The first steam powered vehicle was built by the French military engineer, Nicholas Cugnot in 1769. This 3-wheeled steam machine ran for only 15 minutes and at the end of that short space of time, Cugnot became the world’s first car crash victim. Unfortunately he drove the vehicle into a brick wall.
Cugnot was however not badly hurt and not at all disheartened. He worked on the vehicle, improved the steering and the braking system until it was capable of carrying four people at two miles an hour. He won a contract from the French War Ministry to build a much larger vehicle as a military carrier.
But Cugnot’s road tests of his vehicle proved so dangerous to life and limb that, after several further crashes, he became the first man to be jailed for dangerous driving.
His military vehicle was never put into service, and in 1804 he died in obscurity.
Showing posts with label Eighteenth Century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eighteenth Century. Show all posts
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Monday, 1 October 2007
Duelling
This fasinating little article on Duelling came from Christopher Duffy's book, 'The Army of Frederick the Great."
"Duels in the Prussian Army at the time of Frederick the Great were serious affairs. A typically bloody set-to was staged in August 1762 when Lieutenant-General v. Platen and the quarrelsome Major-General v. Meier hacked each other about messily in the head. General v. Hulsen stepped in to break up the fight and received a stab wound for his pains.
Sometimes the formalities were dispensed with altogether. Thus in January 1746 Major v. Chazot of the Bayreuth Dragoons found himself fighting for his life against Bronikowsky, an officer whom he had once had occasion to reprimand. Chazot was able to draw his sword before he could come to serious harm and
“Now the battle took a more favourable turn, and with one of my cuts. I slashed the eguillettes from his uniform. So they were scatted around the room in shreds. Since he was bigger than I was, and considered himself more powerful, my real aim was to disarm him.
I drove him across the room as far as the stove, where I intended to snatch his sword, but I lost my footing and a major blow in the right arm which bit to the bone. The pain of my wound increased my violence, and I was unlucky enough to give him a cut which split his skull. He collapsed on the floor just in front of the door where he had first attacked me.”
Bronikowsky died of the wound, and Chazot was sentenced to one year’s fortress arrest in Spandau, of which he served only a few weeks."
"Duels in the Prussian Army at the time of Frederick the Great were serious affairs. A typically bloody set-to was staged in August 1762 when Lieutenant-General v. Platen and the quarrelsome Major-General v. Meier hacked each other about messily in the head. General v. Hulsen stepped in to break up the fight and received a stab wound for his pains.
Sometimes the formalities were dispensed with altogether. Thus in January 1746 Major v. Chazot of the Bayreuth Dragoons found himself fighting for his life against Bronikowsky, an officer whom he had once had occasion to reprimand. Chazot was able to draw his sword before he could come to serious harm and
“Now the battle took a more favourable turn, and with one of my cuts. I slashed the eguillettes from his uniform. So they were scatted around the room in shreds. Since he was bigger than I was, and considered himself more powerful, my real aim was to disarm him.
I drove him across the room as far as the stove, where I intended to snatch his sword, but I lost my footing and a major blow in the right arm which bit to the bone. The pain of my wound increased my violence, and I was unlucky enough to give him a cut which split his skull. He collapsed on the floor just in front of the door where he had first attacked me.”
Bronikowsky died of the wound, and Chazot was sentenced to one year’s fortress arrest in Spandau, of which he served only a few weeks."
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