A-Z OF STEAM VEHICLES

BOGHOS PACHA NUBAR

This unusual name belonged to a middle-aged Egyptian cotton baron who had received engineering training in Paris. He devised a rotary cultivator that was patented in 1897 and came to France to get it built. The first was powered by electricity and the second was attached to a Fowler in 1900 with a separate steam engine to power triple overlapping rotors behind the tender. Typically the rotors ran at 20rpm and cultivated to a depth of 20cm.

It appeared that Monsieur Boghos Pacha Nubar was a director of an Egyptian railway company so plainly had steam in his veins, though his next cultivator featured a hot bulb oil engine. This complex and massive machine featured 4x4 but seems to have been beset with teething troubles. Next came another steam design with Niclausse boiler and Boulte Larbordiere motor, followed by a simpler 4x2 chassis with Serpollet boiler and a twin-cylinder steam engine seemingly from a boat. It had small rear wheels