Genre Comprehension Skill Text Features Science Content Nonfi ction Sequence • Labels Technology • Captions • Diagrams • Glossary Scott Foresman Science 5.18 ì<(sk$m)=bdjgjj<ISBN 0-328-13969-6 +^-Ä-U-Ä-U 13969_01-04_CVR_FSD.indd Cover1 5/13/05 1:10:51 PM Vocabulary Extended Vocabulary What did you learn? assembly line catalytic converter inventor chassis 1. Why is it important for modern cars to be manufacturing drive train fuel-effi cient? microchip internal combustion engine space station hybrid car 2. How did Henry Ford make automobiles technology retool affordable enough for most people? World Wide Web suspension transmission 3. Why were foreign cars unpopular when they were fi rst sold in the United States? by Anne Cambal 4. In the early 1900s there were three main types of fuel used to power cars. Write to explain which one(s) became widely used throughout that century and why. Include details from the book to support your answer. 5. Sequence Put the following events in the proper sequence. Hybrid cars successfully Picture Credits Every effort has been made to secure permission and provide appropriate credit for photographic material. re-introduced; Henry Ford builds two The publisher deeply regrets any omission and pledges to correct errors called to its attention in subsequent editions. Photo locators denoted as follows: Top (T), Center (C), Bottom (B), Left (L), Right (R), Background (Bkgd). thousand Model T’s per day; Benz’s three- 9 (TR) Mary Evans Picture Library; 13 (TR) Motoring Picture Library/National Motor Museum, Beaulieu; wheeled vehicle; electric starter added to 15 (T) Kim Sayer/Corbis; 17 (TR) Cindy Lewis/Alamy Images; 18 Charles O’Rear/Corbis; 23 Cindy Lewis/Alamy Images. cars; compact cars introduced; Cugnot’s Scott Foresman/Dorling Kindersley would also like to thank the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu/ DK Images for the use of photos on the Opener and pages 1, 5, 7, 10 (TR), 11 (TR, CR). steam-powered vehicle. Unless otherwise acknowledged, all photographs are the copyright © of Dorling Kindersley, a division of Pearson. ISBN: 0-328-13969-6 Copyright © Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by Copyright, and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. For information regarding permission(s), write to Permissions Department, Scott Foresman, 1900 East Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 V010 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 13969_01-04_CVR_FSD.indd Cover2 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 1 5/13/05 1:11:101:12:03 PM What You Already Know Technology is the use of scientifi c knowledge for a The invention of the microchip in the late 1950s helped purpose. The invention of modern airplanes, for example, is to start the computer age. Today, there are computers that fi t the result of the work of many inventors who worked to in the palm of your hand. If your computer is connected to create new devices and solve problems. Sometimes the the World Wide Web, you can get information about almost work of inventors results in improvements rather than in any subject. the creation of completely new devices. The Wright brothers Advances in technology have even allowed us to leave the fi rst fl ew a plane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, more than Earth to explore space. In 1961 a Soviet astronaut named a hundred years ago. Today’s airplanes reach speeds that the Yuri Gagarin became the fi rst human to enter space. In 1969 Wrights never dreamed of, but they are still basically the American Neil Armstrong became the fi rst person to walk same type of machine as the Wright brothers’ plane. on the Moon. Today, several countries are working together Technology affects the way that we work. Modern to operate a space station orbiting the Earth. manufacturing uses an assembly line able to produce large numbers of products. In this system, a product such as Try to imagine life without a car moves through a factory. Different groups of people technology. What would you or robots add parts to the car as it goes along. miss the most? There would be no television, telephones, or computers. You would have to make your own clothes. If you wanted to hear music, you would have to play it yourself. One invention you would probably miss a lot is the automobile. Keep reading to learn more about this important machine and the ways it has changed our lives. 2 3 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 2 5/13/05 1:12:11 PM 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 3 5/13/05 1:12:25 PM The Horseless Carriage This steam carriage from the 1850s was based on horse-drawn carriages. In some ways the automobile began with the invention of the wheel. That breakthrough occurred about four thousand years ago. The next big step was the invention of the steam engine. In 1769 a three-wheeled, steam-powered vehicle was invented by Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot. This invention was not designed to transport people though. It was built to haul cannons. It moved at a maximum speed of about three kilometers per hour, and had to stop often to build up steam. At the beginning of the 1800s, a few people in England had steam-powered vehicles, which were allowed on private tracks only. Many of them looked just like horse-drawn carriages, but without the horses. By the middle of that The new vehicles competed with horse-drawn carriages century, steam-powered vehicles were being used for and railroad companies in England. These businesses urged London’s fi rst bus system. the government to tax the steam-powered carriages. Unable to pay the taxes, they soon went out of business. Horse-drawn wagons, By the early 1900s steam-powered cars were being built carriages, and carts have been in the United States. The most famous was the Stanley used for thousands of years. Steamer, named for the builders Francis and Freelan Stanley. A Stanley steam car set a world speed record of over two hundred kilometers per hour in 1906. Inventors around the world also worked with other sources of power, such as kerosene and electricity. Cars with electric engines were especially popular in the 1800s and early 1900s. Electric vehicles were very quiet, so they didn’t scare their passengers or other drivers’ horses. But electric cars were not very practical. They had to stop often to recharge their batteries. 4 5 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 4 5/13/05 1:13:10 PM 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 5 5/13/05 1:13:17 PM The First Car Benz’s car had three wheels, which made it easy to steer. Historians disagree over who Daimler’s design had four wheels. At that time, roads were invented the fi rst modern car. very rough. They were usually unpaved, with two deep ruts This is due in part to the fact that made by carriage wheels. Daimler’s four-wheelers rode in many people around the world these ruts just like a carriage. But Benz’s three-wheeled cars invented and improved different did not fi t into the ruts, making for a very rough ride. parts of what was fi nally called Benz’s three-wheeled cars did not sell very well. So in an automobile. Benz’s three-wheeler gas- 1891 he changed his design to a four-wheeled vehicle, similar Some historians say the powered Patent Motorwagen to Daimler’s. Benz’s new car was much more popular than inventor of the car was Gottlieb the three-wheeled vehicle. By 1900 his company was the Daimler, while others believe it was Karl Benz. Both were largest automaker in the world. German engineers, and both invented vehicles powered by gasoline engines. Both produced vehicles that were similar to present-day cars. On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz’s gas-fueled motor vehicle design was recognized by the German government. For this reason, Benz is generally considered the automobile’s inventor. In March of the same year, Diamler installed a gas engine on a four- wheeled carriage. His vehicle was more like today’s cars. Gottlieb Daimler’s early four-wheeled Benz’s four-wheeled Velo motorcar car, shown from behind 6 7 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 6 5/13/05 1:13:21 PM 13969_05-28_FSD.indd 7 5/13/05 1:13:26 PM Mass Production At the beginning of the 1900s there were several thousand cars in use in the United States. Only the very rich could afford these cars. Driving a car was more of an expensive hobby than a useful way to get around. Soon all of this would change. Mass production would make the automobile the most popular method of transportation in the United States. In the beginning every car was made to order, so each car was unique. The fi rst car to be standardized was Benz’s 1894 Velo. More than one hundred Velos were built in 1895. The Model T Ford was affordable enough for millions of people to buy. The fi rst U.S. auto to be mass produced was the 1901 Oldsmobile called the Curved Dash. Unlike other cars at the time, Oldsmobiles were built on an assembly line. In 1901 an amazing 425 Curved Dash Oldsmobiles were built. It was Henry Ford, however, who really began modern auto manufacturing. Ford improved the assembly line process by adding a conveyor belt.