Who Invented the Steam Car

The automobile as we know it today was not invented in a single day by a single inventor. Rather, the history of the automobile reflects an evolution that took place worldwide, a result of more than 100,000 patents from several inventors.   And there were many firsts that occurred along the way, starting with the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. However, its important to bear in mind that the earliest practical vehicles were powered by steam. Nicolas Joseph Cugnots Steam Vehicles In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot. He used a steam engine to power his vehicle, which was built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal. The steam engine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the front. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2 and 1/2 mph on only three wheels. The vehicle even had to stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power. The following year, Cugnot built a steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers. In 1771, Cugnot drove one of his road vehicles into a stone wall, giving the inventor the distinct honor of being the first person to get into a motor vehicle accident. Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of his bad luck. After one of Cugnots patrons died and the other was exiled, funding for Cugnots road vehicle experiments dried up. During the early history of self-propelled vehicles, both road and railroad vehicles were being developed with steam engines. For instance, Cugnot also designed two steam locomotives with engines that never worked well. These early systems powered cars by burning fuel that heated water in a boiler, creating steam that expanded and pushed pistons that turned the crankshaft, which then turned the wheels.    However, the problem was that steam engines added so much weight to a vehicle that they proved a poor design for road vehicles. Still, steam engines were successfully used in locomotives. And historians,who accept that early steam-powered road vehicles were technically automobiles often consider Nicolas Cugnot to be the inventor of the first automobile. A Brief Timeline of Steam-Powered Cars After Cugnot, several other inventors designed steam-powered road vehicles. They include fellow Frenchman Onesiphore Pecqueur, who also invented the first differential gear. Heres a brief timeline of those who contributed to the ongoing evolution of the automobile:   In 1789, the first U.S. patent for a steam-powered land vehicle was granted to Oliver Evans.In 1801, Richard Trevithick built a road carriage powered by steam -- the first in Great Britain.In Britain, from 1820 to 1840, steam-powered stagecoaches were in regular service. These were later banned from public roads and Britains railroad system developed as a result.Steam-driven road tractors (built by Charles Deitz) pulled passenger carriages around Paris and Bordeaux up to 1850.In the United States, numerous steam coaches were built from 1860 to 1880. Inventors included  Harrison Dyer, Joseph Dixon, Rufus Porter  and William T. James.Amedee Bollee Sr. built advanced steam cars from 1873 to 1883. The La Mancelle built in 1878, had a front-mounted engine, shaft drive to the differential, chain drive to the rear wheels, steering wheel on a vertical shaft and drivers seat behind the engine. The boiler was carried behind the passenger compartment.In 1871, Dr. J. W. Carhart, professor of physics at Wisconsin State University, and the J. I. Case Company built a working steam car that won a 200-mile race. Arrival of Electric Cars Steam engines were not the only engines used in early automobiles as vehicles with electrical engines also gained traction around the same time. Sometime between 1832 and 1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first electric carriage. They relied on rechargeable batteries that powered a small electric motor. The vehicles were heavy, slow, expensive and needed to be recharged frequently. Electricity was more practical and efficient when used to power tramways and streetcars, where a constant supply of electricity was possible. Yet around 1900, electric land vehicles in America came to outsell all other types of cars. Then in the several years following 1900, sales of electric vehicles took a nosedive as a new type of vehicle powered by gasoline came to dominate the consumer market.

The Role of Women in Literature Essay - 1283 Words

The Role of Women in The Thousand and One Nights, The Ramayana of Valmiki and The Medea Throughout most of the assigned readings in this class, women are portrayed as clever, ruthless, and deceitful individuals that are willing to do whatever it takes in order to get what they desire. With careful calculation and timing they are able to manipulate others into doing things their way and have favor in their eyes. Sometimes they use their craftiness for good and other times for evil, whatever reason they have for such action usually impacting the story and its characters immensely. In The Thousand and One Nights tale, the deceitfulness of women impacts the story from the beginning to the end. Every good and bad thing that occurred in†¦show more content†¦However, instead he discovers how cunning and devious women can truly be. During his trip he met a demon’s wife who had slept with one-hundredth men, including him and his brother, Shahzaman, right in the demon’s presences without him knowing. From that point on the fate of many women changed, because King Shahrayar vowed to never have anything to do with a woman for more than a night. He went on a killing rampage; every woman who slept with him for the night was immediately killed at dawn. Since it was the cunning of women that caused him to start practicing such an abominable lifestyle, it was that same cunningness that unknowingly changed him. Greatly disturbed by the king’s practice, Shahrazad, the king’s vizier’s daughter, devised a plan that she hoped would save her and many other women. For a thousand and one nights, she told the king numerous tales and through those nights he changed gradually. Not for once did he noticed the passing of each night, he was so hooked in the tales that were being told to him that the thought of him being trick did not crossed his mind. At the end instead commanding the death of Shahrazad, he instead thanked and blessed her several times. Yes, great is truly the cunning of women (The Thousand and One Nights, 413). This quote can be related to many other works of literature. One thing is true for sure; as long as a woman character is present in a story one should expect deceitful and craftiness. InShow MoreRelatedThe Role Of Women In Literature1587 Words   |  7 Pagesfeelings that they have. Majority of the time these feelings are expressed through literature. An example is the archetypes that can be found throughout literature. In the British Middle Ages, the people were grouped into different social classes using the feudal system. Society was mainly broken into two separate groups, the nobles, and the peasants. However, there was also a subset group, which maintained the women. Women were the lowest of the low because they were considered to be evil because ofRead MoreWomen s Role For Literature887 Words   |  4 PagesWomen’s role in Literature The role of women in the society is always questioned and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was extremely negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfill domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: â€Å"During the first half of the 19th century, womenRead MoreThe Role of Women in Medieval Literature1344 Words   |  5 Pagesfaith when interpreting medieval English literature like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales (Morgan 265). Heng concurs that there are textual assumptions that we now recognize, with the unfair judgment of hindsight, as implicated in a fantasy of textual closure and command, (500). The privilege of hindsight, does, however, offer the opportunity to explore the connections between historical social codes and those e mbedded in the literature of the corresponding epoch. The seekingRead More Roles of Women in Literature Essay518 Words   |  3 Pages The Realm of Women in Literature nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;â€Å"So it is naturally with the male and the female; the one is superior, the other inferior; the one governs, the other is governed; and the same rule must necessarily hold good with respect to all mankind.† This quote, spoken by the famous Aristotle, proves to be timeless. The words express knowledge concerning gender that proves to be centuries ahead of its time. Aristotle however, may not have even realized the amount of truth expressedRead MoreRole of Women in Literature Essay2336 Words   |  10 PagesThe Representation of Women in Literature br brThe role of women in society is constantly questioned and for centuries women have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. Literature provides a window into the lives, thoughts and actions of women during certain periods of time in a fictitious form, yet often truthful in many ways. Ernest Hemmingways Hills like White Elephants, D.H. Lawrences The Horse Dealers D aughter and William Faulkners A Rose forRead MoreGender Roles Of Women s Literature1661 Words   |  7 Pageswhich gender roles are portrayed in children’s literature significantly contributes to the development of our youth’s understanding of their own gender’s role and how they are perceived by society. It is important for children to understand gender roles because gender roles are an essential cog in the perpetual machine that develops our society, but these cogs have been replaced with newer, more up-to-date cogs over recent years, so to speak. As society has changed, so has the typical role that eachRead MoreRole Of Women During Greek Literature1526 Words   |  7 PagesThe role of women in Greek literature has demoralized them and showing them in a maligned light. The women are portrayed as frail, cruel, insensitive, or as seductresses. These characteristics have been integrated into today’s society and [have] built the standards and defined the moral outlook of women. However, in Greek mythology, powerful and strong women are not as well celebrated, such as Athena. Homer’s The Odyssey construes the positive and negative role of women through the epic poem. TheRead MoreWomen s Literature : Oppression And The Role Of A Woman971 Words   |  4 PagesEvan Rhodes Survey of World Literature December 1, 2014 Hartmann Women in Literature: Oppression and the Role of a Woman In early literature, men dominated the writers’ circuit. As literature began, it was used as an easily digestible way to promote social norms and moral code. In these texts, the role of women changes vastly depending on the culture, although there is a common theme: women exist to belong to a man. Women were not only oppressed in life, but their struggle is weaved into all ofRead MoreRole Of Women And Motherhood Through Modern Literature883 Words   |  4 PagesThe Role of Women and Motherhood through Modern Literature Gertrude Stein’s story The Gentle Lena in Three Lives reaffirms the expectations of women set out by society, yet the main character Lena challenges the role of women in the workforce, marriage, and motherhood. Lena’s gentle, sweet, patient and servant-like behavior affirms the way society saw women. Women had no voice as to what to expect from their lives and for many their greatest aspiration was to be a mother. Lena’s life just likeRead MoreThe Evolution of the Role of Women in British and American Literature1808 Words   |  8 Pagesdegrading† (McEwan 55-56). Throughout the history of literature women have been viewed as inferior to men, but as time has progressed the idealistic views of how women perceive themselves has changed. In earlier literature women took the role of being the â€Å"housewife† or the household caretaker for the family while the men provided for the family. Women were hardly mentioned in the workforce and always held a s pot under their husband’s wing. Women were viewed as a calm and caring character in many stories

African American Injustice Free Essays

â€Å"In the eyes of white Americans, being black encapsulates your identity. † In reading and researching the African American cultural group, this quote seemed to identify exactly the way the race continues to still be treated today after many injustices in the past. It is astonishing to me that African Americans can still stand to be treated differently in today’s society. We will write a custom essay sample on African American Injustice or any similar topic only for you Order Now In reading â€Å"Blacks in America†, Andrew Hacker states that â€Å"being black in America has consequences in areas of: wealth, identity, raising children, occupational opportunities, place of residence, and treatment in the criminal justice system. † To be honest, and I feel bad saying that I already knew this was happening to African Americans. I have heard stories of blacks not getting jobs; regardless of how qualified they are for the position, because of the color of their skin. I have heard stories, and even witness black children getting picked on in school because of the simple fact that they are black.I watched a video in school where a black family moved into a white neighborhood, and before long all the white families had moved out because they didn’t want a black family in their neighborhood. This was confirmed by Hacker in my research in the quote, â€Å"Almost all residential areas are entirely black or white. † I have also seen videos of African American men getting beaten by white arresting officers, and have heard stories of many black men being stereotyped by policemen. This must be why Hacker states â€Å"When white people hear the cry, â€Å"the police are coming! it almost always means, â€Å"Help is on the way. † However blacks cannot make the same assumption. † These are all reports and events that I think the average American has seen before, but yet most people, including myself, continue to just shrug of and ignore. I guess it’s something that I might have subconsciously accepted, or maybe refused to think more deeply about. In reading and researching, I reaffirmed knowledge that I refused to take a greater note of. I wouldn’t say I learned anything new, because I new what I wanted to focus on. A quote from Andrew Hacker’s article summarizes the above best, â€Å"In the eyes of white Americans, being black encapsulates your identity. † It may be easy to tell how I am going to focus this anthology. I am going to focus it on the injustices that African Americans continue to face in the United States today. That being, I know exactly what I need to get out of my interviewees, but it is probably a sensitive subject for some of the people I need to interview.I am not black, and I don’t know what it feels like to face this discrimination in everyday life. I can understand the tenderness that African Americans must feel then, when revealing and talking about their experiences with discrimination. I would think then, that it must be especially sensitive to talk about with a person from the race that they receive this everyday discrimination. It will be interesting to hear all the different types of prejudice that my interviewees have received throughout their lives.I would imagine that it ranges from just a look, or the way white Americans act around them, to voiced and physical altercations between themselves and white Americans. Hacker at times seems to be speaking directly to African Americans as he describes these altercations, â€Å"So many of the contacts you have with them (w hite Americans) are stiff and uneasy, hardly worth the effort. † But to me, that is exactly what the problem is. Why would it not be worth the effort?The first step to take for the uneasiness between the two races to cease to exist is for us (all people) to stop seeing color because once we act differently around the other is where all the problems seem to start. The second step is to make these contacts worth the effort. If we choose to continue to stay in our own comfortable circle of race, when is the problem ever going to end? The answer is never. My opinion as a white 18 year old is that most of the blame lies on the white race.Imagine being eyed every time you go into a store, having your car searched for no reason, or greeted warily at restaurants all because the color of your skin is different. We ignore this daily discrimination because no cares enough anymore to take notice that it happens every hour, every day somewhere in the United States. Will it ever stop? Not until we each take the steps to make it. A recent census commercial I’ve seen said â€Å"We (United States) can’t move forward until you mail it back. † I believe that our country can’t move forward and truly be great until we make sure these daily iscriminations are eliminated from our society. In this project, I will interview African Americans on their personal experiences with discrimination, how they handle it, and if they think anything can be done about this problem.Sources: Andrew. 1999. â€Å"Blacks in America. † Pp. 160-168 in The Meaning of Sociology, 6th ed. , edited by Joel Charon. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. A Time to Kill. Dir. Joel Schumacher. 1996. â€Å"African American History. † University of Washington Libraries. Web. 02 Apr. 2010. . How to cite African American Injustice, Papers

Emancipation Proclamation free essay sample

The Emancipation Proclamation led to the end of slavery, and is one of the most controversial documents in American history. Human slavery was the focus of political conflict in the United States from the 1830s to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861. Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for presidency in 1860, personally abhorred slavery and was pledged to prevent it from spreading to western territories. At the same time he believed that the Constitution did not allow federal government to prohibit slavery in states where it already existed. Abraham Lincoln once said, â€Å"I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me† (McPherson 21). In accordance with his quote, when President Lincoln issued the unprecedented Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, Lincoln freed slaves in the Southern states, but he and his actions were being controlled by Civil War. The Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865 between the Northern states, or the Union, and the Southern states, or the Confederacy. On September 22, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln put forth a Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (Tackach 45). The document stated that after January 1, 1863, slaves belonging to all Southern states that were still in rebellion would be free (Tackach 45). However, the Emancipation Proclamation had no immediate effect; slavery was not legally prohibited until the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1865, about three years after the Emancipation Proclamation was decreed (Tackach 9-10). If the Emancipation Proclamation did not completely abolish slavery, what was the point of the document? Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was not actually written for the purpose of freeing any slaves. Rather, it was a war tactic to militarily weaken the South, add soldiers to the Union cause, and please abolitionist Northerners. From the start of the Civil War, Lincoln clarified that the goal of the war was not â€Å"`to put down slavery, but to put the flag back,’† and he refused to declare the war as a war over slavery (Brodie 155 as qtd. in Klingaman 75-76). In a letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, in August 1862, Lincoln wrote: â€Å"My paramount object in this struggle is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Tackach 44). Lincoln also refused  to declare that slavery was the Civil War’s main focus because many Whites in the North and in the much-valued Border States would not agree with a war to free slaves since they believed Blacks were inferior to Whites (Wheeler 225-226). The political and military advantages of the Border States made Lincoln reluctant to proclaim the Civil War to be a war about slavery (Wheeler 225-226). Even Jefferson Davis, president of the enemy Confederacy, disagreed with a war about slavery (Wheeler 226). Then why did President Lincoln, in the midst of a war he claimed was not about slavery, issue the Emancipation Proclamation? The Emancipation Proclamation itself answers the question, stating that Lincoln was freeing the Southerners’ slaves, â€Å"upon military necessity† (Klingaman 232). Lincoln freed Southern slaves, â€Å"as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing†¦ rebellion† (Klingaman 231). President Lincoln took advantage of his position as Commander-in-Chief of the United States, as well as his ability to act without Congress’ consent, and issued the Emancipation Proclamation for military reasons (Heinrichs 15). Lincoln knew that the proclamation would prove to be a useful tool of defense during the fierce Civil War. It can only be concluded that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation for somewhat selfish reasons, as to increase the North’s chances of victory in the Civil War. By issuing a document that freed slaves, the North could undoubtedly gain foreign allies, and at the same time deprive the South of their foreign support. Great Britain was supportive of the South’s secession from the Union because Britain relied on the South’s cotton (Tackach 43). Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts claimed to Lincoln that since Great Britain was anti-slavery, if Lincoln would change the Civil War’s main focus to slavery, the abolitionist North would gain Britain’s support (Tackach 43). By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln changed the Civil War’s focal point from secession to slavery, transferring Great Britain’s support from the Confederacy to the Union (Tackach 43). In fact, the original reason why Jefferson Davis did not want the war to revolve around slavery was to prevent loss of support from foreign governments (Wheeler 226). In addition, should the Southern slaves be freed, the South would lose certain advantages that slavery presented them with. Some slave owners forced their slaves to aid the Southern war cause by working for the Confederate army (Tackach 45). Also, slaves tended to their owners’ plantations, allowing the owners to  enlist in the Confederate army without having to worry about their land’s upkeep (Tackach 43). Should the Emancipation Proclamation be issued, the Confederate army would lose beneficial slave labor, resulting in the loss of many soldiers, since many plantation owners would be forced to return home to maintain their land (Tackach 43, 45). Furthermore, the Emancipation Proclamation stated that the United States government would take no action against freed slaves exercising their freedom (Tackach 45). Northerners believed that freed slaves would rise up, rebel and therefore weaken the South with this additional method (Wheeler 227). In most wars, the overall sum of troops has a considerable impact on the war’s outcome. In the Civil War, Lincoln utilized the newly freed slaves and gained a military advantage by allowing them to enlist in the Union army (Tackach 47). Lincoln referred to Blacks fighting for the Union as â€Å"`the great available and yet unavailed of force for restoring the Union’† (Hunt 133). Altogether, 185,000 Blacks fought for the Union army, about ten percent of the total sum of Union troops throughout the Civil War (Tackach 54, Wheeler 255). Over 37,000 former slaves died fighting for the Union army (Heinrichs 28). The amount of enlisted Blacks undoubtedly helped secure the North’s victory in the Civil War. Eventually, Jefferson Davis allowed Blacks to fight in the Confederate army (Wheeler 224-225). But with no records of Blacks’ combat, Davis’ decision to use Black troops came too late (Wheeler 257, 224-225). The South’s lack of Black soldiers and ultimate defeat reflect how advantageous and strategic Black soldiers were in the Civil War. Military advantage was not the only matter persuading Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation; Northerners’ pleas for abolition also influenced Lincoln’s decision to free Southern slaves. In the beginning of the Civil War, Northerners did not actively oppose slavery (Klingaman 21-22 ). But as the war progressed, more and more Northerners began to believe that abolition of slavery went along with defeat of the South (Klingaman 81). One reason for the change of heart was the impact of eyewitness accounts of slavery’s brutality. During the Civil War, many Union soldiers situated in the South witnessed the horrors of slavery and informed their families of the cruelty they had seen . Due to these eyewitness accounts, Northerners sympathized with slaves, leading to increased favor of abolition By January 1862, about half the Union soldiers wanted slavery to be obliterated (Klingaman 92). Many Northerners agreed with Massachusetts clergyman Thomas W. Higginson’s quote that stated, â€Å"`†¦the idea of conquering rebellion without destroying slavery is only to be equaled by the idea of storming hell without disturbing the personal comfort of the devil’† (Klingaman 81). A common statement among Northerners, voiced by an Iowan citizen, proclaimed, â€Å"`I believe that slavery (the worst of all curses) was the sole cause of this Rebellion, and until this cause is removed and slavery abolished, the rebellion will continue to exist’† (McPherson 118). Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to silence such pleas for abolition from Northerners, and because abolitionist sentiment in the North pushed Lincoln to consider abolishing slavery. Lincoln’s dishonest intentions for the Emancipation Proclamation to help the North militarily, and not to eradicate slavery from the United States, were hinted through weaknesses in the act ual Emancipation Proclamation. First of all, the Emancipation Proclamation stated that only those slaves in the Southern states, and not all slaves in the United States, would be freed on January 1, 1863 (Tackach 9-10). Secondly, the Emancipation Proclamation could only legally apply under certain circumstances. The North would have to win the Civil War; should the South win the war and become its own nation, the Emancipation Proclamation would have no legal effect whatsoever (Tackach 9-10). In addition, the Emancipation Proclamation could only become a United States law through an amendment to the Constitution (Tackach 9-10). The wording of the Emancipation Proclamation also displays Lincoln’s halfhearted feelings toward freeing Southerners’ slaves: The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation deemed Southern slaves â€Å"forever free,† but in the actual Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln changed the wording to â€Å"free† (Klingaman 228). The Emancipation Proclamation was not even immediately effective in those areas where it did apply: Some Texan slaves did not hear of their freedom until two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued (Heinrichs 24-25). When Lincoln was signing the Emancipation Proclamation, his hand was shaking uncontrollably (Klingaman 227). Perhaps Lincoln was aware and nervous that he was wrongly freeing slaves for military reasons, and not for the sake of their freedom. Also, Lincoln decreed the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 only to see how the public would react to such a document (Wheeler 227). If Lincoln was issuing the  proclamation for the welfare of slaves, he should not have cared about public opinion. The Emancipation Proclamation achieved very little for the slaves themselves. Lincoln’s Act seemed like both an act of desperation and a selfish document. The reason why the Lincoln did not free Northern slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation was because Lincoln felt he could gain the upper hand militarily in the Civil War without having to free all United States slaves. Lincoln only freed the Southern slaves since those slaves alone would present Lincoln with enough military advantage to boost the Union’s chances of winning the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation wrongly convinced slaves that Lincoln truly cared about their freedom. Lincoln only acted out of concern for his Union, his war, and his place in history.