Vehicle

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This article is about the means of transport. For other uses see Vehicle (disambiguation).

Vehicles are non-living means of transportation. They are most often man-made (e.g. bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, and aircraft), although some other means of transportation which are not made by man can also be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks.

Vehicles may be propelled by animals, e.g. a chariot or an ox-cart. However, animals on their own, though used as a means of transportation, are not called vehicles. This includes humans carrying another human, for example a child or a disabled person.

Vehicles that do not travel on land are often called crafts, such as watercraft, sailcraft, aircraft, hovercraft and spacecraft

Most land vehicles have wheels. Please see the wheel article for examples of vehicles with and without wheels.

Movement without the help of a vehicle or an animal is called locomotion. The word vehicle itself comes from the Latin vehiculum.

Contents 1 Mechanical Road-Vehicles 1.1 Bicycle 1.1.1 Tricycle 1.1.2 Quadricycle 1.2 Electric Road Carriages 1.3 Steam Road Carriage 1.3.1 Thomas Rickett of Buckingham 1.3.2 H.P. Holt 1.3.3 Catley and Ayres of York 1.3.4 J.H. Knight of Farnham 1.3.5 R.W. Thomson of Aberdeen 1.3.6 Charles Randolph of Glasgow 1.3.7 R. Neville Grenville of Glastonbury 1.3.8 Amédée Bollée of Le Mans 1.3.9 Steam Tricycle 1.4 Petroleum (gasoline / diesel ) Motor-Carriages 1.5 Road trains 1.6 The Motor Cycle 2 Mechanical Rail-Vehicles 3 Mechanical water vehicles 4 Mechanical under-water vehicles 5 Mechanical air vehicles 6 Mechanical snow vehicles 7 Types of vehicles 8 Acronyms and abbreviations 9 See also 10 External links

Mechanical Road-Vehicles

Bicycle

see Bicycles (see also Vehicular Cycling)

see main article History of the bicycle

Tricycle

see Tricycle

Quadricycle

see Quadricycle

Electric Road Carriages

see electric vehicle

see history of the electric vehicle

Steam Road Carriage

After the period of the steam road coach ended by 1840, interest in mechanical road transport then lapsed, and it was many years before any serious attempts where made to develop further the use of steam power on ordinary roads. The steam driven locomotive from this epoch no doubt influenced them, and convinced them that steam-driven private carriages were feasible.

Thomas Rickett of Buckingham

Hence, in 1858, Thomas Rickett of Buckingham built the first of several steam carriages. Instead of looking like a carriage it resembled a small locomotive. It consisted of a steam-engine mounted on three wheels; two large driven rear-wheels and one smaller front wheel by which the vehicle was steered. The whole was driven by a chain drive and a maximum speed of twelve miles per hour was reached. The weight of the machine was 1.5 tonnes and somewhat lighter than Rickett's steam carriage.

Two years later, in 1860, Rickett built a similar but heavier vehicle. This model incorporated spur-gear drive instead of chain. In his final design, resembling a railway locomotive, the cylinders were coupled directly outside the cranks of the driving-axle.

H.P. Holt

H.P. Holt constructed a small road-steamer in 1866. Able to reach a speed of twenty miles per hour on level roads, it had a vertical boiler at the rear and two separate twin cylinder engines, each of which drove one rear wheel by means of a chain and sprocket wheels.

Catley and Ayres of York

In 1869, a small three wheeled vehicle propelled by a horizontal twin cylinder engine which drove the rear axle by spur-gearing; only one rear wheel was driven, the other turning freely on the axle. A vertical fire-tube boiler was mounted at the rear with a polished copper casing over the fire box and chimney; the boiler was enclosed in a mahogany casing. The front wheel was used for steering and the weight was only 19 cwt.

J.H. Knight of Farnham

1868 - 1870, John Henry Knight of Farnham built a four wheeled steam carriage which originally only had a single-cylinder engine.

R.W. Thomson of Aberdeen

1871, The road-steamer of R.W. Thomson of Aberdeen became famous because of wheels were shod with heavy solid rubber tyres.

Charles Randolph of Glasgow

1872, a steam-coach by Charles Randolph of Glasgow was 15 feet in length, weighed four and a half tons, but had a maximum speed of only 6 miles per hour; somewhat underpowered. Two vertical twin-cylinder engines where independent of one another and each drove one of the rear wheels by spur-gearing. The entire vehicle was enclosed and fitted with windows all around , carried six people, and even had two driving-mirrors for observing traffic approaching from behind; the earlier recorded instance of such a device.

R. Neville Grenville of Glastonbury

In 1875, R. Neville Grenville of Glastonbury constructed a 3 wheeled steam vehicle and is still in existence. It traveled a maximum of 15 miles per hour. This vehicle is preserved in the Bristol city museum.

Amédée Bollée of Le Mans

From 1873 to 1885, Amédée Bollée of Le Mans built several steam-coachs 12 to 6 places up to 60 KM/H (38 mph). It display an interesting modern lay-out which closely resemble that of much later motor cars.

Steam Tricycle

See steam tricycle

At the other end of the scale much lighter steam vehicles where being constructed such as the steam tricycle from the Comte de Dion in 1887.

Petroleum (gasoline / diesel ) Motor-Carriages

See motor-carriage

See Ford's model T

See Automobile

Road trains

A road train is a truck design used in remote areas of Australia to move bulky loads efficiently.

The Motor Cycle

See Motorcycle

See Gottlieb Daimler

Mechanical Rail-Vehicles

see Trains

see Trams

Mechanical water vehicles

see Boats

see Ships

Mechanical under-water vehicles

see submarines

Mechanical air vehicles

see aircraft

Mechanical snow vehicles

see snowmobile

Types of vehicles

• Auto rickshaws
• Bicycles
• Buses
• Cars
• Coaches
• Vans
• Types of vehicles
• More...

Acronyms and abbreviations

Main article: Vehicle acronyms and abbreviations

See also

Main: List of basic vehicle topics

• ADAC, car ranking.
• Automobile
• Vehicular communication systems

Wikipedia information about Vehicle This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Vehicle". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.