Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/387

MOTOR VEHICLE system by gravity. The cycle is usually equipped with a magneto for ignition, though the motor-generator battery system has a wide following, and some of the late models are provided with electric self-starters, and a light clutch is generally provided, and even a variable speed gear is not unusual.

While the motor cycle does not give the comfort and protection of the auto- mobile, the advantages of lower first cost and smaller upkeep, the high speed which may be attained, and the ease with which it may be handled, are important factors. With the side car attachment it is much used commercially for parcel delivery, or for family touring, and for dispatch work and transporting light articles it played an important part in the World War.

MOTOR VEHICLE, a wagon or carriage carrying a motor or engine which furnishes power for locomotion of the wagon upon the roads or highways, without a track.

The two general classes into which motor vehicles are divided are those which are designed to move freight, usually called trucks, and those which are used for passenger transportation, which are called cars.

The early steam engine suggested a mechanically propelled road machine. Sir Isaac Newton proposed such a machine as early as 1680, while comparatively successful models were built in England by Nathan Read in 1790, and by Nicholas James Cugnot in France at the same time. One of Cugnot's early models is still preserved by the French Govern-ment.

The early part of the 19th century saw the development of the steam coach in England. The work of Walter Hancock between the years 1824 and 1836 was a great factor in the early development of this type of vehicle. He first perfected a type of boiler lighter for its power than those then existing, and then made a three-wheeled carriage, the engine being located above and directly connected to the single front wheel. In the next model, produced by Hancock, the engine turned a shaft and power was supplied to two rear wheels by chains. The carriage was steered by the single front wheel. Various other models were brought forth by Hancock, each new model bringing out new ideas and improvements on the old type of construction. The more improved models were used for passenger service, and for over twenty weeks regular service was maintained between Islington and Stratford.

Sir Charles Dance and Goldsworthy Gurney made a coach in which the engine was suspended underneath the body of the coach, and the power supplied the driving wheels by a machine not unlike the crank arrangement of a modern locomotive. Gurney developed the coach

itself, while the work of Dance was the improvement of the water-tube boiler. Some of these early models required a crew of three or four men, weighed eight to ten tons, carried eighteen or twenty passengers, and had driving wheels five feet in diameter. Progress at this time was hindered by the enactment of various restraining road regulations. Some years later various types of electric carriages, which carried a storage battery supplying power to a small motor, were operated with more or