He also constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. His inventions were, however, handicapped by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure. In 1. 80. 1, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and was of little practical use. The development of external combustion engines is detailed as part of the history of the car, but often treated separately from the development of true cars. A variety of steam powered road vehicles were used during the first part of the 1. Sentiment against them led to the Locomotive Acts of 1. In 1. 80. 7, Nicphore Nipce and his brother Claude created what was probably the worlds first internal combustion engine which they called a Pyrolophore, but they chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France. Coincidentally, in 1. Download Movies To Ipad. Swiss inventor Franois Isaac de Rivaz designed his own de Rivaz internal combustion engine and used it to develop the worlds first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The Nipces Pyrolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder dried spores of the Lycopodium plant, finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. Neither design was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles usually adapted carriages or carts powered by internal combustion engines. Gustave Trouvs tricycle, the first ever electric automobile to be shown in public. In November 1. 88. French inventor Gustave Trouv demonstrated the first working three wheeled car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris. Although several other German engineers including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern car. In 1. Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle. His first Motorwagen was built in 1. Mannheim, Germany. He was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on 2. January 1. 88. 6 under the auspices of his major company, Benz Cie., which was founded in 1. Benz began promotion of the vehicle on 3 July 1. Benz vehicles were sold between 1. They also were powered with four stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz car to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early cars, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. In August 1. 88. 8 Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road worthiness of her husbands invention. In 1. 89. 6, Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion flat engine, called boxermotor. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest car company in the world with 5. Benz Cie., became a joint stock company.