Baldwin Locomotive, located on Spring Garden Street in Philadelphia in the 1890s, was perhaps America's premier locomotive builder in that era. To say that Baldwin knew steam power was accurate. Suppose, in (let's say) 1895, management took to heart the experiments with horseless carriages, some of which were steam powered, and decided to use Baldwin's know-how to branch out into this nascent technology?
This was approximately the dawn of oil-fired steam systems, with marine applications beginning to make the transition. And at the time, kerosene was widely available, so there's no difficulty in securing fuel. Thus, let's assume Baldwin was able to engineer a relatively small kerosene-fired boiler to fit within the confines of a carriage body. Then, it should be no difficulty to scale down the compound expansion technology used on railroads to get the most economy out of steam without resorting to a condenser--and fit one or two compound expansion engines (really just the cylinder, valve train including reversing valve, piston and the equivalent of the side rods) under that same carriage.
Now you have the motive technology provided by Baldwin ready to be mated to the product of any of a number of carriage builders. Suppose the deal had been consummated and Baldwin entered the horseless carriage field in 1895? How would that have affected the development of the steam automobile in particular and automobiles in general?
This was approximately the dawn of oil-fired steam systems, with marine applications beginning to make the transition. And at the time, kerosene was widely available, so there's no difficulty in securing fuel. Thus, let's assume Baldwin was able to engineer a relatively small kerosene-fired boiler to fit within the confines of a carriage body. Then, it should be no difficulty to scale down the compound expansion technology used on railroads to get the most economy out of steam without resorting to a condenser--and fit one or two compound expansion engines (really just the cylinder, valve train including reversing valve, piston and the equivalent of the side rods) under that same carriage.
Now you have the motive technology provided by Baldwin ready to be mated to the product of any of a number of carriage builders. Suppose the deal had been consummated and Baldwin entered the horseless carriage field in 1895? How would that have affected the development of the steam automobile in particular and automobiles in general?