Few days ago I had to take quite a long trip to visit my grandparents, it was quite a distance from school and I had to take this trip by road, I had so wished I could just buy a plane ticket to my doorstep, (meet a guy who gets bored taking road trips, wish he built an airport every where he visits). Reminiscing, it hit me, there actually existed a time when to take such a trip, it definitely counts for number of days, weeks and even months, that not bringing to terms the energy spent walking this distance, I wouldn't dare take such :) .
Source : Pixabay
Now we are in the age of fast cars, planes and stunning inventions, have you asked how we got here ? , Humans And Evolution.
My few days on the platform got me visiting blogs like @zest who is doing quite a great job with respect to our history but we still have a lot to learn because according to the words of a great man,
We Are Not Makers Of History, We Are Made By History - Martin Luther King Jr
This is quite a lengthy piece on how we came to be where we are today with respect to road transportation, I believe that by reading this, it will build the need to impact to humanity in your various fields, so grab a cup of coffee let's ride along.
How The Tale Began
The evolution of road transportation began when man had the need for the creation of tracks, now you can begin to imagine, it emanated from the need to walk in a path when moving from one place to another, just like it was noticed that as men walked the world, paths were created in areas of high density of traffic.
When the domestication of animals began in the human evolution, this saw animals like the donkey, oxen and horses being used to convey goods from place to place, hence these animals became a major element in the creation of tracks, this evolved with increased trading between communities as these created tracks were worked on such that they were made flat and wider, able to accommodate large number of people and animals during trade movements.
The Travois, The Brain At Work
The movement form place to place on land was followed by the the creation of travois which was by then actually a huge movement to the future. A travois is structure which was made by ancient men to be used to move goods and people from place to place by the concept of dragging them on land, through paths created.
A typical horse travois use
The construction of travois began with the travois meant for dogs for carrying of loads, (the dogs were actually used for conveying goods before horses), when on a travois movement, the dogs were capable of pushing loads within the range of 20-30 kg with respect to weight, but though this increase the pace of movement, this means of transportation was slow most especially in hot weather.
This continued till the horses were used for transportation, hence the dog travois was seen to have given way to the horse travois which brought about an increased power since the horse was better at loads. The construction was either an A shape travois or a H shaped, fixed to the horse which move dragging it along, this was a huge improvement to the evolution of transportation as the travois was used for quite an extent in human evolution, in fact, some deep markings of the trail made by this travois can be seen even till today, but the brain works far more than that, the evolution continues.
Transportation on sledge
After the travois followed the construction of the ancient sledge which where not only an advancement in human thinking with respect to transportation but the beginning of free movement on land. The sledge was quite difficult to construct than the travois but a great achievement in making things easier as the sledge was an easier driven construction than the travois.
This is a land vehicle which have its underside smooth, the sledge is a narrow runner, longitudinal in construction which travels from place to place by sliding over a surface. They were seen to be easier driven on snow or ice surface but early days found driving on any low friction surface which include a smooth sand surface or a wet grass easier.
They were used for the transportation of goods and passengers. The sledge was said to be used first by the Ancient Egyptians in public work construction from transportation, they were very useful then since they can be drawn on muddy roads or a hard ground by either greasing with oil or by making them wet but during the winter, they glide more easily.
Though the introduction of the wheel transport system, transportation by sledge have been seen to evolve over the years producing high speed sledge through Plains covered with snow, but most importantly they were a break through in road transport.
The Wheel, A Dawn Of A New Age
The introduction if the wheel in the transport system was quite an ice breaker in the movement from on place to another.
The Introduction of the wheel changed the music
The wheel has its origination in Mesopotamia in the Ancient Summer, an origination dated 5000BC where it was used in pottery construction, incorporation to the transport system began as an attachment to the ancient travois and sledge which was a huge advancement in the reduction of frictional resistance faced by these early machines.
Before the development of the wheel, it was argued that logs of wood were used under the sledge as a roller but there have been no evidence with respect to archeology to prove the theory.
Early wheels used were fixed to axels and for movement would have required a form of lubrication of which the use of animal fat, vegetable oil or leather separation was effective to an extent.
This evolution of the wheel started with a simple cart which was developed for the travois, this was a two wheel cart which was driven by onagers which are related to the donkeys.
The development of wagons of four wheel was dated back to 2500BC and this wagon was suitable to be driven by an oxen and mainly used in areas which are mainly crop cultivators but this wheels were not spoked yet, they were made of wood and evolution saw the spoked wheel to be developed in 2000BC which was done by the Andronovo culture.
Roads For Driving
Transportation by wheel brought about the need, then came the need to develop good and better roads for transportation, this roads must be strong enough, able to withstand loads and must not degrade even in wet climates to last quite a while .
The building of roads began with the building of streets with stones which saw the first stone paved Street to be the built in 4000BC at Urine. This was followed by the Corduroy which was constructed in Glastonbury and in early 3000BC Bricked paved roads were constructed in Indus Valley.
As metallurgy improved, this was seen to have a strong effect in the improvement of cutting tools, a huge impact to stone cutting in 2000BC and around that period saw the building of a distance of 50 kilometers pave road with side drains, this road was about 200 millimeters thick and was made of sand Stone which were bounded with clay and coated with basaltic flagstone, then, this type of road was considered more superior to the Roman roads.
The Roman Roads.
The Romans are well known in history to have great impact in the evolution of humans, and their impact also spanned across road building. As the Roman Empire emerged, the need for its armies to move from one place to another quickly emerged, roads existing then were known to always be muddy giving the vast troops of the Roman Empire quit a troubled to move on, hence as a solution to this problem, the Romans ventured into building great roads for movement.
A Typical Roman Road
This evolution of good roads would not be complete without mentioning the Roman roads as these roads were notable, they designed this roads with crushed stones and an underlying layer which was used to make this road capable of draining water rather than becoming mud, enough were put into roads built by the Romans for efficiency.
Roads which were traveled on a regular base were noticed to be built in layers and built with sided capstone which reduced dust in the roads and also reduced the drag on the wheels hence chariots were quick on travel for good communication across all the Roman province.
The Modern Road
The evolution which led to the macadam road saw roads which were suitable for movement of horses, coaches but these roads were seen to be of a dusty nature and very vulnerable to erosion, then came the advocate for good road by the league of American Bicyclists hence the macadam roads needed something new.
Then came the stabilization of roads with tar when John Henry patented the Pitch Macadam method of road construction which involves covering with tar, placing a macadam on top of that and doing a final finishing with tar and sand mixture.
The modern tarmac system of road construction was brought by Engr. Edgar Purnell Hooley after he made an observation that spilled tar brought down the dustiness of roads and made a smoother surface, then came the tarmac in 1901 which
involved mixing tar with aggregate and laying the mixture down and after which compacting the layer down using a steamroller. Modification followed later through adding pitch, the resin and also the Portland cement.
Some Major Inventions That Broke The Ice
1662 - The Horse Bus
This was a large enclosed construction which was such that it was drawn by a horse, this omnibus as termed was used largely for transportation form place to place by man before the motor vehicles were brought into the picture, and it took over the 19th century being a very common means of transport in cities.
This inventory it is made of two benches constructed with wood which was used for sitting by passengers inside facing each other while it's driver sits on another bench facing front.
What his invention looked like
After launch by Pascal, it was quite a Carriage and quite popular too until it's fare was increased making it sort of a thing for only high members of the community and after 15 years, the service was ceased but this showed the light for the bus Carriage service to man
1769 - First Working Steam Wagon
Nicholas Joseph cognot was an engineer who introduced what is known as the first steam wagon which was debuted to the French army.
This was a two wheel chart which was used for transporting heavy loads. This vehicle was a tricycle layout type which has a front steerable wheel and 2 rear wheels. There were evidence that this vehicle ran and hence it was recorded as the first to do such but this dream was killed as this vehicle could not meet specifications given by the French Army.
The First Working Steam Wagon
It was recorded to have ran for a speed of 4 km/h.
1803 - The London Steam Carriage
Before the construction of the London Steam Carriage in 1803 Richard Trevithick first constructed an experiment steam vehicle having a vertical cylinder and a firebox, it was said to have weighed 1520kg on full load and had a speed of 14.5km/h, but unfortunately, it self destruct. The invention gave rise to the London Steam Carriage.
Not much was recorded with respect to this Carriage but it was known to be the first steam vehicle for passengers, it's wheels were recorded to be about 8 foot with respect to its diameter so as to avoid it's fire from going out due to shaking on bad roads
After completion of this invention the steam Carriage was driven 16km on the Street of London with about eight passengers and a high speed of 14.5 km/h was recorded for this invention.
The London Steam Carriage
Unfortunately the carriage did not last long as it was crashed by Trevithick which saw to the destruction of the truck, due to lack of interest from individuals and the fact that he lacked financial resources after the crash his invention was not moved further for mass production.
1818 - The Dandy Horse
In, 1818,the first vehicle to go on two wheel was developed by Karl Davis which ultimately opened the door to the construction of what you now know as the bicycle it was called the laufmachine by its Inventor.
This is that which gave basis to the construction of the bicycle, the Dandy horse as it was called was made of two wheels which were in line and it's movement is brought to play by human propulsion with the feet either running or walking.
During its popularity in 1819 the dandy horse was owned by many manufacturers.
A view of the Dandy Horse, it was quit an invention
This was preferred to be hauled in a very smooth surfaces.
1885- The Benz Patent Motorwagen(An Introduction To The Modern Vehicle )
This began the road for cars, the Benz Motorwagen was introduce by Benz in the year 1886 and this saw 25 of this invention built seven years later.
This was known to be the first motor vehicle the world was introduced to as it was made to be runner with an internal combustion engine. After the successful development of a two stroke engine its was now time to shock the world with an invention.
This invention was an automobile with its engine at the rear, it was an automobile with three wheel. It involved many inventions which were not yet known to man. Featuring construction made with steel tubes and wood, it's spokes for wheels were steel and quite solid tyres which were designed by Benz.
Features of this invention are a live axel, chain drives were used at the back and transmission of speed was done by a belt mechanism.
Pixabay: The Benz Patent Motor wagen, A breakthrough to modern cars
The Benz patented Motorwagen was a four stroke internal combustion engine and it was known for speed range of 250-400 Rpm with weight about 100kg
Today And Tomorrow
It's amazing the long journey we took to come to where we are now, like have you imagine yourself in those phases of life, wait a minute, I just did and it wasn't worthwhile, even a bit, but we are here now, on the verge of awesome speed cars but just as they say, the evolution of man is just at its beginning.
The cars we met yesterday are no where compared to what we have today, furthermore, everything about this cars are always considered for innovation including their power systems, their drive system and lots more, let me do a little debut on how the future of cars will be like.
The Future Of Fueling : These days, cars are moving more to the electric world, according to cars expert, the dawn when electric cars will hit the market like a storm is just by the corner
Before now, electric cars which will come to mind when the car world is mentioned are either the EV which was known to be of low cost or something which can last longer like the Tesla but today we have seen the introduction of cars like the Chevrolet Bolt, known to go a whopping 238 miles on charge but we are still expecting more, like can the ideas ever stop coming ?.
Pixabay: The Age Of The Electric Cars
Also these companies are already in the building of charging networks so as to charge these cars on Highways as this will answer the question of how long can you travel with an electric car.
The Future Of Driving: Before now, if I were to ask my grandfather if a car will ever drive itself, I think he will probably say it's impossible and back it up with some strong reasons and I won't even dream of arguments with him, but the advancement in the computer world has shown to light the self driving car technology, these cars make use of sensors and intriguing softwares to achieve this.
Today, some companies like the GM, Volkswagen, Nissan and high technology firms like the Waymo are currently running test on introduced self driving technologies in urban areas and they have also promised to bring cars which can as well replicate what can be done by human drivers without any form of flaw and I think perfection is just around the corner for self driving cars, what a dream come true.
What Will Owning A Car Look Like In The Nearest Future
It's funny how it sounds that some years back owning cars was meant for the rich and the rich alone, if you went through the innovations that broke the ice above,then you came across the first omnibus which instantly turned into something for the upper class, but is that to be said for today?.
Today have seen many getting comfortable with driving cars not owned by them as the chart of car leasing have been seen to rise steeply in the last few years, car companies now offers subscription services, car riding companies like Uber are now a common means of transportation, hence the end to car ownership is just close by as engineering and technology takes over the world, and the question which is left unasked is, How Are you contributing to this change ?.
Words Of An Engineer
I have always wanted to take this journey through our history with like minded individuals and this article is quite a dream come true, we have seen that the world is on quite an evolution and as humanity is concerned, it's not stopping and records won't stop being broken. Will like you guys to see this debut to the engineering of self driving technology, quite an achievement.
I saw a video of a kid asking for the car keys, quite hilarious, I just laughed and wondered, if only he had known that there was once a time when to drive a car then you need somebody at its back of it to keep it moving, he might probably run from the thought of driving at an early age, but will you blame him, it's the world he met.
Now I would like to state the purpose of this article, one thing should not be forgotten, one thing should keep ringing in us, and that is, all these we enjoy today didn't just fall from the sky, they were brought from the imaginations of individuals to reality hence, we should try as much as possible to contribute to our fields in ways possible.
The world will remain stagnant if we leave it how we met it, we as engineers, scientists, doctors, members of the steemstem community in general should have our aims towards what we can achieve with respect to our field of study, the ideas won't stop coming, we just have to bring them to reality.
For The Love Of Engineering, For The Love Of Technology and Innovation, For The Love Of The Human Brain.
Join me next week on another exciting edition of Humans And Evolution,Will be sharing ... ** (Don't feel like spoiling the fun) **, it's amazing how we got to where we are now, it's more amazing what the future holds for our race.
REFERENCES
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The Travois , The Sledge, The Wheel, The Horse Bus, Benz Motor Wagon, The Dandy Horse, The London Steam Carriage,