Show EM OF THE fauto OF FIRST STEAM CAR IN AMERICA 01 ver evans worked on idea for steart propulsion in boston as early as 1773 shop of in venter st II 11 standing boston A quaint b on st james street above second now num bared is reputed to be tho shop where oliver vans worked in the year 1795 avins was one of the early inventors of which this country has furnished so man and although he Is principal recalled as the inventor of the arst beeam carriage or what we would now term an automobile when i he had his shop in the low roofed building in lowndes or s al ley the little lane now named st james street he was patronized as the man who could make mills which saved expense by giving 20 pounds more flour to the barrel than any other although evans was not a native of this city he was a descendant of the first episcopal minister of philadel phia evan evang the latter died in the year 1728 oliver was born in elport del in 1755 and his parents were in humble circumstances early he developed a genius tor invention and while he was still a very young man he designed a non condensing en gine in which power was derived from the tension of high pressure steam this invention has been the foundation of a long race of steamboat and locomotive engines the brothers of oliver were millers and the young man soon joined them in their busl ness while engaged with his brothers he made many inventions and in 1790 he applied for a patent for the apall cation of the steam engine for driving reputed shop of oliver evans in boston mills but Is said to have been re fused it Is said that as early as the year 1773 when oliver was only 18 he wis occupied with the subject p steam propulsion both by land as well as water in these lines however he was outdistanced by others but ii his steam carriage which he named the which first was put in operation in the year 1804 he was ahead of any person in this coun try in achieving steam propulsion by land avans in an article in s dally advertiser some years later thus describes his first attempt to ex hibit his steam carriage in the year 1804 I 1 constructed at philadelphia a machine of my anven alon tor cleaning docks a heavy flat mud flat with a steam engine of the power of five boises in it to work the machinery and to show that both steam carriages and steamboats were practicable with my steam engines I 1 first put wheels to it and propelled it by the engine a mile and a half to the schuylkill although its weight was equal to that of barrels of flour I 1 then fixed a paddlewheel at the stem ind propelled it by the engine down the an up the dela ware 16 miles leaving all the vessels that were under sail full halfway be hind me the wind beans ahead evans bad the strongest b alet in the efficacy of steam to propel car biages and therefore ought to be re carded as the father of the automobile he did not however foresee the ter rifle speed of which the modern motor car Is capable for he said that he be cleved that stages would one day be moved by steam at a of from I 1 fifteen to twenty an hour which modest prediction has been more than fulfilled while he occupied the little shop la st james street evans was following the business of manufacturing mill stones in 1797 we find him moved to what Is now south second street a little below st james street al though the b dilding so numbered Is not the original structure the alley next to it early in the last century was the entrance to the custom house then located some distance back from the street at the time t vane took his steam carriage to the schuylkill and made his historic voyage on the del deli i ware his shop was at the corner of vine street and ridge road later evans went to diew york and died there in 1819 |