here is a first for everything and sadly this does include all the bad things that can happen when a new invention or piece of technology becomes mainstream. Although driving has become much easier than it was about 100 years ago, it is still an acquired skill set that some don’t have. Not everyone is made to drive and that is acceptable just as not everyone is made to fly, but without taking that curious risk our world would not evolve.
In 1885 Carl Benz published the patent for the world’s first gasoline engine and led to the creation of the first car. With the huge potential that was seen by other inventors and engineers, someone else had to create their own version of this new invention known at the time as the automobile.
All of this would lead to the world’s first car accident.
John William Lambert
Lambert was to become known as the first American car but not many people remember the brand or its creator due to the huge success Ford had with model T at the start of the 20th century and as well as a great deal of secrecy behind the development of Lambert automobile brand. This is why not much information is known about the brand.
John William Lambert was the creator of the first American car based on his own patent of the gasoline engine that he came up with within 1887. Lambert was born on January 29, 1860, in Champaign County Ohio. After many years of schooling, he started his own company with his father under the name “J. W. Lambert and Company” that used to manufacture all sorts of tools and supplies for agriculture. Lambert had a real attraction to gasoline engines and wanted to create his own.
His idea for his first car was taken from the concept of a horseless carriage. The car didn’t look much like a car and that is because it was a three-wheel carriage with an engine. The reason for the three wheels is so that the front one can be used for steering. The first prototype was always kept secret and it was only taken out for tests drives during the night.
The accident
Not a lot of information is known about the accident nor exactly in which model car it had occurred, but we know for sure it was a Lambert as John Lambert himself would not drive anything else. Not that much else was available at the time. The model was probably the first given the year that the accident had occurred.
In 1891 the world’s first car accident occurred in Ohio City with John Lambert as the driver and James Swoveland as the passenger. Lambert lost control of the car by hitting a tree root and crashing into a hitching post. There were no major injuries as the car didn’t have the power to speed. This gave Lambert some ideas to implement some safety procedures such as putting doors on cars.
Lambert lived on for many years and patented over 600 innovations within the automobile industry. The brand although a classic that was awarded the best in America in 1905, was slowly left in the shadow by Ford and other innovating competitors.
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