At the end of the 10th century, talented engineers from Germany Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, not knowing for the first time about the existence of each other, laid the foundation for the future automotive industry in their workshops. Benz was the first to launch the prototype of the future car, and Daimler was the first to offer the nascent automotive industry a functional engine.
Geniuses are not born
The hereditary baker and viticulturist Johannes Daimler from Schorndorf, Germany, saw in his son Gottlieb, born March 17, 1834, the future successor to the family business or municipal employee. But fate decreed otherwise. From school years, the boy was fascinated by technology and exact sciences. Yielding to the desires of his son, at the end of elementary school, his father gave him as an apprentice to the gunsmith Reitel. By the age of seventeen, Gottlieb Daimler had mastered the specialty of a weapons master. In 1853, on the recommendation of fellow countryman and public figure F. Steinbeis, the young man was hired by the workshops of the railway repair plant in Strasbourg (France), where he gained the necessary industrial experience to continue his education. In 1957, Gottlieb Daimler entered the Stuttgart Polytechnic Institute. Two years later, he received an engineering degree, but, according to him, he continued his studies all his life.
To the heights of engineering
The young specialist continued his career at the same Strasbourg enterprise. Gottlieb Daimler became more and more convinced every day that an alternative to bulky and metal-consuming steam engines should be a lighter and more convenient engine in operation. In search of like-minded German engineer replaced several enterprises in France and England. In 1863, enriched by advanced European experience, Daimler returned to his homeland. At the agricultural machinery factory in Reutlingen, he began as a draftsman, and a year later he became technical director. But the main fateful milestone of this period is an acquaintance with the talented mechanic Wilhelm Maybach, who became a true friend and ally for life.
Jobs in Deutz
In 1872, the inventor of the internal combustion engine, Nikolaus Otto and his financial partner Eugen Leigen, sought for their "Gas Engine Plant in Deutz" a competent and proactive engineer capable of setting up serial production of industrial engines. Their choice fell on Daimler and, as time has shown, was absolutely correct. The new technical manager brought with him a group of highly skilled workers and Maybach, who led the design bureau. Despite the commercial success of the enterprise, associates finally made sure that the stationary gas engine has no future: with three-meter dimensions, the theoretical maximum power was limited to 3-4 liters. from.
On the way to a dream
The inventions of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach did not resonate with the leaders of Deutz, and in 1872, like-minded people organized their own project, in which the first was the leader, and Maybach the design engineer.
On the territory of the estate purchased in the vicinity of Stuttgart, companions set up workshops where they were closely engaged in the creation of a new engine. The first prototype operating on gasoline was a high-speed (up to 900 r / s, which is quite good for that time) single-cylinder engine with ignition ignition and the simplest evaporative carburetor. Further work of the inventors was to minimize the unit. A water cooling system was developed and a sealed engine crankcase was created. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler received a patent for the use of a modernized ICE in transport.
First locomotive, motorcycle and car
In the same year, new engines were installed on a locomotive serving factory access roads at the Otto-Deutz enterprise, and on the passenger car of the Kirchheim Railway. Following the inventors presented a prototype of a modern motorcycle - a wooden motor bike, which speeds up to 12 km / h.
The following year, an improved engine was installed on the first Gottlieb Daimler car . The Motor Carriage, patented in 1986, was manufactured in Hamburg and assembled in Stuttgart workshops. The engine and steering under the supervision of Maybach were mounted at the Esslingen plant. The transmission was a belt drive. The achieved speed of 16 km / h was considered a good result for the first sample.
Looking for commercial partners
By 1888, modifications were made to engines for boats and airships. The initiatives and areas of application of the new ICE demonstrated by partners for some time did not arouse interest among entrepreneurs. The situation was saved by the sale of outboard engines, which owners of small vessels willingly bought.
The first commercial proposal came from France. Peimo and Panar and Levassor companies began to install Daimler products on their cars, but there was always not enough money for the production of new engines. This forced Gottlieb Daimler to attract local businessmen as investors and to organize the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft joint-stock company in 1890. The policy pursued by the actual owners of the company, which amounted to the creation of stationary mechanisms, did not coincide with the views of Daimler and Maybach, but friends worked hard to develop new engines for automobile transport.
A star will rise ...
The world famous three-beam star, symbolizing the use of its motors on land, in water and in the sky, Daimler painted on the walls of his own home in 1880. The drawing turned out to be prophetic. The victory of cars equipped with DMG engines in numerous races and runs led to a gradual increase in sales. The spray-type carburetor invented by Maybach in 1893 and the spark ignition system developed by Robert Bosch significantly improved the traction and speed characteristics and control of the internal combustion engine.
A car from an outlandish product has become a necessary means of transportation. The Phoenix power unit designed by Maybach served as the basis for the production of a whole range of engines with a capacity of up to 9 liters. from. In 1899, cars are equipped with a four-cylinder 24-horsepower engine.
The best or nothing
Gottlieb Daimler, the founder and head of DMG, died at the age of 66, in 1900. He did not live about a year until the legendary Mercedes brand appeared in the model range of his company, which marked the beginning of the history of the world's most popular and respected automobile brand. Since 1926, after merging Benz & Cie with Karl Benz into one company, cars are produced under the Mercedes-Benz brand name.
You can have endless debates about who Gottlieb Daimler was, what he invented. Who has done more for the formation and development of Daimler Benz AG and the global automotive industry as a whole. The time and well-deserved success of Mercedes cars were balanced by Gottlieb Daimler’s organizational skills and determination, Karl Benz’s indefatigability and versatility, and Wilhelm Maybach’s technical genius.