Not so long ago (by historical standards), literally at the end of the Xih, the beginning of the twentieth centuries in the world there were quite a lot of cars with a steam engine. And these were not experimental samples, but quite themselves serial means of movement.
Historians calculated that in 1914, before the very beginning of the First World War, only steam cars were released in France only in France! It is clear, these were not modern autocontracens. But not underground garage workshops with chumazy car mechanics.
France at the time was very developed in the industrial sense. Therefore, there was so many auto enterprises. Of these, the fate of several, which are preserved archival information.
Enterprise "Borla", for example, appeared in 1873. It was then that the French engineer Borla received a coin patent with a steam engine.
Amida Bola Photo: Pierre Souvestre, Ru.Wikipedia.orgContinuously improving his brainchild, Boulla was able to drive 230 kilometers without breakdowns in 1875. Of course, at that time it was a serious success. It is known that Borla in 1879 designed and built a steam bus weighing about 27 tons!
The enterprise "De Dion" originated as the Union of two French designers - de Dion and Tiparto. Its first car (steam!) They constructed in 1883. These two constructors were very observant and smart. Therefore, soon they collected a steam car, moving at a speed of almost 50 kilometers per hour!
But that's not all! In 1894, on the first serious car racing, it was the car of the two mentioned French to overtake the car with an internal combustion engine. Then many thought that the steam aggregates would still be supplemented by gasoline.
But it was on those competitions that a bureaucratic confusion happened. The victory of the company De Dion was not counted, because this car did not meet some requirements of the organizers of the competition. It was necessary to become the company de Dion with such half winners.
Leon Sherpolly (Sherpollah) conceived his first steam car in 1877. However, this car appeared only in 1887. Then Sherpolla decided with friends how to check it in the case. They had pleasants on the newly assembled by the car were departed from Paris in Leon.
Notes reached us about this journey of one of the participants. It turns out that it was at least a dramatic enterprise, almost turned into a tragedy.
Initially, literally five kilometers after the start, from the car sulfur began to fall off one by one mounting elements. It is clear - shaking in the steam unit was notable.
Then began problems with the cooling system. Comrades accounted for a long time to stand on forced stops, cool the engine, and then suck the missed time, customizing his, far from the perfect, car.
After that, the car broke the steering traction. Here it is necessary to clarify that in the car SERPOLL, only one wheel was leading. After such a breakdown, friends at their own risk continued the path. And they managed the machine very peculiar: they were driving through the side with one, then on the other hand, they beat the wheel in the right direction.
The next day, the stove door fell off the steam unit. Nearby details begin to warm up so much that it is dangerous to touch them ...
In general, all the way on such a dangerous car ranked ten days from the test!
But such dramatic races only vowed the design thought. Steam machines continued to be improved.
For example, in 1906, one American inventor managed to develop a speed of 205 kilometers per hour in a vapor car!
However, all kinds of records and proven developments did not save the steam automotive industry. There were several reasons for this.
- For example, the efficiency of the steam engine of large sizes barely reached up to 15%. Little engines had this indicator even less.
- The steam engines were still quite dangerous, because they were very hot and periodically exploded.
- And even for a trip, at least 100 kilometers for a steam engine required a fair amount of fuel. The latter had to drag sometimes in a special trailer, weighting the already difficult design of the steam car ...
In general, very soon designers began to improve electrical engines and internal combustion engines ...
Author - Maxim Mishchenko
Source - Springzhizni.ru.