"harry" wrote in message
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3p55J-VA5k

1770 French Cugnot (Repro)(1), first self powered Military vehicle

Its a modern demonstration in a park somewhere of a steam
driven vehicle. Basically its a large boiler on wheels
but its a rounded shape like the base of a turnip.

quote

First self-propelled vehicle
French Army Captain Cugnot was one of the first to successfully
employ a device for converting the reciprocating motion of a
steam piston into a rotary motion by means of a ratchet arrangement.
A small version of his three-wheeled fardier à vapeur ("steam dray")
was made and used in 1769 (a fardier was a massively built
two-wheeled horse-drawn cart for transporting very heavy equipment,
such as cannon barrels).

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Nicolas-Joseph_Cugnot

/quote

As they say "not a lot of people know that".

It shows why the French Revolution was necessary. Looking
into a lot of things it appears the French got there first.
Accurate screw cutting lathes are another which are usually
attributed to Jesse Ramsden a precision instrument maker,
and Henry Maudeslay machine tool maker and engineer.
When in fact a French bloke got there first. However all
the references to him are in French and never show up
on Google.
This is because the French system of govt and
administration wasn't conducive to the development
of industry - also they didn't have Protestants or
Quakers.


michael adams

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