In 1800, John McAdam made a roadbed of large crushed stones with smooth layer of crushed stones. The "macadam" road is still the basis for most of our modern highways.
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In 1807, Robert Fulton, added aWatt engine to the ship "Clermont." The steam engine powered a paddle wheel (twin sidewheels). The ship made it's first test run on the Hudson River. He had built boats for passenger comfort and speed. The tremendous growth of steamship traffic in the last half of the nineteenth century was accompanied by significant improvements in hull design, engines, and fuel. By 1839 the propellor had replaced the paddle wheel, steel replaced iron in the hull, and multi-cylinder engines became available. After 1920 the diesel engine, much smaller and lighter than a steam unit of equal power, marked another major changeover.
Canals and rivers had long been used as a means of internal transportation. Canals provided much cheaper transportation of bulky goods, and connected all part of the nation.
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In 1801 Richard Trevithick had an engine pulling trucks around the mine where he worked in Cornwall. By 1830 a railway was opened from Liverpool to Manchester;
and on this line, George
Stephenson, a mining engineer, developed a locomotive ''Rocket''
pulled a train of cars on iron rails at an amazing fourteen miles
an hour, opening the way for the building of railroads. The
further development of the railroad would revolutionize
transportation in Europe and the United States. In 1869, the
first trans-continental American railroad was completed.
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It was in 1885 that Karl Benz produced the first petrol driven motor vehicle. Benz's vehicle had three wheels, with the back wheel being driven by a rear, mounted engine. Power was transmitted from the engine to the wheel using a leather belt. Then, in 1886, Daimler built the first internal combustion engine, four wheeled vehicle. Later he put the engine in one of the first automobiles. Because it was developed from a horse-drawn carriage, it became known as the horseless carriage, motor car, came into general use.
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People also tried to put an engine in a flying machine. Wilbur and Orville Wright were probably the first men who ever made really practical flights with "heavier than air" machines. Instead of starting on wheels, as practically all other machines do, the Wright machine is launched from a special rail. They designed and built their own 12-to-16 horsepower engine and propeller for their plane, which was named Flyer I. Its notable features are those warping wind tips in connection with which a great deal of aerial litigation is pending. Finally, in 1904, the Wright brothers successfully flew their Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Another new era had begun.
