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and Ford sold 300,000 cars in 1914. Yearly production of Model Ts surpassed one
million in 1922.
Early trucks also were steam-powered; Gottlieb Daimler built the first truck
powered by an internal combustion engine in 1891 and began manufacturing them
in 1894. Although horses were still in use for transport, by 1910 the truck was
considered superior to horse-drawn wagons where paved roads and streets were
available.
The French first used trucks in the military in 1897. Trucks were used in World
War I by all sides, and the United States used one- and three-ton trucks that were
called “Liberty Trucks.” After the war the U.S. government sold many of these
vehicles to citizens, providing an impetus for the conversion to motorized vehicles.
Buses powered by internal combustion engines were first produced by Karl
Benz and operated in Germany in 1895. By 1910 motor-driven buses had replaced
most horse-drawn buses. The last horse-drawn buses stopped running in London
in 1914 (Lay 1992, 173).
Conversion to gas-powered cars and trucks was not without opposition. People
complained of the noise and smell produced by the engines and the dust produced
by the vehicles on unpaved roads. By 1905 the United States built the same num-
ber of cars as carriages. In 1909 the car replaced the horse for the transport of
U.S. presidents. With the paving of roads and streets, as well as advancements
in the gas engine and inexpensive production techniques, the automobile grew in
popularity and use during the first three decades of the 20th century.
Cars and trucks enabled transportation of people, goods, and mail over great
distances and to remote parts of a nation. As people and mail traveled, so did ideas
and information.
Aviation
On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made their historic flight at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. By mid-century, air travel had become a major form of
commercial transportation. Aircraft development occurred in France, England, and
Germany. Frenchman Louis Blériot was the first to cross the English Channel by
air in 1909.
During World War I, improvements were made in airplane structure and in en-
gine design. In 1920 the Aeromarine Sightseeing and Navigation Company flew
passengers between New York City and resorts as far away as Florida, Havana,
and Nassau (Grant, 153). In 1918 U.S. Army pilots began flying planes to deliver
mail, and in 1925 Congress passed and Calvin Coolidge signed the Contract Air
Mail Act, which authorized the postmaster general to select air routes for delivery
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