The shipment of goods was dominated by the railways until the early 20th century. Preston was at the heart of attempts to break that monopoly. T Coulthard and Company of Preston were cotton machinery manufacturers. However they also made inroads into steam lorry manufacture. In 1896 Coulthard became part owner of J Summer of Leyland. James Summer developed various steam wagons and later Coulthard and Summer formed the Lancashire Steam Motor Company. This company eventually became Leyland Motors.
The Preston company of T Coulthard began experimenting with lighter steam lorries in 1895. A few problems had to be solved, including the need to shovel coal as well as drive! Another problem was the very inefficient delivery of power. The coal problem was solved by running the steam engine on oil. Compound engines had been used for ships for several years and by 1895, these were being adapted to road use. They had three cylinders and improved the efficiency of steam engines by a great amount.
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Source: Glasgow_Times - 🏆 76. / 59 Read more »