The History of Transportation

Planes, Trains and Automobiles:

Before every other form of transportation, humans traveled on foot. Can you imagine walking
from New York City to Los Angeles? Fortunately, human beings learned to use animals such as
donkeys, horses and camels for transportation from 4000 BC to 3000 BC. In 3500 BC, the
wheel was invented in Iraq and the first wheel was made from wood. Initially, a canoe-like
structure was used for water transportation, which was built by burning logs and digging out the
burned wood. In 3100BC, the sailing boat was invented by Egyptians while the Romans built
roads across Europe. During the Industrial Revolution, the first modern highway was developed
by John Loudon McAdam.

In the 17th and 18th century, many new modes of transportation were invented such as
bicycles, trains, motor cars, trucks, airplanes, and trams. In 1906, the first car was developed
with an internal combustion engine. Many types of transportation systems such as boats, trains,
airplanes, and automobiles were based on the internal combustion engine.

The three leading automobile companies in the US in the 1920s were General Motors, Chrysler,
and Ford. Furthermore, several styles of automobiles were produced such as the two doors,
small, large, sports cars, and luxury cars. Presently, the latest car models have integrated
improved standardization, computer aided systems, and platform sharing. The modern railroad
system uses remote control for traffic lights and movement of traffic, capable of speeds of more
than 570 km/hr.

Human Power

Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle
power. Like animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time
immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming. Modern technology has allowed
machines to enhance human-power.

Although motorization has increased speed and load capacity, many forms of human-powered
transport remain popular for reasons of lower cost, leisure, physical exercise and
environmentalism. Human-powered transport is sometimes the only type available, especially in
underdeveloped or inaccessible regions.
Animal Power

Animal-powered transport is a broad category of the human use of non-human working animals
(also known as "beasts of burden") for the movement of people and goods.

Animal-powered transport is the use of working animals for the movement of people and
commodities. Humans may ride some of the animals directly, use them as pack animals for
carrying goods, or harness them, alone or in teams, to pull sleds or wheeled vehicles.

Wind Power

Wind-powered vehicles derive their power from sails, kites or rotors and ride on wheels—which
may be linked to a wind-powered rotor—or runners. Whether powered by sail, kite or rotor,
these vehicles share a common trait: As the vehicle increases in speed, the advancing airfoil
encounters an increasing apparent wind at an angle of attack that is increasingly smaller. At the
same time, such vehicles are subject to relatively low forward resistance, compared with
traditional sailing craft. As a result, such vehicles are often capable of speeds exceeding that of
the wind.

Rotor-powered examples have demonstrated ground speeds that exceed that of the wind, both
directly into the wind and directly downwind by transferring power through a drive train between
the rotor and the wheels. The wind-powered speed record is by a vehicle with a sail on it,
Greenbird, with a recorded top speed of 202.9 kilometers per hour (126.1 mph).

Other wind-powered conveyances include sailing vessels that travel on water, and balloons and
sailplanes that travel in the air, all of which are beyond the scope of this article.

History of Roads

The assertion that the first pathways were the trails made by animals has not been universally
accepted; in many cases animals do not follow constant paths. Some believe that some roads
originated from following animal trails. The Icknield Way may exemplify this type of road
origination, where human and animal both selected the same natural line. By about 10,000 BC
human travelers used rough roads/pathways.

The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt some time between 2600 and
2200 BC.

Stone- paved streets appear in the city of Ur in the Middle East dating back to 4000 BC.

Corduroy roads (log roads) are found dating to 4000 BC in Glastonbury, England.

The Sweet Track, a timber track causeway in England, is one of the oldest engineered roads
discovered and the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe. Built in winter 3807
BC or spring 3806 BC, (tree-ring dating – dendrochronology – enabled very precise dating). It
was claimed to be the oldest road in the world until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old
trackway in Plumstead, London.

Brick-paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC.

c. 1995 BC: an early subdividing of roadways evidenced with sidewalks built in Anatolia.

In 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for the Achaemenid Empire
(Persia), including the Royal Road, which was one of the finest highways of its time,connecting
Sardis (the westernmost major city of the empire) to Susa. The road remained in use after
Roman times. These road systems reached as far east as Bactria and India.

In ancient times, transport by river was far easier and faster than transport by road, especially
considering the cost of road construction and the difference in carrying capacity between carts
and river barges. A hybrid of road transport and ship transport beginning in about 1740 is the
horse-drawn boat in which the horse follows a cleared path along the river bank.

From about 312 BC, the Roman Empire built straight[33] strong stone Roman roads throughout
Europe and North Africa, in support of its military campaigns. At its peak the Roman Empire was
connected by 29 major roads moving out from Rome and covering 78,000 kilometers or 52,964
Roman miles of paved roads.

In the 8th century AD, many roads were built throughout the Arab Empire. The most
sophisticated roads were those in Baghdad, which were paved with tar. Tar was derived from
petroleum, accessed from oil fields in the region, through the chemical process of destructive
distillation.

The Highways Act 1555 in Britain transferred responsibility for maintaining roads from
government to local parishes. This resulted in a poor and variable state of roads. To remedy
this, the first of the turnpike trusts was established around 1706, to build good roads and collect
tolls from passing vehicles. Eventually there were approximately 1,100 trusts in Britain and
some 36,800 km (22,870 miles) of engineered roads. The Rebecca Riots in Carmarthenshire
and Rhayader from 1839 to 1844 contributed to a Royal Commission that led to the demise of
the system in 1844,[35] which coincided with the development of the UK railway system.

In the late-19th century roading engineers began to cater for cyclists by building separate lanes
alongside roadways.

History of Vehicles

The early history of the automobile can be divided into a number of eras, based on the prevalent
means of propulsion. Later periods were defined by trends in exterior styling, size, and utility
preferences.
In 1769 the first steam-powered automobile capable of human transportation was built by
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.

In 1808, François Isaac de Rivaz designed the first car powered by the de Rivaz engine, an
internal combustion engine that was fueled by hydrogen.

In 1870 Siegfried Marcus built the first gasoline powered combustion engine, which he placed
on a pushcart, building four progressively more sophisticated combustion-engine cars over a
10-to-15-year span that influenced later cars. Marcus created the two-cycle combustion engine.
[citation needed] The car's second incarnation in 1880 introduced a four-cycle, gasoline-
powered engine, an ingenious carburetor design and magneto ignition. He created an additional
two models further refining his design with steering, a clutch and a brake.

The four-stroke petrol (gasoline) internal combustion engine that still constitutes the most
prevalent form of modern automotive propulsion was patented by Nikolaus Otto. The similar
four-stroke diesel engine was invented by 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 Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838. The battery electric car owes its
beginnings to Ányos Jedlik, one of the inventors of the electric motor, and Gaston Planté, who
invented the lead–acid battery in 1859.

In 1885, Karl Benz developed a petrol or gasoline powered automobile.[3] This is also
considered to be the first "production" vehicle as Benz made several other identical copies. The
automobile was powered by a single cylinder four-stroke engine[citation needed].

In 1913, the Ford Model T, created by the Ford Motor Company five years prior, became the
first automobile to be mass-produced on a moving assembly line. By 1927, Ford had produced
over 15,000,000 Model T automobiles.