My Science School

               The introduction of the safe bicycle led to the invention of the motorcycle. The very first steam powered motorcycle was made in the 1860s by Pierre Michaux, a blacksmith in Paris. Those motorcycles were called the Michaux-Perreaux Steam   Velocipede.

               A German, Gottlieb Daimler invented the first petrol engine motorcycle in 1885. The modern day motorcycle design is adopted from a model made by Eugene and Michel Werner. Their motocyclette was exhibited in 1897.

               However, the German-built Hildebrand & Wolfmuller motorcycle was the first motorized, two-wheeled vehicle sold to the public.

               Hildebrand & Wolfmuller was also the first company to refer to the vehicle as a ‘motorcycle’.

               In the early 1950s the NSU Company in Germany started producing the evergreen motorcycles called mopeds.

               Motor scooters first appeared in Italy in 1946 and the first one was Vespa.

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            From the 1820s onwards, vehicles similar to buses were used by men. For example, horse drawn carriages were quite popular during those days. During the 1830s steam buses were introduced. Electric trolleybuses came into use from 1882. The first motor buses, using internal combustion engines, rather than steam power, entered service in 1895.

            The first mechanically propelled omnibus appeared on the streets of London on 22nd April, 1833. These vehicles were much less likely to overturn; they travelled faster than horse-drawn carriages. They were much cheaper to run, and caused much less damage to the road surface due to their wide tyres.

            Carl Benz had produced a motorized bus as early as 1895. In the same year, he started operating a regular line service on the 15 km route between Siegen and Deutz in Germany. Frank Searle designed the first mass-produced, double-decker bus. It was operated by the London General Omnibus Company. Contemporary buses began to evolve from the 1950s onwards.

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            Karl Benz, a German mechanical engineer, designed and built the first practical car (three wheeled) powered by an internal-combustion engine, in 1885. He is often known as the inventor of the modern car.

            During the next year, he conducted a public demonstration. Benz was the first to offer his vehicle for sale in 1887.

            One of the most important landmarks in engine design came from Nicolaus Otto who in 1876 invented an effective gas motor engine.

            In 1913, the Ford Model T, created by the Ford Motor Company, became the first automobile to be mass-produced on a moving assembly line. This was the car that launched the era of popular motoring and in 1920 it became the first car to sell a million.

            The first motor car in Europe was produced by the company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau.

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            A steam boat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. It soon became popular. However, boats powered by a petrol engine were only introduced in the 19th century.

            This was achieved following the invention of the internal combustion engine. The earliest boat to be powered by a petrol engine was tested on the Neckar River by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1886.

            It is said that the first powerboat was designed and built by the Priestman Brothers in Hull, England. The company began trials of their first motorboat in 1888. Priestman’s boats were used to tow cargo along canals.

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