FIRST PERIOD OF DEVELOPM ENT. The most im portant of these early labors on the motor vehicle were undoubtedly those of Walter Han cock, an Englishman, and they were carried out during the period between 1824 and 1836. Han cock's first work was the invention of a rather remarkable design of boiler, which reached its final improved form and was patented in 1827. This boiler was first applied to an experimental vehicle, which had three wheels, the single wheel in front being the driver and being driven by a pair of direct-acting, oscillating steam-cylinders. The frame which carried the steam-cylinders and the front wheel was jointed to the main frame of the vehicle so as to permit steering. Many hundred miles were run with this vehicle, which was succeeded by an improved model. This sec ond Ilaneoek steam-wagon was named 'The Infant.' In it the two rear wheels were made the driving-wheels. The oscillating cylinders operated directly a counter-shaft carrying a chain-wheel and located just back of the rear wheels. From the chain-wheel on the counter shaft a chain-drive was carried to a similar wheel on the rear axle. The boiler and other mechanism for motive purposes was carried sub stantially over the driving-wheels. The front wheel was used for steering by being journeyed to a The chief objection to this second vehicle was the trouble experienced from (lust and dirt getting into the driving mechanism. The second 'Infant' was then built, in which a vertical engine replaced the oscillat ing steam-cylinders of the previous vehicles, and was placed near the middle of the vehicle, be tween the front and rear wheels. This engine drove a chain-wheel with a chain drive extending back to the rear axle. The remaining parts of the vehicle were similar to the corresponding parts in the first 'Infant.' Hancock next built 'The Era' on much the same designs as the sec ond 'Infant,' and later 'The Enterprise,' both of which were designed for public traffic as steam coaches. 'The Autopsy,' a second 'Era,' and 'The Automaton' followed in rapid succession, and "The Automaton' ran as a coach on regular service between Stratford, Paddington, and Islington for •0 weeks, covering 4200 miles, and carrying 12,761 passengers during this period. Ilancock's linal motor vehicle was for his personal use.
Contemporary with Hancock, two fellow count rymen, Guldeworthy Gurney and Sir Charles Dance, conaneted extensive experiments with a number of vehicles invented iind improved by Gurney. For his vehicles Gurney used water tube boilers and horizontal engines. The engine
was placed underneath the body of the vehicle and drove the rear wheels by means Of a connect ing rod and axle crank, resembling much the driving-gear of a modern locomotive. Gurney's water-tube boiler consisted of two cylindrical drums, placed one above the other and running transversely across the vehicle. The tubes Cenl neeting these drums were bent into the form of a letter U, placed horizontally, one free end of the U entering the lower drum and the other free end entering the upper drum, the furnace grate being formed by the lower tubes. This boiler was usually worked at pressures of from 70 pounds to 120 pounds.. In passing from the boiler to the engine-cylinders the steam-pipe passed through the furnace easing, thus drying, if not somewhat superheating, the steam. The fire was provided with forced draft by a fan operated by a small engine, and the exhaust of the main engine was employed to heat the feed water. Some idea of the size of Gurney's vehicles of the coach type is conveyed by the fact that their weight was nearly eight tons, that the engine had 9 X 18-inch cylinders, and that the driving-wheels were 5 feet in diameter. Gur ney built a number of vehicles smaller than coaches, in some of which he substituted the engine-exhaust for the original fall for producing draft. For one of Gurney's coaches, Sir Charles Dance devised an improved form of boiler.
While the work of Ilanoick and Gurney per haps takes precedence in these early experiments with the steam road vehicle, there were several other inventors who were active. In 1831 two steam-earriages were built by William A. Sum mers and Nathaniel Ogle, eapable of carrying from 1G to 18 passengers each. The boiler used in these vehicles was a vertical water-tube boiler with internal smoke-tubes. The engines were con pled direct to the driving-axle and had 814 X IS-inch cylinders. in 1834-35 \lacerone and Squire ran a steam-co:lel] having a capacity for eight passengers, besides the driver and stoker, and weiglong :it!, tons. The boiler was a vertical boiler and the engines had it!, inch cylinders. Among others of this same period who developed inventions relating to steam vehicles were 'Henry James, Dr. Church, Rob ert Griffith, and Scott Russell. One after another of these vehicles was abandoned, until in 1836 only those of Hancock were on the road; and soon after. these also disappeared from service.