76 EVANS AND SYMINGTON. CHAP. VI. 



i 



It was composed of two parts the fore part consisting 

 of a small steam-engine, formed of a round copper boiler, 

 with a furnace inside, provided with two small chim- 

 neys and two single-acting brass steam cylinders, whose 

 pistons acted alternately upon the single driving wheel. 

 The hinder part consisted merely of a rude carriage on 

 two wheels to carry the load, furnished with a seat in 

 front for the conductor. This engine was tried in the 

 streets of Paris ; but when passing near where the 

 Madeleine now stands, it overbalanced itself on turn- 

 ing a corner, and fell over with a crash ; after which, 

 its employment being thought dangerous, it was locked 

 up in the Arsenal to prevent further mischief. The 

 rmachine is, however, still to be seen in the collection 

 4 of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris. It 

 has very much the look of a long brewer's cart, 

 with the addition of the circular boiler hung on at one 

 end. Nevertheless it was a highly creditable piece of 

 work, considering the period at which it was executed ; 

 and as the first actual machine constructed for the pur- 

 pose of travelling on ordinary roads by the power of 

 steam, it is certainly a most curious and interesting 

 mechanical relic, well worthy of preservation. 



But though Cugnot's road locomotive remained locked 

 up from public sight, the subject was not dead ; for we 

 find inventors from time to time employing themselves 

 in attempting to solve the problem of steam locomotion 

 in places far remote from Paris. The idea had taken 

 root, and was striving to grow into a reality. Thus 

 /Oliver Evans, the American, invented a steam-carriage 

 /in 1772 to travel on common roads; in 1787 he ob- 

 I tained from the State of Maryland an exclusive right 

 | to make and use steam-carriages ; but his invention 

 I never came into use. Then, in 1784, William Syming- 

 ton, one of the early inventors of the steamboat, was 

 similarly occupied in Scotland in endeavouring to deve- 

 lope the latent powers of the steam-carriage. He had 



