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first land vehicle
American Oliver Evans receives the first US patent for a steam-powered land vehicle. -
steam powered carriage
In Great Britain, inventor Richard Trevithick builds a steam powered road carriage. It is considered to be the first tramway locomotive. It is designed for use on road, not railroad. -
combustion engine(with separate combustion)
English engineer and inventor English engineer and inventor Samuel Brown invents an internal combustion engine. It has separate combustion and working cylinders, and is used to power a vehicle. -
horseless carriage
Belgian engineer Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir invents the “horseless carriage.”This is the first commercially successful internal combustion engine. -
first U.S. patent for an automobile
American inventor George Baldwin files the first U.S. Patent for an automobile. This invention is more similar to a wagon with an internal combustion engine. -
invention of the gasoline engine carriage
German engine designer Karl Benz builds the first true automobile powered by a gasoline engine. It has three wheels and looked similar to a carriage. -
first four-wheeled automobile
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach invent the first four-wheeled, four-stroke engine in Germany. It is known as the “Cannstatt-Daimler.” -
first car in the U.S.
Brothers Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea invent the first successful gas-powered car in the United States. -
Ford's Model T
Ford’s Model T production rockets from 7.5 cars per hour to 146 cars per hour, thanks to the utilization of the assembly line. -
Period: to
from seatbelts to airbags
Wisconsin becomes the first state to create a seat belt law. It calls for the seatbelt to be a standard requirement in automobile. Air bags become a new car safety option. New York state becomes the first state with a law requiring the use of seatbelts -
The 2000s
Many vehicle manufacturers begin to abandon once popular gas-guzzling SUVs for more efficient vehicles due to environmental concerns and the recession.
