| Thomas Parker must have been the first motorist in
Wolverhampton. He claimed to have had an electrically
powered vehicle running as early as 1884 and developed many
prototypes during his lifetime. He religiously obeyed the
Light Locomotive Act, the red flag law, which was only
banished in 1896. It set a speed limit of 4m.p.h. in open
country and 2 m.p.h. in towns. The Act required three
drivers for each vehicle, two to travel in the vehicle and
one to walk ahead carrying a red flag. One of his cars gave
over 18 months trouble free service on daily runs to and
from Tettenhall, to the E.C.C. works at Bushbury.
During a talk that he gave to the automobile Club, he
described the hilly town of Wolverhampton as being without a
single yard of level ground from Tettenhall to the town. He
groaned at the "Queen Square gradient", which was a real
problem when insufficient batteries limited his progress.
One of his cars went to London and was shipped to Paris, but
the ship floundered in mid channel and his valuable car was
salvaged and brought home. Some of Thomas's vehicles had
hydraulic brakes on all four wheels, as well as four-wheel
steering. These features are even now being described as
revolutionary. |
