Auto-milestones – The Moments Through Time That Define What a Car is a Today
We have managed to evolve as humans in a large number of ways. However, one of the most impressive and definitely most noticeable ways in which we improved was through our cars. Cars were mere carriages before and just wheels before that. It’s very interesting to look back on all the different things that our ancestors managed to do when they put their heads to it. When it comes to the precise dates and ways in which things were done all those years ago, you can never be too sure.
However, one thing is for sure: the wheel and the concept of what was going to transform into the automobile have always played huge parts in history. With more innovations on the way, it’s pretty fun to take a step back and take another look at all the achievements we’ve managed to put under our belts during our stay on this planet.
The Beginning
It’s pretty hard to imagine a time when people just didn’t have wheels of any variety. It’s such a core item to our development and daily lives, present all throughout our evolution. So when did it happen, exactly? When did we acquire the wheel? Well, records say that it was around 6500 B.C. that the first people started experimenting with the wheel and discovering all its amazing benefits. You can only imagine how hard life used to be for those poor cave people without wheels to transport their goods.
Findings from Ancient Egypt actually suggest that people would use sleds in order to transport huge stone blocks. That’s definitely inventive but not really comparable to the power of the wheel, considering that outside of the desert things usually go faster on wheels than sleds. Since then, it has been a long road.
Around the year 3500, people have also discovered that they could use big, bulky animals to pull their wheel-operated devices for them. Wheeled vehicles thus were no longer the burden of man but of beast. There were surely a lot of people with crooked backs in Mesopotamia that was thrilled about getting to take a break from pulling heavy loads.
It’s Starting To Get Interesting
So people have discovered that they can get things to move a lot faster if they put wheels under them, and also that they could employ animals to do the heavy lifting. The next step was to realize that they could create machines which would operate the process. Animals would no longer have to carry the load, but neither would men. With the invention of the motorcycle in Germany in 1869, the first signs of progress were made. Around this time, people were already aware of the kind of power the wheel held and did everything they could to exploit it.
Also from Germany came the first car that used an internal combustion engine. This happened in 1885, and since then, people have been building on those founding principles, constantly making cars better. In the year 1892, the good folk in the United States decided that they could use this technology for more than just getting around. They invented the tractor, and thus agriculture and farming were changed forever. Just try to start a farm nowadays without getting yourself a decent tractor, and the whole farming community is going to laugh at you, persistently. So it has been established that wheels can be used to transport people, goods and even help with hard lifting in the case of tractors and other machinery good around the farmstead. What could come next? Well, when people thought they reached the peak of science and technology, innovations came knocking once more.
Now It’s Just Ridiculous
Fast forward into the present, and you’ll see some massive improvements in the car industry. For starters, there’s no more steam technology. Next, what has now considered the traditional and standard engine is also on its way out. Tell someone from 20 years ago that the engine would no longer have a role in the automobile industry and they would have probably frowned. Today, however, that is more than possible. It’s happening, and companies are starting to bring out the first electric powered vehicles. This is the age of electric cars that drive themselves. It’s the future that people have managed to craft for themselves, but it’s also only the beginning. Who knows what will come next. Maybe build flying cars? It would surely follow the trend of old sci-fi clichés turned reality that’s going on right now. It’s definitely interesting and exciting to try and guess what comes next after such grand technological achievements.
The Future Awaits and It’s Really Promising
Based on the current rate at which tech advances, specialists think that it won’t be long before people actually get to cover half the continent in just a matter of hours. That’s the kind of technological prowess that we’re looking at, and the future, as always, is just around the corner. The thing to remember though is that while the means of transportation and its purposes might change over the time, one thing remains unhinged: It all started with the wheel, and it would seem that it’s all going to end with the wheel as well. There is no doubt about the fact that it is probably the most important discovery of all times, maybe alongside fire. These are some cool things to think about the next time you sit behind the wheel of your comfortable vehicle, and remember, take care your wheel that mean that care your life too!