In the second half of the 19th century, the question of the fact that the first car would appear soon was already resolved. Unclear was only who would be the first in his invention. At the same time, several innovators worked in this direction. Some of them managed to get patents for their inventions in the same year. Who is considered the officially recognized creator of the car? The article will focus on Karl Benz.
Benz - a hereditary railroad worker
In the family of the inventor there were several hereditary blacksmiths. In past centuries, this profession obliged not only to create metal products, but also to be able to design them, that is, to be both a craftsman and mechanic, as well as an engineer and technologist.
Karl Benz was the son of one of these blacksmiths. And thanks to the development of the railway in German lands, Johann Georg Benz became a steam engine driver. However, this is precisely what led to his demise in the near future. Four months before Karl’s birth, his father caught a cold in a cabin with windows open, which is why he died of pneumonia. The future inventor was raised by a mother who was a French immigrant.
First lessons
After the misfortune with the father, the mother could not allow her only son, Karl Benz, to connect his life with the railway. She saw him as a government official. But the young man was drawn to technology. So, at the Lyceum, he was fond of studying physics and chemistry, often delayed after school to work in the school laboratory.
Passion led to the occupation of photography, which gave him the opportunity to receive the first earnings that his family needed. Another activity was watch repair. Over time, his mother allowed him to equip a workshop in the attic.
Technical education
All the hobbies of his son convinced his mother that the position of an official was far from the best occupation for him. With her permission, Karl Benz entered the Polytechnic School. At that time, the educational institution was a scientific center of mechanical engineering in Germany. Here they worked on the search for a new engine. It was supposed to be an alternative to a steam engine.
Karl Benz became infected with all the ideas that were associated with the creation of a powerful and compact engine.
Start your own business
After graduating from the Polytechnic School, which by that time had received university status, the innovator got a job at a mechanical engineering plant. At that time, it was believed that the designer should first work as a locksmith for "hardening."
Karl Benz, whose biography is under consideration, began to work for twelve hours in a dark workshop. After two years of exhausting work, having gained the necessary experience, he quit. For the next five years, Karl was a draftsman, designer in mechanical engineering. At this time, he raised funds for his own business. Benz had a dream to create a self-propelled crew.
A significant change in his life was the death of his mother and acquaintance with the young Berta Ringer. The girl was from the family of a wealthy carpenter, which positively influenced the opening of her own business.
The engineer created his workshop together with A. Ritter in the city of Mannheim. The dream of creating his own vehicle did not leave Benz for a minute, but concern for the financial well-being of the family, which was growing, required to reduce funds for design developments.
First successes
For the sake of the success of his own business, Benz took a risk and fell into difficult situations financially. Once he was nearly deprived of his own business with the land. To solve all the problems, it was necessary to create something meaningful. Spouses saw a way out in the invention of an internal combustion engine.
However, this idea has long been in the air and in the minds of many engineers and inventors, so it was not surprising that N. Otto had patented the engine earlier. However, this was related to the four-stroke engine, so the couple directed their efforts at creating a two-stroke engine. Benz's future car was supposed to operate on combustible gas.
The engine was launched on New Year's Eve of the outgoing 1878. Serial production began three years later at the plant in Mannheim. At this enterprise, the innovator was very limited in his rights, so he left it and started all over again with other partners. But new investors were in no hurry to invest in the creation of a car.
At the same time, Nikolaus Otto's patent was canceled, and innovators, including Benz, stepped up their own business in creating a four-stroke engine designed for automotive use.
Buyer Search
By the summer of 1886, a car was created and publicly tested, created by Karl Benz. The patent was signed six months before this event and received the number 37435. The engine worked on a mixture of air with gasoline vapors. The car itself moved on three wheels, because the problem of synchronous rotation was not solved.
Despite a successful invention from a technical point of view and favorable press reviews, the trolley with a motor was not successful with conservative Germans. The inventor had to advertise his brainchild at various exhibitions, including in Munich and Paris.
Along with attempts to establish sales, Carl continued to improve the car. Six years later, the "motor car" consisted of four wheels, was supplemented by a two-stage transmission. There were new models of the Benz brand. Sales grew, especially at the expense of France. Later, the cars of this company mastered the market of Europe, Russia, South America.
By the 20th century, the history of the car did not stop, it began to gain more serious momentum, and the business of Benz expanded.
The innovator died at the age of 84, handing over his business to his sons, which he organized at the age of sixty in the city of Ladenburg.
Specifications of the first car
The German engineer created his car secretly, since the issue of patents was crucial.
Main characteristics:
- total weight - 263 kg;
- four-stroke engine weight - 96 kg;
- the engine was cooled by water;
- the presence of one cylinder, clutch, neutral and forward gears in the transmission;
- three wheels;
- tape brake;
- chain drive.
Berta Benz's famous trip with sons
The inventor's wife played an important role in his life. She supported her husband in his endeavors both materially (the father-in-law invested his money in dealing with engines and handed over Bertha’s dowry even before marriage) and moral. There is also a story (of a Benz car) about a woman with her sons going on a trip with a range of almost 110 km.
It happened in August 1888. The route ran from the city of Mannheim to Pfrozheim, where Bert's mother lived. A few days later, a woman with children in the same car returned home.
During the trip, there were several difficulties that the spouse and children were able to cope on their own:
- they overcame the steep-rise section as follows: one son got behind the wheel, and his mother and second son pushed the car from behind;
- a broken leather drive belt was patched by a local shoemaker near Bruchsal;
- the role of punched insulation for the electric drive was performed by stocking garter;
- the resulting plug in the fuel pipe was cleaned with a simple hairpin.
The trip was a great promotion because it made clear to a skeptical society that even a woman with children could drive a car, eliminating minor damage if necessary. Also, the trip allowed to identify deficiencies in the car and eliminate them.
Berta Benz is known as the first woman to drive. She received the right to drive a vehicle in the same year.