| The
car in the pic accompanying this feature is the 1902 Locomobile four-seater
steam car of Major The Nawab Afsur Dowla Bahadur who is seen at the
wheel along with his two sons - Nawab Nadur Jung and Nawab Hameed
Yar Jung -seated behind while upfront, next to the Nawab is Colonel
Marshall, his political agent. Where is this car today? |
Last
month we had taken a look at the Krieger electric car and this month we
have an even more famous name in automobiles gracing this page but which
made use of a different form of propellant. In the early years of the
automobile virtually every type of propellant was made, experimented with,
used and if not found efficient, discarded. But the early days were heady
going as every exponent of his or her craft was sure that his or her technology
and methods employed were the right stuff for the automobile industry
to adopt.
One such American company which made its mark, as early as 1899 was the
Locomobile Company of America. It had its genesis in the Stanley steamers
which were the foremost proponents of steam as an automotive propellant.
Engineers A L Barker and J B Walker got together and bought design rights
of the steam car from the Stanley brothers but this union didn't last
long. The duo went their own ways with Walker coming out with a range
of cars under the brand name Mobile while Barker set up to do business
independently and christened his cars the Locomobile.
The first Locomobile was a bare bones runabout with a simple frame (taken
from a horse-drawn cart) with seats tacked on. Much of its running gear
consisted of bicycle parts right down to wheels and tyres and no brakes
on any of the four wheels, there being a band brake acting on the final
chain drive! A twin-cylinder 5½HP engine was utilised and there
was a 14 inch boiler (placed below the seat) providing the charge to the
pistons to do their stuff. Tiller steering was employed. Functional it
sure was but practical it wasn't. It suffered from very poor lubrication
and it needed to be filled up with water every 20 miles!
The factory persevered with these cars till 1903 by which time they had
managed to sell quite a few thousands, not only in the US but also in
Europe and Asia. The standard two-seat runabout was joined by a four-seater
with apparently the same bare bones body structure. These cars sold in
the $600 to 700 bracket and Locomobile's impressive four-storey factory
- said to be the biggest in the world then - was humming with activity.
An even larger 10HP steam car with a bigger boiler joined the range in
1903 but with the gasoline engine making the running now, even Locomobile
decided to move to this form of propellant. |
January 2001