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What’s this contraption? It’s a Stanley steam engine from 1905 with two cylinders.
There’s something about an individual throttle body and carb setup that gives me the same admiration as a hand-crafted Swiss watch. A lot of care was taken in machining each of the six trumpets.
Yes, this is an old car. But what’s unique about it? This 1914 Galt is a gas-electric hybrid. What is old is new again.
The large horizontal cylinder should be a generator with the gas engine attached on the front. It looks to be a 2-cylinder engine. It’s interesting that the coolant hose goes from the top of the engine to the top of the radiator. Anyway, the configuration of this hybrid setup is basically like a range extended EV, such as the BMW i3, or the first generation GM Volt. The gas engine spins the electric generator which provides electricity to the electric motor. Extra power from the generator was put in the batteries. When extra power was required from the motor, power could be drawn from the battery. The first gas-electric hybrid was actually built thirteen years earlier by Ferdinand Porsche. If you look at Porsche’s current lineup, it’s hybrid heavy. It took a bit over a century to come full circle.
These displays showed a comparison of electric vehicle technology between today and a hundred years ago. There was also a display on the history of batteries for EVs. Back by the Galt, they had a movie from the early 20th century showing a race between early cars and horses. The sentiment of many at the time was that cars were stupid because they broke down all the time, were slower than horses, and you had to find a place to get gas to put in the car. Gas stations weren’t exactly easy to find. Substitute ‘horse’ with gas car and ‘car’ with electric vehicle, and the conversation is the same today. Funny how that works, huh? Imagine what people a hundred years from now will think of people who think EVs are stupid because there aren’t charging stations on every corner like there are gas stations.
