Who Really Invented the Automobile? : Skulduggery at the Crossroads

by Beasley, David

• ISBN13: 9780915317080
• ISBN10: 0915317087
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-03-01
• Publisher: Davus Pub

Table of Contents

Illustrations	iv
Tables	v
Preface	vi
Introduction	vii
The Existence of the Steam Carriage	1	(17)
The Road to Bath	6	(6)
Technical Feasibility and Comparative costs of Stagecoach to Steam Carriage	12	(6)
The Company Itself	18	(6)
Chronology of Failure	24	(7)
Was There a Market?	31	(6)
Was Gurney Beaten by His Competitors?	37	(6)
Opposition of the Railroad Interests	43	(11)
Cost Comparison Between the Railroad and Steam Carriage	54	(7)
The Decisive Importance of Restrictive Tolls	61	(8)
The Interest Group Basis of Restrictive Legislation	69	(16)
Rationale for Preference for the Railroad	82	(3)
Financing the European Railways	85	(11)
The Repression of the Steam Carriage on the Continent and the Development of the Petroleum Automobile	96	(10)
The Breaking of English Capital	106	(3)
The Petroleum Connection	109	(9)
Profitability of the Automobile Relative to the Railway and Canals in France	118	(4)
Technological Determinism as a Mode of Development	122	(4)
The Promotion of Petrol over Steam	126	(6)
The Diffusion of the Petroleum Automobile	132	(10)
Rationale	142	(9)
Notes	151	(12)
Selected Bibliography	163	(7)
Index	170