has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The design of the Cugnot Steam Trolley (Jonathan Holguinisburg) (1769)
The
history of the automobile begins as early as 1769, with the creation of
steam-powered automobiles capable of
human transport.
[1] In 1806, the first cars powered by
internal combustion engines running on
fuel gas appeared, which led to the introduction in 1885 of the ubiquitous modern
gasoline- or petrol-fueled internal combustion engine. Cars powered by
electricity briefly appeared at the turn of the 20th century but largely disappeared from commonality until the turn of the 21st century, when interest in low- and zero-
emissions transportation was reignited. As such, the early history of the automobile can be divided into a number of eras based on the prevalent method of automotive propulsion during that time. Later periods were defined by trends in exterior styling and size and utility preferences.
[edit] Eras of invention
[edit] Pioneer inventors
German engineer Karl Benz, the inventor of numerous car-related technologies, is generally regarded as the inventor of the modern automobile. The
four-stroke petrol (gasoline)
internal combustion engine that constitutes the most prevalent form of modern automotive propulsion is a creation of German inventor
Nikolaus Otto. The similar four-stroke
diesel engine was also invented by a German,
Rudolf Diesel. The hydrogen
fuel cell, one of the technologies hailed as a replacement for gasoline as an energy source for cars, was discovered in principle by yet another German,
Christian Friedrich Schönbein, in 1838. The battery
electric car owes its beginnings to Hungarian
Ányos Jedlik, one of the inventors of the
electric motor, and
Gaston Planté, who invented the
lead-acid battery in 1859.
[edit] Early automobiles
[edit] Steam automobiles
Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version
, a member of a
Jesuit mission in China, built the first
steam-powered vehicle around 1672, designed as a toy for the Chinese Emperor, it being of small scale and unable to carry a driver or passenger but, quite possibly, the first working steam-powered vehicle ('auto-mobile').
[2][3]
A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil'
Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles are thought to have been devised in the late-
18th century.
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot demonstrated his
fardier à vapeur, an experimental steam-driven artillery tractor, in 1770 and 1771. Cugnot's design proved to be impractical and his invention was not developed in his native
France, the centre of innovation passing to
Great Britain. By 1784,
William Murdoch had built a working model of a steam carriage in
Redruth, and in 1801
Richard Trevithick was running a full-sized vehicle on the road in
Camborne.
[4] Such vehicles were in vogue for a time, and over the next decades such innovations as hand
brakes, multi-speed
transmissions, and better
steering developed. Some were commercially successful in providing
mass transit, until a backlash against these large speedy vehicles resulted in passing a law, the
Locomotive Act, in 1865 requiring self-propelled vehicles on
public roads in the
United Kingdom be preceded by a man on foot waving a
red flag and blowing a
horn. This effectively killed road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the
19th century. as inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in
railway locomotives. The law was not repealed until 1896, although the need for the red flag was removed in 1878.
In
Russia in the 1780s,
Ivan Kulibin started working on a human-pedalled carriage with a
steam engine. He finished working on it in 1791. Some of its features included a
flywheel, brake,
gearbox, and
bearing, which are also the features of a modern automobile. His design had three
roadwheels. Unfortunately, as with many of his inventions, the government failed to see the potential market and it was not developed further.
[5][6]
The first automobile
patent in the
United States was granted to
Oliver Evans in 1789. In 1805, Evans demonstrated his first successful self-propelled vehicle, which not only was the first automobile in the USA, but was also the first
amphibious vehicle, as his steam-powered vehicle was able to travel on roadwheels on land, and via a
paddle wheel in the water.
Among other efforts, in 1815, a professor at
Prague Polytechnich,
Josef Bozek, built an oil-fired steam car.
[7]:p.27 and
Walter Hancock, builder and operator of London steam
buses, in 1838 built a four-seat steam
phaeton.
[7]:p27 Steam car development would from them on continue, leading to significant advances by the early 1900s (see Edwardian Era car).
[edit] Electric automobiles
In 1828,
Ányos Jedlik, a Hungarian who invented an early type of
electric motor, created a tiny model car powered by his new motor.
[8] In 1834,
Vermont blacksmith Thomas Davenport, the inventor of the first American
DC electrical motor, installed his motor in a small model car, which he operated on a short circular electrified track.
[9] In 1835, Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of
Groningen, the
Netherlands and his assistant Christopher Becker created a small-scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable
primary cells.
[10] In 1838,
Scotsman Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that attained a speed of 4
miles per hour (6
km/h). In
England, a
patent was granted in 1840 for the use of
rail tracks as
conductors of
electric current, and similar American patents were issued to Lilley and Colten in 1847. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain),
Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable
primary cells.
[edit] Internal combustion engines
1870, Vienna, Austria: world's first gasoline-run vehicle, the 'first Marcus car'
Early attempts at making and using
internal combustion engines were hampered by the lack of suitable
fuels, particularly
liquids, and the earliest engines used
gas mixtures.
Early experimenters using gases included, in 1806,
Swiss engineer
François Isaac de Rivaz who built an internal combustion engine powered by a
hydrogen and
oxygen mixture, and in 1826,
Englishman Samuel Brown who tested his hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engine by using it to propel a vehicle up
Shooter's Hill in south-east
London.
Belgian-born
Etienne Lenoir's
Hippomobile with a
hydrogen-gas-fuelled
one-cylinder internal combustion engine made a test drive from
Paris to
Joinville-le-Pont in 1860, covering some nine
kilometres in about three
hours.
[11] A later version was propelled by
coal gas. A
Delamare-Deboutteville vehicle was patented and trialled in 1884.
About 1870, in
Vienna,
Austria (then the
Austro-Hungarian Empire), inventor
Siegfried Marcus put a liquid-fuelled internal combustion engine on a simple handcart which made him the first man to propel a vehicle by means of
gasoline. Today, this car is known as "the first Marcus car". In 1883, Marcus secured a
German patent for a low-voltage
ignition system of the
magneto type; this was his only automotive
patent. This design was used for all further engines, and the four-
seat "second Marcus car" of 1888/89. This ignition, in conjunction with the "rotating-brush
carburetor", made the second car's design very innovative.
It is generally acknowledged that the first really practical
automobiles with
petrol/gasoline-powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German
inventors working independently:
Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885 in
Mannheim. Benz was granted a patent for his automobile on 29 January 1886, and began the first production of automobiles in 1888, after
Bertha Benz, his wife, had proved - with the first long-distance trip in August 1888, from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back - that the horseless coach was absolutely suitable for daily use. Since 2008 a
Bertha Benz Memorial Route commemorates this event.
Soon after,
Gottlieb Daimler and
Wilhelm Maybach in
Stuttgart in 1889 designed a vehicle from scratch to be an automobile, rather than a
horse-drawn carriage fitted with an engine. They also are usually credited with invention of the first
motorcycle in 1886, but
Italy's
Enrico Bernardi of the
University of Padua, in 1882, patented a 0.024
horsepower (17.9
W) 122
cc (7.4
cu in) one-cylinder petrol motor, fitting it into his son's
tricycle, making it at least a candidate for the first automobile, and first motorcycle;.
[7]:p.26 Bernardi enlarged the tricycle in 1892 to carry two adults.
[7]:p.26
One of the first four-wheeled
petrol-driven automobiles in
Britain was built in
Birmingham in 1895 by
Frederick William Lanchester, who also patented the
disc brake; and the first
electric starter was installed on an
Arnold, an adaptation of the
Benz Velo, built between 1895 and 1898.
[7]:p.25
In all the turmoil, many early pioneers are nearly forgotten. In 1891,
John William Lambert built a three-wheeler in Ohio City, Ohio, which was destroyed in a
fire the same year, while
Henry Nadig constructed a four-wheeler in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. It is likely they were not the only ones.
[7]:p.25
[edit] Veteran era
The first production of
automobiles was by
Karl Benz in 1888 in
Germany and, under licence from Benz, in
France by
Emile Roger. There were numerous others, including
tricycle builders
Rudolf Egg,
Edward Butler, and
Léon Bollée.
[7]:p.20-23 Bollée, using a 650
cc (40
cu in) engine of his own design, enabled his driver, Jamin, to average 45
kilometres per hour (28.0
mph) in the 1897
Paris-Tourville rally.
[7]:p.23 By 1900,
mass production of automobiles had begun in
France and the
United States. The first company formed exclusively to build automobiles was
Panhard et Levassor in France, which also introduced the first
four-cylinder engine.
[7]:p.22 Formed in 1889, Panhard was quickly followed by
Peugeot two years later. By the start of the
20th century, the
automobile industry was beginning to take off in western
Europe, especially in France, where 30,204 were produced in 1903, representing 48.8% of world automobile production that year.
[12][citation needed]
1903 World's Work Article
In the
United States, brothers
Charles and
Frank Duryea founded the
Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1893, becoming the first American automobile manufacturing company. However, it was
Ransom E. Olds and his
Olds Motor Vehicle Company (later known as
Oldsmobile) who would dominate this era of automobile production. Its large scale
production line was running in 1902. Within a year,
Cadillac (formed from the
Henry Ford Company),
Winton, and
Ford were producing cars in the thousands.
Within a few years, a dizzying assortment of
technologies were being produced by hundreds of producers all over the western world.
Steam,
electricity and
petrol/gasoline-powered automobiles competed for decades, with petrol/gasoline
internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. Dual- and even quad-engine cars were designed, and
engine displacement ranged to more than a dozen
litres. Many modern advances, including
gas/electric hybrids,
multi-valve engines,
overhead camshafts, and
four-wheel drive, were attempted, and discarded at this time. In 1898,
Louis Renault had a
De Dion-Bouton modified, with fixed
drive shaft and
ring and pinion gear, making "perhaps the first
hot rod in history" and bringing Renault and his brothers into the car industry.
[13] Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear
standards for basic vehicle architectures,
body styles, construction materials, or controls. Many
veteran cars use a
tiller, rather than a wheel for
steering, for example, and most operated at a single
speed.
Chain drive was dominant over the drive shaft, and closed bodies were extremely rare.
Drum brakes were introduced by Renault in 1902.
[14] The next year, Dutch designer
Jacobus Spijker built the first
four-wheel drive racing car;
[15] it never competed and it would be 1965 and the
Jensen FF before four wheel drive was used on a production car.
[16]
Innovation was not limited to the vehicles themselves, either. Increasing numbers of cars propelled the growth of the
petroleum industry,
[17] as well as the development of technology to produce
gasoline (replacing
kerosene and
coal oil) and of improvements in heat-tolerant
mineral oil lubricants (replacing
vegetable and
animal oils).
[18]
There were social effects, also. Music would be made about cars, such as "In My Merry Oldsmobile" (a tradition that continues) while, in 1896,
William Jennings Bryan would be the first
presidential candidate to campaign in a car (a donated
Mueller), in
Decatur,
Illinois.
[19] Three years later, Jacob German would start a tradition for
New York City cabdrivers when he sped down
Lexington Avenue, at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19 km/h).
[20] Also in 1899,
Akron,
Ohio, adopted the first self-propelled
paddy wagon.
[20]
In My Merry Oldsmobile songbook featuring an
Oldsmobile Curved Dash automobile (produced 1901-1907) and period driving clothing
By 1900, it was possible to talk about a national automotive industry in many countries, including
Belgium (home to
Vincke, which copied Benz;
Germain, a pseudo-Panhard; and
Linon and
Nagant, both based on the
Gobron-Brillié),
[7]:p,25 Switzerland (led by
Fritz Henriod, Rudolf Egg,
Saurer,
Johann Weber, and
Lorenz Popp),
[7]:p.25 Vagnfabrik AB in
Sweden,
Hammel (by A. F. Hammel and H. U. Johansen at Copenhagen, in
Denmark, beginning around 1886),
[7]:p.25 Irgens (starting in Bergen,
Norway, in 1883, but without success),
[7]:p.25-26 Italy (where
FIAT started in 1899), and as far afield as
Australia (where
Pioneer set up shop in 1898, with an already archaic
paraffin-fuelled centre-pivot-steered wagon).
[7] Meanwhile, the export trade had begun to be global, with Koch exporting cars and trucks from Paris to
Tunisia,
Egypt,
Iran, and the
Dutch East Indies.
[7]:p25
On 5 November 1895,
George B. Selden was granted a United States patent for a
two-stroke automobile engine (
U.S. Patent 549,160). This patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the USA. Selden licensed his patent to most major American auto makers, collecting a fee on every car they produced. The
Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904, but also continued to build horse-drawn vehicles until 1919.
[21]:p.90 In 1908, the first South American automobile was built in Peru, the
Grieve.
[22] Motor cars were also exported very early to British colonies and the first motor car was exported to India in 1897.
Throughout the veteran car era, however, automobiles were seen as more of a novelty than a genuinely useful device.
Breakdowns were frequent,
fuel was difficult to obtain,
roads suitable for travelling were scarce, and rapid innovation meant that a year-old car was nearly worthless. Major breakthroughs in proving the usefulness of the automobile came with the historic long-distance drive of
Bertha Benz in
1888, when she travelled more than 80
kilometres (50
mi) from
Mannheim to
Pforzheim, to make people aware of the potential of the vehicles her husband,
Karl Benz, manufactured, and after
Horatio Nelson Jackson's successful trans-continental drive across the
United States in 1903.
[edit] Brass or Edwardian era
T-model Ford car parked outside
Geelong Library at its launch in Australia in 1915
Main article:
Brass Era carNamed for the widespread use of
brass in the
United States, the
Brass (or
Edwardian) Era lasted from roughly 1905 through to the beginning of
World War I in 1914. 1905 was about the time when sales began shifting from the hobbyist and enthusiast to the average user.
[citation needed]
Within the 15 years that make up this era, the various experimental designs and alternate power systems would be marginalised. Although the modern
touring car had been invented earlier, it was not until
Panhard et Levassor's
Système Panhard was widely licensed and adopted that recognisable and standardised automobiles were created. This system specified
front-engined,
rear-wheel drive internal combustion engined cars with a sliding
gear transmission. Traditional
coach-style vehicles were rapidly abandoned, and buckboard
runabouts lost favour with the introduction of
tonneaus and other less-expensive touring bodies.
A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903. In 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5km/h at Daytona Beach Road Course.
By 1906,
steam car development had advanced, and they were among the fastest road vehicles in that period.
[23][not in citation given]
Throughout this era, development of
automotive technology was rapid, due in part to hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included the electric
ignition system (by
dynamotor on the
Arnold in 1898,
[24] though
Robert Bosch, 1903, tends to get the credit),
independent suspension (actually conceived by Bollée in 1873),
[24] and four-
wheel brakes (by the
Arrol-Johnston Company of
Scotland in 1909).
[7]:p27 Leaf springs were widely used for
suspension, though many other systems were still in use, with angle
steel taking over from armored
wood as the
frame material of choice.
Transmissions and throttle controls were widely adopted, allowing a variety of cruising speeds, though vehicles generally still had discrete speed settings, rather than the infinitely variable system familiar in cars of later eras. Safety glass also made its debut, patented by
John Wood in England in 1905.
[14] (It would not become standard equipment until 1926, on a
Rickenbacker.)
[14]
Between 1907 and 1912 in the United States, the
high-wheel motor buggy (resembling the horse buggy of before 1900) was in its heyday, with over seventy-five makers including
Holsman (Chicago),
IHC (Chicago), and
Sears (which sold
via catalog); the high-wheeler would be killed by the Model T.
[7]:p.65 In 1912,
Hupp (in the U.S., supplied by
Hale & Irwin) and
BSA (in the UK) pioneered the use of all-steel bodies,
[25] joined in 1914 by
Dodge (who produced Model T bodies).
[14] While it would be another two decades before all-steel bodies would be standard, the change would mean improved supplies of superior-quality wood for
furniture makers.
[7]
- Some examples of cars of the period included
[edit] Vintage era
Main article:
Vintage carThe vintage era lasted from the end of
World War I (1919), through the
Wall Street Crash at the end of 1929. During this period, the
front-engined car came to dominate, with closed
bodies and standardised controls becoming the norm. In 1919, 90% of cars sold were open; by 1929, 90% were closed.
[7]:p.7 Development of the
internal combustion engine continued at a rapid pace, with
multi-valve and
overhead camshaft engines produced at the high end, and
V8,
V12, and even
V16 engines conceived for the ultra-rich. Also in 1919,
hydraulic brakes were invented by
Malcolm Loughead (co-founder of
Lockheed); they were adopted by
Duesenberg for their 1921 Model A.
[14] Three years later,
Hermann Rieseler of
Vulcan Motor invented the first
automatic transmission, which had two-speed
planetary gearbox,
torque converter, and lockup
clutch; it never entered production.
[14] (Its like would only become an available option in 1940.)
[14] Just at the end of the vintage era,
tempered glass (now standard equipment in side windows) was invented in France.
[14]
Exemplary vintage vehicles:
[edit] Pre-WWII era
Main article:
Classic carThe pre-war part of the classic era began with the
Great Depression in 1930, and ended with the recovery after
World War II, commonly placed at 1948. It was in this period that integrated
fenders and fully-closed
bodies began to dominate sales, with the new
saloon/sedan body style even incorporating a
trunk or boot at the rear for storage. The old open-top
runabouts,
phaetons, and
touring cars were phased out by the end of the classic era as wings, running boards, and
headlights were gradually integrated with the body of the car.
By the 1930s, most of the mechanical technology used in today's automobiles had been invented, although some things were later "re-invented", and credited to someone else. For example,
front-wheel drive was re-introduced by André
Citroën with the launch of the
Traction Avant in 1934, though it had appeared several years earlier in road cars made by
Alvis and
Cord, and in
racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897). In the same vein, independent suspension was originally conceived by
Amédée Bollée in 1873, but not put in production until appearing on the low-volume
Mercedes-Benz 380 in 1933, which prodded American makers to use it more widely.
[24] In 1930, the number of
auto manufacturers declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured, thanks in part to the effects of the
Great Depression.
Exemplary pre-war automobiles:
[edit] Post-war era
Automobile design finally emerged from the shadow of
World War II in 1949, the year that in the
United States saw the introduction of high-
compression V8 engines and modern bodies from
General Motors'
Oldsmobile and
Cadillac brands. The
unibody/
strut-suspended 1951
Ford Consul joined the 1948
Morris Minor and 1949
Rover P4 in waking up the
automobile market in the
United Kingdom. In
Italy,
Enzo Ferrari was beginning his
250 series, just as
Lancia introduced the revolutionary
V6-powered
Aurelia.
Throughout the 1950s,
engine power and vehicle speeds rose, designs became more integrated and artful, and cars spread across the world.
Alec Issigonis'
Mini and
Fiat's
500 diminutive cars swept
Europe, while the similar
kei car class put
Japan on wheels for the first time. The legendary
Volkswagen Beetle survived
Hitler's Germany to shake up the small-car market in the
Americas. Ultra luxury, exemplified in America by the
Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, reappeared after a long absence, and
grand tourers (GT), like the
Ferrari Americas, swept across Europe.
The market changed somewhat in the 1960s, as
Detroit began to worry about foreign competition, the European makers adopted ever-higher technology, and Japan appeared as a serious car-producing nation.
General Motors,
Chrysler, and
Ford tried radical small cars, like the
GM A-bodies, but had little success.
Captive imports and
badge engineering swept through the US and UK as
amalgamated groups like the
British Motor Corporation consolidated the market. BMC's revolutionary space-saving
Mini, which first appeared in 1959, captured large sales worldwide. Minis were marketed under the
Austin and
Morris names, until Mini became a
marque in its own right in 1969.
[26] The trend for corporate consolidation reached Italy as niche makers like
Maserati,
Ferrari, and
Lancia were acquired by larger companies. By the end of the decade, the number of automobile marques had been greatly reduced.
In America, performance became a prime focus of marketing, exemplified by
pony cars and
muscle cars. In 1964 the popular
Ford Mustang appeared. In 1967,
Chevrolet released the
Camaro to compete with the Mustang. But everything changed in the 1970s as the
1973 oil crisis,
automobile emissions control rules, Japanese and European imports, and stagnant innovation wreaked havoc on the American industry. Though somewhat ironically, full-size sedans staged a major comeback in the years between the energy crisis, with makes such as
Cadillac and
Lincoln staging their best sales years ever in the late 70s. Small performance cars from
BMW,
Toyota, and
Nissan took the place of
big-engined cars from America and Italy.
On the technology front, the biggest developments of the era were the widespread use of
independent suspensions, wider application of
fuel injection, and an increasing focus on
safety in the
design of automobiles. The hottest technologies of the 1960s were
NSU's "
Wankel engine", the
gas turbine, and the
turbocharger. Of these, only the last, pioneered by
General Motors but popularised by
BMW and
Saab, was to see widespread use.
Mazda had much success with its "
Rotary" engine which, however, acquired a reputation as a polluting gas-guzzler. Other Wankel licensees, including
Mercedes-Benz and
General Motors, never put their designs into production after the 1973 oil crisis. (Mazda's hydrogen-fuelled successor was later to demonstrate potential as an "ultimate eco-car".
[27])
Rover and
Chrysler both produced experimental gas turbine cars to no effect.
Cuba is famous for retaining its pre-1959 cars, known as
yank tanks or maquinas, which have been kept since the
Cuban revolution when the influx of new cars slowed because of a US trade embargo.
Exemplary post-war cars:
- 1948–1971 Morris Minor — a popular, and typical post-war car exported around the world.
- 1959–2000 Mini — this quintessential small car lasted for four decades, and is one of the most famous cars of all time.
- 1961–1975 Jaguar E-type — the E-type saved Jaguar on the track and in the showroom, and was a standard for design and innovation in the 1960s.
- 1964–present Ford Mustang — the pony car that became one of the best-selling and most-collected cars of the era.
- 1969 Datsun 240Z — one of the first Japanese sports cars to be a smash hit with the North American public, it paved the way for future decades of Japanese strength in the automotive industry. It was affordable, well built, and had great success both on the track and in the showroom.
[edit] Modern era
The modern era is normally defined as the 25 years preceding the current year. However, there are some technical and design aspects that differentiate modern cars from antiques. Without considering the
future of the car, the modern era has been one of increasing
standardisation,
platform sharing, and
computer-aided design.
Some particularly notable advances in modern times are the widespread of
front-wheel drive and
all-wheel drive, the adoption of the
diesel engine, and the ubiquity of
fuel injection. While all of these advances were first attempted in earlier eras, they so dominate the market today that it is easy to overlook their significance. Nearly all modern passenger cars are front-wheel drive
monocoque/
unibody designs, with
transversely-mounted engines, but this design was considered radical as late as the 1960s.
Body styles have changed as well in the modern era. Three types, the
hatchback,
minivan, and
sport utility vehicle, dominate today's market,
[citation needed] yet are relatively recent
concepts. All originally emphasised practicality, but have mutated into today's high-powered luxury
crossover SUV and
sports wagon. The rise of
pickup trucks in the United States, and SUVs worldwide has changed the face of motoring, with these "trucks" coming to command more than half of the world automobile market.
The modern era has also seen rapidly rising
fuel efficiency and engine output. Once the
automobile emissions concerns of the 1970s were conquered with computerised
engine management systems, power began to rise rapidly. In the 1980s, a powerful
sports car might have produced 200
horsepower (150
kW) – just 20 years later, average passenger cars have engines that powerful, and some performance models offer three times as much power.
Exemplary modern cars:
- 1966–present Toyota Corolla — a simple small Japanese saloon/sedan that has come to be the best-selling car of all time.
- 1967 NSU Ro 80 — the basic wedge profile of this design was much emulated in subsequent decades.[28]
- 1970–present Range Rover — the first take on the combination of luxury and four-wheel drive utility, the original 'SUV'. Such was the popularity of the original Range Rover Classic that a new model was not brought out until 1994.[29]
- 1973–present Mercedes-Benz S-Class — electronic Anti-lock Braking System, supplemental restraint airbags, seat belt pretensioners, and electronic traction control systems all made their debut on the S-Class. These features would later become standard throughout the car industry.
- 1975–present BMW 3 Series — the 3 Series has been on Car and Driver magazine's annual Ten Best list 17 times, making it the longest running entry in the list.
- 1977–present Honda Accord saloon/sedan — this Japanese sedan became the most popular car in the United States in the 1990s, pushing the Ford Taurus aside, and setting the stage for today's upscale Asian sedans.
- 1981–1989 Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant — the "K-cars" that saved Chrysler as a major manufacturer. These models were some of the first successful American front-wheel drive, fuel-efficient compact cars.
- 1983–present Chrysler minivans — the two-box minivan design nearly pushed the station wagon out of the market, and presaged today's crossover SUVs.
- 1986–present Ford Taurus — this mid-sized front-wheel drive sedan with modern computer-assisted design dominated the American market in the late 1980s, and created a design revolution in North America.
[edit] Future directions
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Eckermann, Erik (2001). World History of the Automobile. SAE Press, p.14.
- ^ "1679-1681–R P Verbiest's Steam Chariot". History of the Automobile: origin to 1900. Hergé. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://users.skynet.be/tintinpassion/VOIRSAVOIR/Auto/Pages_auto/Auto_001.html&sa=X&oi=translate. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
- ^ Setright, L. J. K. (2004). Drive On!: A Social History of the Motor Car. Granta Books. ISBN 1-86207-698-7.
- ^ C.D. Buchanan (1958). "1". Mixed Blessing: The Motor in Britain. Leonard Hill.
- ^ Russian webpage with drawings of Kulibin vehicle designs
- ^ Second Russian webpage with drawing
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Georgano, G.N. (1985). Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal.
- ^ B David Ferrel, History of the electric car: 1828 - 1912, from Trouve to Morrison, http://factoidz.com/history-of-the-electric-car-1828-1912-from-trouve-to-morrison/, retrieved July 18, 2009
- ^ Today in Technology History: July 6, The Center for the Study of Technology and Science, http://www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2001/jul6.htm, retrieved 2009-07-14
- ^ (in English - Dutch available) Sibrandus Stratingh (1785-1841), Professor of Chemistry and Technology, University of Groningen, http://www.rug.nl/museum/geschiedenis/hoogleraren/stratingh, retrieved 2009-04-24
- ^ Data on the Hippomobile and hydrogen/fuel cells from TÜV SÜD Industrie Service GmbH
- ^ Lien web|url=http://www.crucean.com/timeline.html#1903|title=American Motorsports Timeline|site=crucean.com}}
- ^ Yates, Brock. "10 Best Moguls", in Car and Driver, 1/88, p.47.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Csere, Csaba (January 1988). "10 Best Engineering Breakthroughs". Car and Driver 33 (7) , p. 62.
- ^ Lyons, Pete. "10 Best Ahead-of-Their-Time Machines", in Car and Driver, 1/88, p.77.
- ^ Lyons, p.78.
- ^ Csere, pp. 60-61.
- ^ Csere, p. 60.
- ^ Lewis, Mary Beth. "Ten Best First Facts", in Car and Driver, 1/88, p.92.
- ^ a b Lewis, p.92.
- ^ Longstreet, Stephen. A Century on Wheels: The Story of Studebaker. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 121. 1st edn., 1952.
- ^ "» The first Peruvian car …en Perú – Travel Culture History News". Enperublog.com. 2009-05-07. http://enperublog.com/2009/05/07/the-first-peruvian-car/. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
- ^ Stanley Steamers amongst fastest road vehicles around 1906-1911
- ^ a b c Csere, p. 61.
- ^ Csere, p. 63.
- ^ Michael Sedgwick & Mark Gillies, A-Z of Cars 1945-1970, 1986
- ^ Hydrogen and the Rotary Engine on Mazda Global Website
- ^ Hevesi D Claus Luthe, Car Design Innovator, Is Dead at 75New York Times, 10 April 2008
- ^ Buckley M Used Car Buying Guide: Range Rover Channel 4 (UK) 24 Jan 2005
[edit] Further reading
- Berger, Michael L., The automobile in American history and culture: a reference guide, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001. ISBN 978-0-313-24558-9
- Halberstam, David, The Reckoning, New York : Morrow, 1986. ISBN 0-688-04838-2
- Kay, Jane Holtz, Asphalt nation : how the automobile took over America, and how we can take it back, New York : Crown Publishers, 1997. ISBN 0-517-58702-5
- Krarup, M. C. (November 1906). "Automobiles for Every Use". The World's Work: A History of Our Time XIII: 8163–8178. http://books.google.com/?id=3IfNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA8163. Retrieved 2009-07-10. Includes photos of many c.1906 special purpose automobiles.
- Norman, Henry (April 1902). "The Coming of the Automobile". The World's Work: A History of Our Time V: 3304–3308. http://books.google.com/?id=DoDNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3304. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
[edit] External links
Source
3)a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
There are reference books which describe and evaluate periodicals. For evaluations of specific periodicals, use:
- LaGuardia, Cheryl, ed., with Bill and Linda Sternberg Katz. Magazines for Libraries. 17th ed. New York: Bowker, 2009.
- (Olin Ref Z 6941 .K21 +; shelved at the reference desk)
- An annotated listing by subject of over 6,000 periodicals. Each entry gives name of periodical, beginning publication date, publisher, editor, address, price and such information as indexing, size, and level of audience. Short abstracts describe the scope, political slant, and other aspects of the publication. Arrangement is topical, bringing magazines and journals on like subjects together. To find an individual title, use the title index at the end of the volume
- Source.
4)In
biology, reference collections, such as
herbaria are an important sort of information about variations of populations within a species. They are also the repository of
holotypes used as the official definition of species.
5)Automobiles reference collection is the choice that I would use most because the reason is that I like cars and I would like to have reference collection so I know more about it.
