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automobile

Dictionary

au·to·mo·bile (ô'tə?-mōo-bēel', -mōo'bēel')
n.

A self-propelled passenger vehicle that usually has four wheels and an internal-combustion engine, used for land transport. Also called motorcar.

adj.

Of or relating to automobiles; automotive.

[French : Greek auto-, auto- + French mobile, mobile (from Old French; see mobile).]

au'to·mo·bil'ist n.

Directory > General Reference > Dictionary > automobile

Encyclopedia

automobile, self-propelled vehicle used for travel on land. The term is commonly applied to a four-wheeled vehicle designed to carry two to six passengers and a limited amount of cargo, as contrasted with a truck, which is designed primarily for the transportation of goods and is constructed with larger and heavier parts, or a bus (or omnibus or coach), which is a large public conveyance designed to carry a large number of passengers and sometimes additionally small amounts of cargo. For operation and technical features of automobiles, differential; fuel injection; ignition; internal-combustion engine; lubrication; muffler; odometer; shock absorber; speedometer; steering system; suspension; tachometer; tire; transmission.

Automobile Propulsion Systems

Reciprocating Internal-Combustion Engines

The modern automobile is usually driven by a water-cooled, piston-type internal-combustion engine, mounted in the front of the vehicle; its power may be transmitted either to the front wheels, to the rear wheels, or to all four wheels. Some automobiles use air-cooled engines, but these are generally less efficient than the liquid-cooled type. In some models the engine is carried just forward of the rear wheels; this arrangement, while wasteful of space, has the advantage of better weight distribution. Although passenger vehicles are usually gasoline fueled, diesel engines (which burn a heavier petroleum oil) are employed both for heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses, and for a small number of family sedans. Both diesel and gasoline engines generally employ a four-stroke cycle.

The Wankel Engine

For some years, it was hoped that the Wankel engine, a rotary internal-combustion engine developed by Felix Wankel of Germany in 1954, might provide an alternative to the reciprocating internal-combustion engine because of its low exhaust emissions and feasibility for mass production. In this engine a three-sided rotor revolves within an epithrochoidal drum (combustion chamber) in which the free space contracts or expands as the rotor turns. Fuel is inhaled, compressed, and fired by the ignition system. The expanding gas turns the rotor and the spent gas is expelled. The Wankel engine has no valves, pistons, connecting rods, reciprocating parts, or crankshaft. It develops a high horsepower per cubic inch and per pound of engine weight, and it is essentially vibrationless, but its fuel consumption is higher than that of the conventional piston engine.

Alternative Fuels and Engines

Internal-combustion engines consume relatively high amounts of petroleum, and contribute heavily to air pollution; therefore, other types of fuels and nonconventional engines are being studied and developed. An alternative-fuel vehicle (AFV) is a dedicated flexible-fuel vehicle (one with a common fuel tank designed to run on varying blends of unleaded gasoline with either ethanol or methanol) or a dual-fuel vehicle (one designed to run on a combination of an alternative fuel and a conventional fuel) operating on at least one alternative fuel. An advanced-technology vehicle (ATV) combines a new engine, power train, and drive train system to significantly improve fuel economy. It is estimated that more than a half million alternative-fuel vehicles were in use in the United States in 2002; 50% of these operate on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or propane) and almost 25% use compressed natural gas (CNG).

The ideal alternative-fuel engine would burn fuel much more cleanly than conventional gasoline-powered internal-combustion engines and yet still be able to use the existing fuel infrastructure (i.e., gas stations). Compressed natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and alcohol-based substances (gasohol, ethanol, methanol, and other “neat” alcohols) all have their proponents. However, although these fuels burn somewhat cleaner than gasoline, the use of all of them involves trade-offs. For example, because they take up more space per mile driven, these alternatives require larger fuel capacities or shorter distances between refueling stops. In addition, conventional automobiles may require extensive modifications to use alternative fuels; for example, to use gasohol containing more than 17% ethanol, the spark plugs, engine timing, and seals of an automobile must be modified; since 1998, however, many U.S. automobiles have been manufactured with equipment that enables them to run on E85, a mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Grain-derived fuels, such as ethanol, are a popular concept because they do not deplete the world's oil reserves; in various locations, “biodiesel” test cars have run on fuel similar to sunflower-seed oil. Similarly, dual-fuel (gasoline-diesel and gasoline-propane) and water-fuel-emulsion cars are being tested.

Alternative propulsion systems are also being studied. Steam engines, which were once more common than gasoline engines, are being experimented with now because they give off fewer noxious emissions; they are, however, less efficient than internal-combustion engines. Battery-powered electric engines, previously used mainly for local delivery vehicles, can now be used in automobiles capable of highway speeds, but they are restricted to relatively short trips because of limitations on the storage batteries that power the motors.

Some engineers worry that widespread adoption of electric cars might actually generate more air pollution, because additional electric power plants would be needed to recharge their batteries. Therefore, design and research work has also intensified on solar batteries, but they are generally not yet powerful enough to power such vehicles. The most promising technology for electric engines is the fuel cell, but fuel cells currently are too expensive for practical applications.

Hybrid vehicles, or hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), are powered by two or more energy sources, one of which is electricity, to produce a high-miles-per-gallon, low-emission drive. There are two types of HEVs, series and parallel. In a series hybrid, all of the vehicle power is provided from one source. For example, an electric motor drives the vehicle from the battery pack and the internal combustion engine powers a generator that charges the battery. In a parallel hybrid, power is delivered through both paths, both the electric motor and the internal combustion engine powering the vehicle. Thus, the electric motor may help power the vehicle while idling and during acceleration. The internal combustion engine takes over while cruising, powering the drive train and recharging the electric motor's battery. Some hybrids can operate in electric-only mode. Automobiles with gasoline-electric hybrid engines first appeared on the consumer market in 1999; unhampered by the AFV's limitations, sales of these vehicles increased steadily at the beginning of the 21st cent.

Automobiles and the Environment

Pollutants derived from automobile operation have begun to pose environmental problems of considerable magnitude. It has been calculated, for example, that 70% of the carbon monoxide, 45% of the nitrogen oxides, and 34% of the hydrocarbon pollution in the United States can be traced directly to automobile exhausts (see air pollution). In addition, rubber (which wears away from tires), motor oil, brake fluid, and other substances accumulate on roadways and are washed into streams, with effects nearly as serious as those of untreated sewage. A problem also exists in disposing of the automobiles themselves when they are no longer operable.

In an effort to improve the situation, the U.S. government has enacted regulations on the use of the constituents of automobile exhaust gas that are known to cause air pollution. These constituents fall roughly into three categories: hydrocarbons that pass through the engine unburned and escape from the crankcase; carbon monoxide, also a product of incomplete combustion; and nitrogen oxides, which are formed when nitrogen and oxygen are in contact at high temperatures. Besides their own toxic character, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides undergo reactions in the presence of sunlight to form noxious smog. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons are rather easily controlled by the use of high combustion temperatures, leaner fuel mixtures, and lower compression ratios in engines. Unfortunately, the conditions that produce minimum emission of hydrocarbons tend to raise emission of nitrogen oxides. To some extent this difficulty is solved by adding recycled exhaust gas to the fuel mixture, thus avoiding the oversupply of oxygen that favors formation of nitrogen oxides.

The introduction of catalytic converters in the exhaust system has provided a technique for safely burning off hydrocarbon and carbon-monoxide emissions. The fragility of the catalysts used in these systems required the elimination of lead compounds previously used in gasoline to prevent engine knock. California, which has the most stringent air-pollution laws in the United States, requires further special compounding of gasoline to control emissions, and several states have mandated that ethanol be mixed with gasoline; as with the elimination of lead, measures taken to control air pollution have a negative impact on fuel efficiency.

Automotive Safety

Fatalities due to automobile accidents have stimulated improvements in automotive safety design. The first innovation involves creating a heavy cage around the occupants of the automobile, while the front and rear of the car are constructed of lighter materials designed to absorb impact forces. The second safety system uses seat belts to hold occupants in place. This was largely ineffective until states in the United States began passing laws requiring seat belt use. The third system is the air bag; within a few hundredths of a second after a special sensor detects a collision, an air bag in the steering wheel or dashboard inflates to prevent direct human impact with the wheel, dashboard, or windshield (newer vehicles sometimes include side air bags, to protect occupants from side collisions). Other advances in vehicle safety include the keyless ignition, which makes it impossible for a driver to start a car while under the influence of alcohol (over half of all vehicle fatalities involve at least one driver who has used alcohol) and antilock braking systems, which prevent an automobile's wheels from locking during braking.

Development of the Automobile

The automobile has a long history. The French engineer Nicolas Joseph Cugnot built the first self-propelled vehicle (Paris, 1789), a heavy, three-wheeled, steam-driven carriage with a boiler that projected in front; its speed was c.3 mph (5 kph). In 1801 the English engineer Richard Trevithick also built a three-wheeled, steam-driven car; the engine drove the rear wheels. Development of the automobile was retarded for decades by over-regulation: speed was limited to 4 mph (6.4 kph) and until 1896 a person was required to walk in front of a self-propelled vehicle, carrying a red flag by day and a red lantern by night. The Stanley brothers of Massachusetts, the most well-known American manufacturers of steam-driven autos, produced their Stanley Steamers from 1897 until after World War I.

The development of the automobile was accelerated by the introduction of the internal-combustion engine. Probably the first vehicle of this type was the three-wheeled car built in 1885 by the engineer Karl Benz in Germany. Another German engineer, Gottlieb Daimler, built an improved internal-combustion engine c.1885. The Panhard car, introduced in France by the Daimler company in 1894, had many features of the modern car. In the United States, internal-combustion cars of the horseless buggy type were manufactured in the 1890s by Charles Duryea and J. Frank Duryea, Elwood Haynes, Henry Ford, Ransom E. Olds, and Alexander Winton. Many of the early engines had only one cylinder, with a chain-and-sprocket drive on wooden carriage wheels. The cars generally were open, accommodated two passengers, and were steered by a lever.

The free growth of the automobile industry in the early 20th cent. was threatened by the American inventor George Selden's patent, issued in 1895. Several early manufacturers licensed by Selden formed an association in 1903 and took over the patent in 1907. Henry Ford, the leader of a group of independent manufacturers who refused to acknowledge the patent, was engaged in litigation with Selden and the association from 1903 until 1911, when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the patent, although valid, covered only the two-cycle engine; most cars, including Ford's, used a four-cycle engine. The mass production of automobiles that followed, and the later creation of highways linking cities to suburbs and region to region, transformed American landscape and society.

Directory > General Reference > Encyclopedia > automobile

WordNet

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun automobile has one meaning:

Meaning #1: 4-wheeled motor vehicle; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
Synonyms: car, auto, machine, motorcar

The verb automobile has one meaning:

Meaning #1: travel in an automobile

Directory > Language > WordNet > automobile

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automobile

Car redirects here. For alternate meanings of car, see Car (disambiguation).

A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile.

An automobile is a wheeled vehicle that carries its own engine. Different types of automobile include cars, buses, vans and trucks, with cars being the most popular by far. Older terms include horseless carriage and motor car, with "motor" referring to what is now usually called the engine. The act of operating an automobile is called driving. An automobile has seats for the driver and, almost without exception, for at least one passenger.

General

Automobiles are mainly designed to travel on roads, although some, notably sport utility vehicles (also called off-road vehicles), allow off-road driving. Roads and highways are shared with other traffic such as motorcycles, tractor trailers, farm implements, and bicycles.

The typical vehicle has an internal combustion engine, although in 2001, hybrid cars powered by gas-electric hybrid engines began to enter the market. Other vehicles run on electricity and fuel cells, though these are not widely available as of 2004. While most cars have four wheels, three-wheeled automobiles have also been built, but are not common due to stability problems. Some gyrocar, two wheeled automobiles have been built as well, using gyroscopic stabilization.

There are many classes of car and car body styles.

Automobile names

Automobile types are typically assigned names by their manufacturers. These names generally fall into a heirarchy:

Marque - The brand name or "make" of an automobile, which may or may not be the same as the manufacturer's name
Model - The name of a line of similar automobiles sold under that marque
Body Style - The body style is sometimes mentioned separately, other times as part of the model name
Trim - Model lines are often divided into low-cost, sports, or luxurious versions in what is referred to as a trim line

For example, a Ford Mustang GT Convertible is a product of Ford Motor Company's Ford marque, is the sporty Mustang model, is the uplevel GT trim, and is a convertible.

Many Marques began as independent manufacturers, but others were invented (eg: Pontiac) to target other markets. Models have occasionally become marques and vice-versa, as in the case of Imperial. Model names also sometimes include the body style, trim line, or engine option, as in the case of the BMW 3-Series.

History

The 1923 Stanley Steam Car

Steam-powered self propelled vehicles were devised in the late 18th century. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot successfully demonstrated such a vehicle as early as 1769. The first vehicles were steam engine powered, then electric vehicles were produced by a small number of manufacturers. In the 1890s, ethanol was the first fuel used by cars in the U.S. In 1919, alcohol Prohibition destroyed corn-alcohol stills which many farmers used to make low cost ethanol fuel. Later on gasoline and diesel engines were implemented.

Popularity

Cugnot's invention initially saw little application in his native France, and the center of innovation passed to Britain, where Richard Trevithick was running a steam-carriage in 1801. Such vehicles were in vogue for a time, and over the next decades such innovations as hand brakes, multi-speed transmissions, and improved speed and steering were developed. Some were commercially successful in providing mass transit, until a backlash against these large speedy vehicles resulted in passing laws that self-propelled vehicles on public roads in Britain must be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag and blowing a horn. This effectively killed road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the 19th century, as inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotives. The red flag law was not repealed until 1896.

The many varieties of automobile racing collectively constitute one of the most popular categories of sport in the world. Today, the USA has more cars than any other nation. Though Japan is a leading nation in car manufacturing, the average Japanese citizen cannot afford the high costs of running a car in a country where parking space is scarce and fuel is very expensive.

Innovation

The dashboard of an Oldtimer from the early 20th century.

The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789; in 1804 Evans demonstrated his first successful self-propelled vehicle, which not only was the first automobile in the USA but was also the first amphibious vehicle, as his steam-powered vehicle was able to travel on wheels on land and via a paddle wheel in the water.

It is generally claimed that the first automobiles with gasoline powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously in 1886 by German inventors working independently: Carl Benz on 3 July 1886 in Mannheim, resp. Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart (also inventors of the first motor bike). On November 5, 1895, George B. Selden was granted a United States patent for a two-stroke automobile engine. This patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the USA. A major breakthrough came with the historic drive of Berta Benz in 1888. Steam, electric, and gasoline powered autos competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominence in the 1910s.

The large scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Oldsmobile in 1902, then greatly expanded by Henry Ford in the 1910s. Early automobiles were often referred to as 'horseless carriages', and did not stray far from the design of their predecessor. Through the period from 1900 to the mid 1920s, development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to a huge (hundreds) number of small manufacturers all competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.

The dashboard of a modern car, a BMW 530d in 2003.

By the 1930s, most of the technology used in automobiles had been invented, although it was often re-invented again at a later date and credited to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive was re-introduced by Andre ëCitron with the launch of the Traction Avant in 1934, though it appeared several years earlier in road cars made by Alvis and Cord, and in racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897). After 1930, the number of auto manufacturers declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured. Since 1960, the number of manufacturers has remained virtually constant, and innovation slowed. For the most part, "new" automotive technology was a refinement on earlier work, though these refinements were sometimes so extensive as to render the original work nearly unrecognizable. The chief exception to this was electronic engine management, which entered into wide use in the 1960s, when electronic parts became cheap enough to be mass-produced and rugged enough to handle the harsh environment of an automobile. Developed by Bosch, these electronic systems have enabled automobiles to drastically reduce exhaust emissions while increasing efficiency and power.

Regulation

In almost every nation, laws have been enacted governing the operation of motor vehicles. Most of this legislation, including limits on allowable speed and other rules of the road, are designed to ensure the smooth flow of traffic and simultaneously protect the safety of vehicle occupants, cyclists, and pedestrians.

In 1965, in California, legislation was introduced to regulate exhaust emissions, the first such legislation in the world. Answering this new interest in environmental and public safety issues, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) both introduced legislation in 1968 which substantially altered the course of automotive development. Since the US market was the largest in the world (and California the largest market in the US), manufacturers worldwide were forced to adapt. For the first time, safety devices were mandatory, as were controls on harmful emissions. Prior to this legislation, even seat belts were considered extra-cost options by many manufacturers. Other countries followed by introducing their own safety and environmental legislation. In time, meeting regulations became the main challenge for the engineers designing new cars. In the decade from 1975 to 1985, the world's manufacturers struggled to meet the new regulations, some producing substandard cars with reduced reliability as a result. However, by the end of this period, everyone had learned how to handle the newly regulated environment. The manufacturers discovered that safety and environmentalism sold cars, and some began introducing environmental and safety advances on their own initiative.

Environmental improvements

Among the first environmental advances are the so-called alternative fuels for the internal combustion engine, which have been around for many years. Early in automotive history, before gasoline was widely available at corner pumps, cars ran on many fuels, including kerosene (paraffin) and coal gas. Alcohol fuels were used in racing cars before and just after World War II. Today, methanol and ethanol are used as petrol extenders in some countries, notably in Australia and the United States. In countries with warmer climates, such as Brazil, alcohol derived from sugar cane is often used as a substitute fuel.

In many countries, plentiful supplies of natural gas have seen methane sold as compressed natural gas (CNG) and propane sold as liquified petroleum gas (LPG) alongside petrol and diesel fuels since the 1970s. While a standard automotive engine will run on these fuels with very low exhaust emissions, there are some performance differences, notably a loss of power due to the lower energy content of the alternative fuels. The need to equip filling stations and vehicles with pressurized vessels to hold these gaseous fuels and more stringent safety inspections, means that they are only economical when used for a long distance, or if there are installation incentives. They are most economical where petrol has high taxes and the alternative fuels do not.

Renewable energy and the future

With heavy taxes on fuel, particularly in Europe and tightening environmental laws, particularly in California USA, and the possibility of further restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, work on alternative power systems for vehicles continues.

Diesel-powered cars can run with little or no modification on 100% pure biodiesel, a fuel that can be made from vegetable oils. Many cars that currently use gasoline can run on ethanol, a fuel made from plant sugars. Most cars that are designed to run on gasoline are capable of running with 15% ethanol mixed in, and with a small amout of redesign, gasoline-powered vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%. All petrol fueled cars can run on LPG. There has been some concern that the ethanol-gasoline mixtures prematurely wear down seals and gaskets.

Attempts at building viable battery-powered electric vehicles continued throughout the 1990s (notably General Motors with the EV1), but cost, speed and inadequate driving range made them uneconomical. Due to cost, the majority of battery powered cars have used lead-acid batteries, which are greatly damaged in their recharge capacity if discharged beyond 75% on a regular basis.

Current research and development is centered on "hybrid" vehicles that use both electric and combustion (pollution) power, and longer-term efforts are based around electric vehicles powered by fuel cells.

Other alternatives being explored, involve methane and hydrogen-burning vehicles, fuel cells, and even the stored energy of compressed air (see Air Engine).

Safety

Accidents seem as old as automobile vehicles themselves. Joseph Cugnot crashed his steam-powered "Fardier" against a wall in 1770. The first recorded automobile fatality was Bridget Driscoll on August 17, 1896 in London, England and the first in the United States was Henry Bliss on September 13, 1899 in New York, New York.

Every year more than a million people are killed and about 50 million people are wounded in traffic (according to WHO estimates), either by crashing into something, or by being crashed into. Major factors in accidents include driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, inattentive driving, overtired driving, road hazards such as snow, potholes and animals, and reckless driving. Special safety features have been built into cars for years, some for the safety of car's occupants only, some for the safety of others.

Cars have two basic safety problems: They have human drivers who make mistakes, and the wheels lose traction near a half gravity of deceleration. Automated control has been seriously proposed, and successfully prototyped. Shoulder-belted passengers could tolerate a 32G emergency stop (reducing the safe intervehicle gap 64-fold) if high-speed roads incorporated a steel rail for emergency braking. Both "safety" modifications of the roadway are thought to be too expensive by most funding authorities, although these modifications would dramatically increase the number of vehicles that could safely use a high-speed highway.

Early safety research focused on increasing the reliability of brakes, and reducing the flammability of fuel systems. For example, modern engine compartments are open at the bottom so that fuel vapors, which are heavier than air, drain to the open air. Brakes are hydraulic so that failures are slow leaks, rather than an abrupt cable-parting. Systematic research on crash safety started in 1958 at Ford Motor Company. Since then, most research has focused on absorbing external crash energy with crushable panels, and reducing the motion of human bodies in the passenger compartment.

There are standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/). There are also tests run by organizations backed by the insurance industry (IIHS for instance at http://www.hwysafety.org/).

Despite technological advances, the death toll of car accidents remains high: about 40,000 people die every year in the US, a number which increases annually in line with rising population and increased travel (although the rate per capita and per mile travelled decreases steadily), with similar trends in Europe. The death toll is expected to nearly double worldwide by 2020. A much higher number of accidents result in injury or permanent disability.

See also