Wilhelm Maybach is a German entrepreneur and auto designer. As the technical director of Daimler Motors, he made a significant contribution to the creation of the first modern machine. The Maybach car is now one of the best in the world. In this article we will present a brief biography of the inventor.
Childhood
Wilhelm Maybach was born in Heilbronn (Germany) in 1846. The boy's father was a joiner. It so happened that when he reached the age of ten, William became an orphan. He was brought up in the house of Pastor Werner. When Maybach turned fifteen, he began to receive a technical education in Reutlingen at an engineering plant. In the afternoon, the boy practiced in the workshop of the plant, and in the evening took lessons in drawing and mathematics at the city school. Also, the future German car designer began to study English and study three volumes of the textbook "Technical Mechanics", written by Julius Weissbach. The determination and perseverance of the young man were soon noticed.
Work
In 1863, Gottlieb Daimler took over as technical director of the Reutlingen plant. There he met Wilhelm. Three years later, Gottlieb moved to the same position at Deutz, which produced stationary internal combustion engines. It was headed by E. Langen and N. A. Otto. In 1869, Daimler remembered a hard-working, talented worker and invited Maybach to his place in Karlsruhe. During the meeting, they discussed the idea of creating a new engine, which was supposed to become more compact and light. Langen approved the project, but Otto resisted. Many years later (in 1907), Deutsche will nevertheless begin to build cars - first cars, and then buses, tractors and trucks, but by then the ICE pioneers will no longer be in the company.
Own business
Not finding understanding with the head of the company, Daimler opened his own company in Bad Cannstadt. Naturally, Gottlieb persuaded William to go with him. In 1882, their own company was founded. Maybach was engaged exclusively in technical design.
First inventions
In August 1883, Wilhelm Maybach produced a stationary motor of his own design. The engine weighed 40 kilograms and worked exclusively on light gas. At the end of that year, his next 1.6 hp version appeared. and a volume of 1.4 liters. Along the way, Maybach designed a new ignition system. In those days, in stationary engines, the mixture was ignited by an open flame. Wilhelm, on the other hand, invented an incandescent tube heated by a red-hot torch. And the process was controlled by a special valve in the combustion chamber, which, if necessary, was opened or closed. Such a system ensured stable operation even at low speeds.
The pursuit of excellence
This is what distinguished Wilhelm Maybach from others. From the beginning of his activity, he strove to modernize any design and used new patents. At the end of 1883, another engine was tested - a single-cylinder air-cooled engine, which developed at 0.25 rpm at 0.25 hp. An improved version (246 cubic centimeters and 0.5 hp) was developed in a year. Maybach himself dubbed him the “grandfather clock”, because the shape of the motor was rather unusual. After several decades, technology historians will note that William achieved not only a reduction in the weight of the motor. He also gave him outward grace.
Hansom
Wilhelm soon developed an evaporative carburetor. This was a breakthrough in the field of ICE, because now instead of light gas it was possible to use liquid fuel. And in 1885 there was a revolutionary event in technology - the Maybach engine set in motion a two-wheeled crew. A motor bike (or, as they say now, a motorcycle) had a pair of miniature wheels on its sides to maintain stability. 0.5 hp engine constantly rotated, and a two-stage belt transmission made it possible to reach speeds of up to 6 or 12 kilometers per hour. Founder Maybach tested in early November 1885 with his son Carl.
Of course, not everything went smoothly. A year later, William improved the engine by increasing the stroke and piston diameter. The engine capacity increased to 1.35 liters, but during testing it was constantly overheating. The use of a water cooling device did not correct the situation. Therefore, the invention had to be abandoned.
New engine
Wilhelm went on to develop a motor for the world's first four-wheeled car with a volume of 0.462 liters. Since Maybach and Daimler were in a great hurry with the release, the engine was mounted on a horse-drawn carriage. In March 1887, the first tests passed. A month later, a motor boat with this engine appeared on a lake near Bad Cannstadt. Wilhelm carefully collected and systematized the results of all tests, understanding their importance for future experiments.
Building a new car
In 1889, Daimler planned to participate in the Paris World Exhibition. Wilhelm Maybach, quotes and notes about the activities of which were often published in the media, decided to build a new car for this event. And she impressed everyone! The world's first V-twin engine with a camber angle of 17 ° was delivered to the Daimler-Stalradvagen. At 900 rpm, the engine developed 1.6 hp. And instead of the previous belt drive, the gears started the wheels. In fact, the author developed a conceptual design. However, it was a commercial success. The car was built by the NSU bicycle factory. Its owners Emil Levassor and Armand Peugeot bought a patent for the transmission and engine. Moreover, under the terms of the contract, they were obliged to produce motors under the Daimler brand.
Gottlieb invested the money received for the patent into the creation of a separate workshop for Maybach. Thanks to this, research was carried out quite actively, and all the friction with the company's shareholders against the background of promising developments were smoothed out.
New inventions of William Maybach
In 1893, the hero of this article developed a spray carburetor with a syringe-type jet. A year later, Maybach received a patent for a hydraulic brake device. And in 1895, his famous two-cylinder in-line engine "Phoenix" appeared. Initially at 750 rpm, it developed 2.5 hp. Gradually, the design was improved, and in 1896 the power increased to 5 hp. The performance of the motor allowed to improve the radiator of a new original design. Three years later, the four-cylinder Phoenix with a capacity of 23 hp was released. and a volume of 5900 cm 3 . The motor was installed on a car commissioned by Emil Jellinek (Ambassador to Nice from the Austro-Hungarian Empire). In March 1899, he won this mountain racing car. Jellinek performed under the pseudonym Mercedes (daughter's name). Soon it will become a brand of the Daimler factory.
Change
Gottlieb passed away in 1900, and William's position worsened greatly. Maybach, who gave all his best at work and lost some of his health, was forced to write to the head of the company petitions for a salary increase. But they remained unanswered. It is not surprising, because the new management of the company remembered that in disputes with them, Wilhelm always took the side of Daimler.
Meanwhile, the development of technology continued. In 1902, "Phoenix" was replaced by "Simplex", produced under the brand name "Mercedes". A four-cylinder engine with a volume of 5320 cm 3 at 1100 rpm developed a power of 32 hp. Then there was a Mercedes with a motor of 6,550 cm 3 , and for the then-popular Gordon-Bennet races, they built a car with a four-cylinder engine of 60 hp. at 1000 rpm.
"Zeppelin"
In 1907, Maybach left the company, whose fame rested solely on his performance and talent. After this, the designer was fascinated by the idea of creating motors for the Zeppelin airships known at that time. In 1908, Count Ferdinand tried to sell the LZ3 and LZ4 models to the government. But the latter crashed. LZ4 engines simply could not handle the load during an emergency landing. However, the production of airships did not stop. The main task of the hero of this article was to improve the engines.
Having received the support of Count Ferdinand, William and his son opened the company Maybach Motorenbau. The company was actually led by Karl, and his father became a leading consultant. During the 1st World War, they sold about 2,000 aircraft engines. In 1916, Stuttgart University of Technology awarded Wilhelm Maybach a doctorate.
Maybach Cars
In 1919, after the end of the war, the Versailles Agreement was signed. It prohibited the manufacture of airships in Germany. Thus, Maybach was forced to return to the creation of gasoline engines for cars, as well as diesel engines for trains and ships of the navy.
Germany is in crisis. Due to a lack of funds, many automotive companies could not afford third-party engines and were developing their own. Only the Dutch company Spiker agreed to cooperate with Maybach. But the terms of the contract were so unprofitable that William rejected him as much as four times. As a result, the inventor decided to start producing his own machines. In 1921, the first Maybach limousines were issued.
The car designer worked almost to an advanced age and for a long time did not want to retire. The German engineer died at the end of 1929 and was buried in the Uff-Kirchhof cemetery near Daimler.
Heritage
Wilhelm Maybach, whose biography was presented above, was one of the first to understand that a car is not just a wagon with an engine. Vast design experience and engineering talent allowed the German to consider the machine as a complex of all its components. Wilhelm believed that it was from this position that it was necessary to approach design. And now, when evaluating the convenience and functionality of cars named after his name (for example, Maybach Exelero), you can see the correctness of the concept of a German engineer.
Even during the life of Maybach they called it “the king of designers”. And in 1922, the "Society of German Engineers" awarded him the title of "pioneer designer." That is what he was. A year earlier, when the seventy-five-year-old Maybach was no longer working, the first Maybach car was built at the Friedrichshafen plant. At the moment, the model line of the legendary brand has expanded significantly. The most expensive car is the Maybach Exelero, the price of which reaches $ 8 million.