My books THE SUPPRESSION OF THE
AUTOMOBILE and the paperback edition WHO REALLY INVENTED THE AUTOMOBILE?
needs to be subjects for a blog. I start it off with an email received
from an English reader.
On 26-Aug-12, at 10:11 PM, David Eustace wrote:
Dear Sir or Madam
I have just read with enthusiasm Mr Beasleys excellent book on this
subject.This subject is close to my heart because I am a GGGGGrandson of
the Steam Carriage Pioneer Walter Hancock 1799-1852 whom was arguably
the Father of the Automobile.A biography of Walter Hancocks life was
written by our cousin Francis James in 1975 and he recently co-Authored
in 2009 a book on the lives of Walter Hancock and his older Brother
Thomas Hancock the Father of the Rubber Industry in Britain and first to
patent the vulcanization process in Britain, the first to
scientifically describe vulcanization,and name the process. He was also
the surviving controlling Partner of Chas. Mackintosh and Co. Mr Beasley
may be interested in the remaining years of Walter Hancocks life after
his contribution of 10 steam carriages between 1830 and 1840.
He
and his Listed Artist Brother Charles Hancock 1802-1877 took the
substance Gutta Percha that their Brother Thomas Hancock gave them when
it first appeared in Britain and patented it`s use as an insulator. the
two Brothers soon took copper wire,rubber, and invented an extrusion
machine to cover copper telegraph wire into an impervious cable of
copper, rubber and outer gutta percha, [an early polymer plastic] and
this cable was laid across the English Channel and the basic design and
machine to produce it [built by Walter Hancock and patented by his
brother Charles].So although the Railway Barrons were able to suppress
the automobile for 70 years Walters cotribution to communication
continued on by this achievement until his death in 1852.
Yours Sincerely,
David Eustace
My
reply:
Dear Mr Eustace, Thank you for communicating and narrating the
Hancock family's contribution to communication. I am glad that you liked
the book. As a compromise with the publisher I had to cut some of the
manuscript [publishers hate to spend money on books which run over a
certain number of pages] but I kept the paper book rights and issued a
longer version in 1997 as Who Really Invented the Automobile? with more
information on Serpollet's steam carriage and his financial backer the
American Gardner.[Incidentally I discovered that Gardner made his
fortune as a theatrical impresario when researching my book McKee Rankin
and the Heyday of the American Theater]. In the footnote on Hancock I
questioned James's motivation in discounting Gurney but assume he was
just trying to blow Hancock's horn. Thanks for mentioning his 2009 book;
I did know a bit about the Hancocks' rubber inventions. Sincerely,
David Beasley
