waterways as a mean of travel.
For the early cars, steam engines made them very heavy and the design was also not very good. However the use of steam engines in locomotives was very successful. Historians have credited Nicolas Cugnot for inventing the first automobiles.
In the 1800s, the ships shed their sails and the technology of transportation changed with the arrival of automation. The technology of cars also changed and the early automobiles did not use only the steam engines but vehicles with electrical engines were also invented roughly between 1832 and 1839. The technology of automation was however not limited exclusively for mass transit.
After getting successful in land travel, mans eyes were on the skies and aircraft was invented. The Wright brothers are known as inventors of the first flying machine. As technology progressed, jet-propelled aircraft were invented that were capable of world-wide mass transit.
