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Taylor Steam Buggy
Model Year: 1867
Location of Manufacture: Stanstead, Quebec
Tiller and hand-throttle
The means through which the car’s speed and direction were controlled are shown here. The yellow handle is the throttle which regulated the speed. The horizontal bar with the red knob is the tiller which set the car’s direction.
Steam engine
This is the coal-fired boiler positioned at the rear of the car. The boiler heats water to a high temperature which then creates steam. The steam passes through pipes to a reservoir. The piston, which is connected to the wheel drive, has valves through which the steam passes, causing the vehicle to move.
Boiler and hoses
This view shows the hoses which run from the boiler to the steam cylinders on the left and right sides of the buggy by way of the oiler (the cylindrical shaped glass container right of the seat). There is also a return line to the boiler that runs underneath.
Henry Seth Taylor (1833-1887)
ca. 1875
Taylor, a jeweller and watchmaker by trade, was a resident of Stanstead in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He designed and built Canada’s first automobile, the Taylor Steam Buggy.
Stanstead Historical Society
Twenty-dollar silver coin depicting the Taylor Steam Buggy
2000
From 2000 to 2003, the Royal Canadian Mint issued 12 coins in a series on land, rail and sea transportation. The series began with the Taylor Steam Buggy and ended with the Bricklin SV-1.
Royal Canadian Mint, Ottawa, Ontario, CMST 2000.0090.
Commemorative stamp showing the Taylor Steam Buggy
1993
In 1993, Canada Post launched a series of stamps on the theme, “Personal Vehicles.” The series included 25 different vehicles, among them the Taylor Steam Buggy.
Library and Archives Canada, Canada Post Corporation, Philatelic records, Vol.5, Item no. 0452, Archival reference no. R169-5
Henry Seth Taylor with his Steam Buggy,
Stanstead, Quebec
ca. 1867
This is the only known photograph of Seth Taylor with his Steam Buggy. It is thought to have been taken at Stanstead, Quebec, in 1867.