The world’s first steam-propelled vehicle was built by a little-known French inventor named Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.
Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot was born in Void-Vacon, Lorraine, in 1725 and trained as a military engineer. Commissioned by the army to develop a steam-powered vehicle to pull cannons, Cugnot created a working miniature version in 1769. In 1770, he introduced a full-scale steam-powered vehicle he called the Fardier à vapeur, according to Amusing Planet.
This vehicle was modeled after the Fardier, a large two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage used to transport very heavy equipment such as gun barrels. In place of a horse at the front, a third wheel was used, supporting a large copper boiler and transmission mechanism. Cugnot was one of the first to successfully implement a device that converted the reciprocating motion of a steam piston into rotary motion through a ratchet arrangement, which was used to drive the front wheels.
The Fardier à vapeur could travel at speeds of more than 2 miles per hour, but it needed to be refueled with wood and burned every 15 minutes, so the vehicle had to come to a complete stop. It was also unstable due to poor weight distribution, a serious disadvantage for a vehicle designed to travel over rough terrain and climb steep hills. In addition, the efficiency of the steam boiler was particularly poor, even by the standards of the time. In 1771, during a test run, Cugnot drove his vehicle straight into a stone wall, making the inventor the first person to be involved in an accident involving a motor vehicle. The story goes further, with Cugnot arrested and charged with dangerous driving.
After several tests, the French army abandoned the project. However, the development was so impressive that King Louis XV awarded Cugnot a pension of 600 livres a year. However, the French Revolution broke out and the pension was cut. The inventor moved to Brussels and lived in poverty. Shortly before Cugnot’s death, Napoleon Bonaparte restored his pension. Cugnot eventually returned to Paris and died on October 2, 1804.
The Fardier à vapeur carriage survived the war and is on display at the Museum of French Arts and Crafts in Paris. In 2010, a replica of the car was built by students at ParisTech school. A copy that works perfectly proves the value of the design. Today, this replica remains in Cugnot’s village in Void-Vacon.