Fun Facts: Transportation "All travelling becomes dull in exact
proportion to its rapidity." The first recorded attempt at
flight is from 1020, when Oliver of Malmesbury, an English
Benedictine monk, strapped a large pair of wings to his body and
tried to soar into the air from Malmesbury Abbey. He fell,
breaking both his legs. The world's first iron bridge. The first
bridge made out of iron had a span of only 100 feet. It spanned
the Severn River at Coalbrookdale and was built in 1777–1778.
The bridge still exists today. The automobile is over 200 years
old. In 1804, Philadelphia ordered a steam-dredge from Oliver
Evans, inventor of the high-pressure steam engine and other
technology. Evans' shop was a mile and a half from the
Schuylkill River, so he mounted one of his engines within the
dredge-scow and ran the scow on rollers by steam to the river,
making this device the first automobile. When he reached the
river Evans substituted a paddle for the rollers and steamed
away to Philadelphia, also making this