Rickett (car)

Thomas Rickett of Buckingham in the United Kingdom introduced in 1860 a steam-powered automobile manufactures. Unlike other former attempts of Rickett was produced in series. It produced some specimens that were available on the market. Therefore, it can be considered as the first production car in the UK.

Rickett was in the management of the Castle Foundry in Buckingham, which produced agricultural equipment and in 1857 began the manufacture of steam engines. In 1858 he joined those two ideas and presented as a steam plow ago. This brought the Marquess of Stafford to order a steam car. This car had three wheels, the individual was in the front, a built-up rear, coal-fired boiler and a two-cylinder steam engine. The boiler pressure was 1.79 bar ( 110 psi) and the cylinders had a bore of 76 mm and a stroke of 178 mm. The force of the steam engine was passed via a chain to the right rear. The top speed was given as 30.6 km / h. The heater was in the back and three passengers were able to sit up front next to each other with the right fitting the steering column, the controller, the lever for the reverse gear and the brake had to operate. The wheels and the brake eisenbereift were acted on the rear wheels.

1860 a second specimen was appointed by the Earl of Caithness, but this time the rear wheels were driven via a two-speed gearbox with spur gears. The Earl drove the 235 km from Inverness to Barrogil Castle, 32 km north of Wick in Scotland with his wife as a passenger and Thomas Rickett as a heater.

After this success turned Rickett an ad in the magazine The Engineer, in which he his steam car for £ 180 - £ 200 offered for sale. However, he was ahead of his time and probably not the machine was sold.

Swell

Nick Georgano (Editor): Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. HM Stationery Office ( 2000). ISBN 1-57958-293-1
Nick Georgano: Source Book of Veteran Cars. Was lock (1974). ISBN 0-7063-1820 -X

Former Automobile Manufacturers Association ( England)
Former company ( Buckinghamshire )

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