The Automobile

An automobile is a self-propelled vehicle, which is used for the transportation of passengers and cargo upon the ground.

Vehicle is a machine, which is used for the transportation of passengers and cargo. Vehicle consists of two parts, i.e., carriage portion and machine portion.

A self-propelled vehicle is that in which power required for propulsion purposes, is produced from within. Aeroplane, ship, motorboat, locomotive, car, lorry, motorcycle, etc., are examples of self-propelled vehicles.

Motor vehicle is another name for the self-propelled vehicle, i.e., automobile. Motor Vehicle = Vehicle + Motor, i.e, Engine or D.C. Motor Lorries, Trucks, Cars, Motorcycles, Scooters, etc., are different types of motor vehicles or automobiles.

So, an automobile is: a kind of vehicle which is self-propelled and used for the transportation purposes upon the ground. Since an automobile is used upon the ground, so it differs from other types of self-propelled vehicles, i.e., aeroplane, ship, motorboat, locomotive etc.

It has been agreed that the first self-propelled road vehicle was build in 1769-70 A.D. by a Frenchman, Captain Nickolas Cugnot. It was a three-wheeled coach, which was fitted with a steam engine. The coach had a speed of about 4km/h.

In 1866, Otto and Langen, in Germany, designed a more efficient Internal Combustion Engine. This engine was installed in a bicycle. In 1886, Carl Benz built a three-wheeled carriage, which was driven by an internal combustion engine. This vehicle had a speed of 16km/h, which was considered a surprising factor in the history of automobile.

In America, two brothers, Charles and Frank Duryea, produced the first American Gasoline Automobile in 1891.

In 1895, Panhard and Levassor in France developed a car, which incorporated the chief features of the modern automobile.

By 1900, the public fully understood, due to the improved designs of the automobiles, that the new form of transportation was really a practicable thing for use. So by 1906, production and sale of these vehicles became a business. With the the increasing speed of the automobile, the need for a good working suspension grow also, in 1904 William Brush invented an revolutionary suspension system never before assembled together: front coil springs and devices at each wheel that dampened spring bounce – shock absorbers – mounted on a flexible hickory axle.

The old vehicles consisted of metal and wood bodies, kerosene or acetylene lamps and solid tyres which have been replaced by the modern streamlined cars fitted with all metal bodies, electric lamps and low pressure balloon tyres etc..

The modern automobile has become a moving house furnished with every kind of necessaries and with the every new day new developments in the history of the automobile are noticed.

Automobiles can be classified with differt regards, which are as under:

• Group 'A'
  1. Lorries and Trucks,
  2. Cars and Motorcycles
• Group 'B' With regard to the capacity:
  1. Heavy Motor Vehicles or H.T.V. (Heavy Transport Vehicles),
  2. Light Motor Vehicles or L.T.V. (Light Transport Vehicles).
• Group 'C' with regard to the fuel used:
  1. Petrol Vehicles
  2. Diesel Vehicles

Every automobile consists of two main parts, i.e.,

1. Carriage portion, i.e., Body,
2. Machine portion, i.e., Chassis,

These form the main parts of the suspension system which is required in order to provide smooth rolling ability for an automobile.