Genius Transportation Inventions: From the Wheel to Spacecraft

Genius Transportation Inventions: From the Wheel to Spacecraft — page 3
OFF WE GO Spoked wheel 2000 BCE We humans are natural wanderers but for tens of thousands of years our ancestors moved on foot They had no other means of transport not at least until they had tamed wild animals Early humans domesticated the horse for example about 6,000 years ago Many years later they invented the wheel which led to carts and chariots They also harnessed the wind to power sailing vessels so they could cross oceans The most dramatic revolutions in transport have come in the last two centuries with the development of the steam engine and internal-combustion engine They powered boats trains cars and aircraft These inventions brought benefi ts speed comfort but also problems such as pollution Did you know by the way that cars were fi rst seen as a clean alternative to horse-drawn transport That’s because the tons of horse droppings in city streets attracted fl ies which spread disease Now of course we’re choking on exhaust fumes and looking for alternative powers such as electricity Even the Bate car invented by British chicken farmer Harold Bate in 1971 looks like a healthier idea it ran on animal droppings Internal-combustion engine 1850s 6