The 1880s
Trouvé swiftly adapted his battery-powered motor to marine propulsion; to make it easy to carry his marine conversion to and from his workshop to the nearby River Seine, Trouvé made it portable and removable from the boat, thus inventing the outboard engine. On May 26, 1881, the 5m Trouvé prototype, called Le Téléphone reached a speed of 1 m/s (3,6 km/h) going upstream and 2,5 m/s (9 km/h) downstream.
In 1880 Trouvé improved the efficiency of a small electric motor developed by Siemens and using the recently developed rechargeable battery, fitted it to an English James Starley tricycle, so inventing the world’s first electric vehicle. Although this was successfully tested on April 19, 1881 along the Rue Valois in central Paris, he was unable to patent it.
Trouvé exhibited his boat (but not his tricycle) and his electro-medical instruments at the International Electrical Exhibition in Paris and soon after was awarded the prestigious Légion d'Honneur. He also miniaturized his electric motor to power a model airship, a dental drill, a sewing machine and a razor.
Gustave Trouvé next invented his “Photophore”, or battery-powered frontal headlamp, which he
developed for a client, Dr Paul Hélot, an ear-nose-and throat specialist of Rouen. This wearable, direct shaft, lighting system could be oriented by head movements, so freeing the hands of its wearer. A file of correspondence between these two men enables one
to place this invention during 1883.
