horseless carriage

{{Short description|Term for a motor car or automobile}}

File:Trevithicks Dampfwagen.jpg of 1803]]

Image:Autobus amedee-bollee.jpg]]

File:Horsey Horseless - 1899 horse-headed car by Uriah Smith.jpg, a vehicle meant to resemble a horse and carriage so it would not frighten horses on the road. It is unknown whether it was ever built.]]

Horseless carriage is an early name for the motor car or automobile. Prior to the invention of the motor car, carriages were usually pulled by animals, typically horses. The term can be compared to other transitional terms, such as wireless phone. These are cases in which a new technology is compared to an older one by describing what the new one does not have.{{cite news |last1=Quentin |first1=Hardy |title=Google's Horseless Carriage |url=https://www.forbes.com/2010/04/14/apps-microsoft-zoho-intelligent-technology-google.html |accessdate=2018-09-03 |work=Forbes |date=2010-04-14}}

Most horseless carriages are notable for their similarity to existing horse-drawn carriages, but with some type of mechanical propulsion. Features of the first horseless carriages include tiller steering, an engine under the floorboards, and a high center of gravity.{{cite web |last1=Bottorff |first1=William W. |title=What Was The First Car? |url=http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/cars/carhist.htm |publisher=Austin Business Computers, Inc. |accessdate=2018-09-03 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716152705/http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/cars/carhist.htm |archivedate=2011-07-16}}

In the 19th century, steam engines became the primary source of power for railway locomotives and ships, and for powering processes in fixed installations such as factories. In 1803, what is said to have been the first horseless carriage was a steam-driven vehicle demonstrated in London, England, by Richard Trevithick. In the 1820s, Goldsworthy Gurney built steam-powered road vehicles. One has survived to be on display at Glasgow Museum of Transport. In the United States, a four-wheel steam carriage was made by Sylvester H. Roper in 1863.{{cite web |title=Steam Power in the mid 1800s |url=http://www.katetattersall.com/early-victorian-locomotion-steam-power-in-the-mid-1800s |website=Kate Tattersall’s Adventures |accessdate=2018-09-03}}

The 1896 Armstrong horseless carriage is notable as an early hybrid vehicle, which combined an electric motor with battery and gasoline-fueled internal-combustion engine.{{cite news |last1=Edelstein |first1=Stephen |title=1896 Horseless Carriage Was a Hybrid Car |url=http://news.discovery.com/autos/fuel-and-alternative-fuel-technologies/1896-horseless-carriage-was-a-hybrid-car-160321.htm |accessdate=2018-09-03 |work=Discovery News |publisher=Discovery Communications |date=2016-03-21 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401094220/http://news.discovery.com/autos/fuel-and-alternative-fuel-technologies/1896-horseless-carriage-was-a-hybrid-car-160321.htm |archivedate=2016-04-01}}

In 1893, Frank Duryea is reported to have made the first horseless carriage trip on U.S. roads, in Springfield, Massachusetts, traveling approximately {{convert|600|yd}} before engine problems forced him to stop and make repairs. He went on to found the first U.S. car company, the Duryea Motor Wagon Company, with his brother.{{cite web |title=1869 Frank Duryea, winner of the first American “horseless carriage” race, is born |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/frank-duryea-winner-of-the-first-american-horseless-carriage-race-is-born |website=History |publisher=A&E Television Networks |accessdate=2018-09-03}}

In April 2016, horseless carriages from the turn of 19th and the early 20th centuries were featured in a re-creation of the first London Motor Show in 1896.{{cite web |title=Horseless Carriage Exhibition |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/horseless-carriage-exhibition |website=Time Out |accessdate=2018-09-03}}