Cugnio and his steam-engine.

Cugnio mover was one of the very first steam-enigines, produced by N. J. Cugnio in Paris in 1770. Nicolas Joseph Cugnio was born in Lorraine in 1725. Since his youth he showed his worth as a very promising inventor and rationalizer. As long as he wasn’t well-to-do enough himself he was unable to sponsor his experiments, he had to join French military forces and being a captain of French army he invented a lot. Some of these are still actual today. Steam-engine is what especially attracted ingenious Cugnio. He pondered much about a way of using it for constructing self-propelled carriages, especially about a way to decrease their size and weight, and increase their power. In 1764 the Minister of War of France officially ordered him to construct a steam-engine necessary for moving French artillery. Cugnio designed a model of a small mover and in 1769 publicly demonstrated it in Paris at that very spot St. Magdalene’s temple is located today. This vehicle made 4.5 km/h; the work cycle of its steam-boiler was just 12 minutes. As this cycle was over, the steam-boiler had to be filled afresh with water, and then boiled over a bonfire for several hours in order to continue movement for 12 more minutes. Despite of all these drawbacks the French Minister of War liked the steam-engine so much so he immediately ordered Cugnio to project a bigger machine. On the 22nd of 1770 this vehicle was subjected to approbation by an official representative of civil and military departments. It made less than 4 km/h, but there was an independent oven attached to the steam-boiler so it was no longer necessary to start a bonfire under the steam-boiler. The 1-cylinder steam-engine was located right above the front wheel of this vehicle. These solid bronze cylinders were 325 millimeters in diameter, 378 mm piston stroke. The drive momentum was delivered from piston to the wheel via a fork-and-pin mechanism. By changing its position the operator could start reverse movement. Initially the demonstration of this vehicle went well, but later the control system jammed, the mover hit a wall and it collapsed. Despite of this heavy blow the mover wasn’t any damaged and that proved the great durability of this war machine. Nevertheless, as it usually happened in history, the inventor lost his luck after the Minister of War fell into disgrace at court. Indifferent to everything and forgotten by everyone Cugnio died in 1804 in Brussels. Only once more the fire was started under the steam-boiler of his vehicle, when it was being transported from the arsenal building to Conservatoire Nationale des Arts et Metier in Paris. Today it’s still exhibited there.