Father Ferdinand Verbiest

Father Ferdinand Verbiest

Father Ferdinand Verbiest (9 October 1623 – 28 January 1688) was a Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty. He was born in Pittem near Tielt in the County of Flanders .He is known as Nan Huairen in Chinese.

The steam 'car' designed by Verbiest in 1672

                        During the 1670s, Verbiest planned what some case to be the first ever self moved vehicle  numerous case this as the world's first vehicles, notwithstanding its little size and the absence of confirmation that it was really fabricate.

Alongside his work in stargazing, Verbiest additionally tried different things with team. Around 1672 he outlined as a toy for the Chinese Emperor a steampushed trolley which was the first meeting expectations steam controlled vehicle .Verbiest depicts it in his work Astronomia Europea. As it was just 25.6 in long, and accordingly adequately a scale model, not intended to convey human travelers, nor a driver, it is not entirely precise to call it a "car".Steam was created in a ball-formed heater, rising through a channel at the top, from where it was coordinated at a straightforward, open 'steam turbine'  that drove the back wheels.

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Verbiest
                     : http://www.autoviva.com/news/ferdinand_verbiest_early_visionary_of_auto_motion/575