The ‘Stanley Steamer’ is a cheaper way to get around and can keep this world free from pollution caused by modern automobiles.
In the early days of the history of automobiles, when the gas cars, fuel cars and electric cars were struggling to give the people of the world the first modern automobile, the most popular car was the one that ran on steam. ‘Stanley Steamer’, as it was then called was first invented by Francis E. Stanley and Freelan O. Stanley - identical twins - in the year 1902, and ran on steam.
Stanley Steamer became an instant hit with the public of Kingfield, Maine in USA, where it first hit the road. The steam car had an engine with fifteen moving parts, easy to start, and ran on any fuel that would burn from coal to kerosene. The driver had to light the boiler and wait for water inside the car to heat up, open-up a few valves, sit behind the driving seat waiting for the car to start and go. By the year 1906, it became the world’s first automobile that could cover two miles in one minute, traveling at a speed of 127 miles per hour!
The following year, the Stanley Brothers produced their first racing car, which ran at a speed of 197 miles per hour in a race held in Daytona Beach in Florida. Today, why are the people of the world not driving these cars instead of the fuel guzzlers found on our roads, consuming petrol, diesel and gas and polluting the atmosphere that is slowly leading to global warming in the world? There are several reasons. First, the Stanley Brothers were not the world’s greatest salesmen. They refused to advertise or increase on their yearly production of one thousand cars. People who wished to buy their cars had to pay all the money in cash far ahead in advance and no down payments were accepted as it is done by the present day automobile manufacturers. Moreover, the Stanley Brothers were careful about people to whom they sold the cars. And, if they thought that if any person was incapable of taking good care of their car, the brothers would not sell it to him!
On the other hand, the Stanley Brothers would repair the car free of cost if their customers found something wrong with it. In order to promote their extraordinary car, the Stanley Brothers would drive two cars side by side in a city or town, dressed exactly alike, with long matching beards, looking like two peas in a pod, which made them and their cars a strange sight for people to see!
The Stanley Steamer had a built-in safety device to prevent the boilers in their car from overheating or exploding. The car needed fresh water constantly and needed twenty-five minutes to build up enough steam before it could travel on the road. Later, the Stanley Brothers invented an electric starting device in the year 1911, which would start the car in less than two minutes in any weather.
But, this new device - invented and perfected by the Stanley Brothers - also led to the downfall of their automobile industry. Henry Ford had started manufacturing cars on a large scale using this device to improve upon the internal combustion-engine of his automobiles and started selling them at a far lower price than the Stanley Brothers could for their car that ran on steam. An average person who desired to own a car could buy a gas-run car sold by Henry Ford, while the Stanley Steamer remained a favorite car for the wealthy few.
Finally, in the year 1925, eight years after the Stanley Brothers had sold their company, their cars disappeared from the marketplace. Several attempts were made to revive the Stanley’s steam-driven car, but all have failed.
With the rising cost of gas, the cash-starved people of this world - living in this world with the air they breathe polluted by cars that run on petrol, diesel, and gas - wish for a car that can run on cheaper fuel like water, and the Stanley car may just still make a comeback. Not only it is a cheaper way to get around, but it would keep this world free from pollution caused by modern automobiles.
(Compiled by A. I. Makki)
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October 2011 |
