Article ID: CBB847245784

Reexamining the Automobile’s Past: What Were the Critical Factors That Determined the Emergence of the Internal Combustion Engine as the Dominant Automotive Technology? (2021)

unapi

At the end of the 19th-century three technologies had emerged as sources of motive power for the automobile: steam, internal combustion, and electric motors. In 1900, in the United States and around the world, each of these powered a roughly equal number of automobiles. Thus, the early period of automobile development offers fertile ground for the study of technological path choice. At that time, it appeared that the electric motor was poised to become the dominant automotive technology. However, the internal combustion engine achieved this status instead. Although a large number of studies have examined the history of the automobile with a view to determining the reasons for the emergence of the internal combustion engine as the dominant technology for the car engine (especially its choice over the electric motor), no consensus has emerged of what the critical factors were. A close reexamining of the history allows us to identify the years 1900-1904 as the period during which the automobile’s technological path was determined. A review of the conditions prevailing during this period and the stages of development of the sociotechnical systems in which each of the alternative automotive technologies was embedded helps us identify the aspiration for touring as the key factor fixing the path for the technological development of the automobile from that point on.

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Authors & Contributors
Waite, Thornton
Gray Fitzsimons
Shana Lee Hirsch
Watson, Matt
Temenos, Cristina
Leech, Brian James
Concepts
Tourism
Sociotechnical systems
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Automobiles
Development of technology; change in technology
Land transportation
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
19th century
20th century, early
Places
United States
Butte, Montana
Mount Washington, New Hampshire
Niagara Falls
Columbia River
New Hampshire (U.S.)
Institutions
United States. Department of Agriculture
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.)
Yellowstone National Park
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