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The steam carriage predates the bicycle

Self-propelled steam road vehicles appeared before the bicycle. French engineer Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built a steam-powered artillery dray in 1769. Karl von Drais’s “running machine,” an early bicycle, came much later: it was publicly tested in 1817 and received a privilege comparable to a patent in 1818. The source-list claim of a “1797 patent for a steam carriage” could not be verified and likely confuses an early design or model with a patent. [1–3]

AI-згенерована концептуальна ілюстрація (бонус, остання у візуальному порядку), що ставить паровий візок Кюньо поруч із безпедальною біговою машиною Драйза. Не є фото оригінальних артефактів. Prompt: “Editorial historical illustration contrasting two early inventions: on one side Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's 18th-century three-wheeled steam artillery dray with front boiler, on the other Karl Drais's 1817 wooden two-wheel running machine without pedals, both shown as museum-style object reconstructions in a balanced side-by-side composition, no logos, no text, accurate period forms, clearly illustrative not documentary photographs.”

AI-згенерована концептуальна ілюстрація (бонус, остання у візуальному порядку), що ставить паровий візок Кюньо поруч із безпедальною біговою машиною Драйза. Не є фото оригінальних артефактів. Prompt: “Editorial historical illustration contrasting two early inventions: on one side Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's 18th-century three-wheeled steam artillery dray with front boiler, on the other Karl Drais's 1817 wooden two-wheel running machine without pedals, both shown as museum-style object reconstructions in a balanced side-by-side composition, no logos, no text, accurate period forms, clearly illustrative not documentary photographs.”