re: #308 Amer-I-Can

He shoulda known… here is what I found with a quick search of the library of congress:

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804) 1769 STEAM / Built the first self propelled road vehicle (military tractor) for the French army: three wheeled, 2.5 mph. France

Robert Anderson 1832-1839 ELECTRIC / Electric carriage. Scotland

Karl Friedrich Benz (1844-1929) 1885/86 GASOLINE / First true automobile. Gasoline automobile powered by an internal combustion engine: three wheeled, Four cycle, engine and chassis form a single unit. Germany Patent DRP No. 37435

Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (1834-1900) and Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929) 1886 GASOLINE / First four wheeled, four-stroke engine- known as the “Cannstatt-Daimler.” Germany

George Baldwin Selden (1846-1922) 1876/95 GASOLINE / Combined internal combustion engine with a carriage: patent no: 549,160 (1895). Never manufactured — Selden collected royalties. United States

Charles Edgar Duryea (1862-1938) and his brother Frank (1870-1967) 1893 GASOLINE / First successful gas powered car: 4hp, two-stroke motor. The Duryea brothers set up first American car manufacturing company. United States

Apparently, we were a bit behind the power curve in the beginning…

Ford finally took Selden’s patent (everybody else was paying Selden royalties) and won.