Cecilia Berta Benz is a unique and great woman. What is she famous for? When was Berta Benz born? We will talk about this further.
Berthe Bens was born on May 3, 1849 in the family of carpenter Karl Friedrich Ringer. She was a very pretty young girl of German nationality. And her husband, Karl Benz, was a well-known German pioneer in the global automotive industry. The popularity of this woman is that she made the world's first motor rally. Thanks to Bert, we are currently enjoying various types of cars and watching traffic jams.
Marriage
When she was only 23 years old, May 20, 1878, she successfully married Karl Benz. A chance acquaintance of a beautiful couple happened precisely at the meeting of Karl with his partners, where the topic of a new project in the scientific field was just discussed. Karl was able to captivate the girl with her story, so much so that Berta instantly canceled her engagement to William, despite all the excuses of her father. Karl liked the girl. They immediately began to meet. Soon the couple became husband and wife. This marriage lasted the whole subsequent life. Berta Benz and her husband raised five beautiful children.
Important decision for help
Berta Benz, whose photo you have the opportunity to see in the article, always helped her husband in his affairs, supported both morally and financially. Even before the wedding, Karl’s organization suffered huge financial losses. Berta, not being lost, decides to help her future husband, and gives him all her dowry, accumulated by her father. These tools helped Karl a lot to design a new engine. But the money quickly ran out, as the carpenter’s savings, unfortunately, were small. At that time, two boys had already appeared in the family: Eugen and Richard. Biography of Bertha Benz was not the most joyful during this period. She made dinner almost out of nothing. The family was starving. The woman, with all her strength, held on as best she could. Karl has been working actively and hard on his new projects all this time.
Husband's first car
In the end, their joint efforts did not go unnoticed. In 1885, Karl created the so-called "self-propelled stroller." She had a single-cylinder engine with power equivalent to the power of one horse. The weight of this engine was only 60 kg. At that time it was very small. Take for comparison the Deutsche engine - its weight was 660 kg.
At that time, people had different views on any discoveries in science and technology. But, despite the ridicule of the surrounding inhabitants, Karl continued to work on his projects, and by 1988 he had released several more such machines. They differed from the first model and were much better in everything. One of them was a convertible (a car with an awning on top, which served as a good shelter from rain or other bad weather).
But all projects failed, there was no demand for such developments. Residents with caution and contempt examined technological innovations and asked the question: “Why create self-propelled motorized carriages if there are horses on the streets?”
The journey of Berta and her sons in the first car
Berta Benz, whose personal life was the best, looked at everything that was happening primarily with her female look, realizing that any work needs a certain demonstration. People needed to get across and show the benefits of the machine. Prove that such a transport is much better than a conventional horse-drawn cart.
On the basis of his reasoning, on May 5, 1988, Berta makes a fateful decision. Without notifying her husband about his venture, he takes his car and sets off with his two sons on a road trip. At the wheel was the eldest, 15-year-old son Eugen. They went to Pforzheim, the city where Bertin's parents lived. The speed of movement was about 15 km / h. The approximate distance traveled per day was about 106 kilometers.
During the trip, forced stops were made for the purchase of gasoline in pharmacies; it was sold there as a cleaning agent called Ligroin. This liquid was used as fuel at that time. The sale was carried out in very small bottles.
Road adventures
During the trip, very interesting road adventures took place. The initial cause of the breakdown was the brakes. When the car was traveling at high speed on the descent of the road, and even before the turn, the brakes smoked, more precisely, leather pads. The children were very scared, but Bertha was not at a loss again. Here she played the status of the wife of a car designer, and at that moment she shouted: "Everyone tilt to the side of the turn!" Thanks to the right decision, they avoided a car accident. New brake linings were purchased from a shoe maker in a nearby village.
The next failure in the trip was the metal chain, which was stretched during the trip. This problem was solved by one of the village blacksmiths. Bert did not lose a second, while the stretched chain was being repaired, she organized a mini-presentation of the miracle of technology surrounding the crowd, emphasizing all the best qualities of the machine. The ladies present were very envious of Berthe, as they also really wanted to ride on such a cart. It can be emphasized that the speech of Berta Benz made a great impression on the people, since everything was clearly presented and shown.
An interesting fact is that with the help of her hair clip, Bert was able to fix the gas pipeline clogged during the trip.
But that is not all. When the electric piercing of the live wire occurred, Bertha, using a stocking garter, made insulation in the ignition system.
Thus, an interesting, fascinating and useful trip of Berthe and her children to Pforzheim from Mannheim was made. They wrote about their arrival in a telegram to her husband, who by that time was already completely nervous and very worried about his family, not even knowing what could happen to them.
Car improvement
Karl’s sons completed the car model: they made lanterns for the night travel time, added a second gear and increased the number of revolutions. All this was thought up as a result of this test trip to my grandmother.
In the end, we can conclude that if it were not for Carl’s wise and risky wife, Berta Benz, the created car model would have remained just as a layout, like many other similar inventions. And only after decades, all the saved achievements in science acquired great meaning.
First orders
Berta Benz, a real motorist, immediately thought out the significance of such a machine: it is the easy and quick movement of people and goods without much physical effort. Throughout the world, changes have occurred thanks to the ordinary German girl, the daughter of a carpenter.
The trip really impressed the people, and after a while Karl Benz began to receive orders for the creation of more and more new cars. Karl sold about 25 cars in 1893. These were cars of the Motorwagen type (which in German means “motor crew”), which are three-wheeled vehicles designed for only two people. Their approximate speed was about 16 km per hour. Such a machine was started using electric ignition, which took its energy from a galvanic battery. As fuel, as before, was a Ligroin. The entire engine was started up only after the driver manually picked up the speed of the flywheel. And instead of the steering wheel, a steering lever was installed at that time.
Soon, Karl Benz developed an improved Velo model.
Family comfort
The wife no longer had to get into the affairs of her husband. In total, she has done this twice in her life. The first, when she gave all her savings away, and the second, a risky “advertising” trip on an unknown technique at that time. Bert spent her rest of her life taking care of home comfort. Family business was established, and all financial difficulties were resolved.
Death
In 1944, the great woman passed away. She was 95 years old. She survived her husband for 15 years. In the city of Pforzheim, Rene Dantes erected a sculpture in honor of Berta and her long trip.
Berta Benz: interesting facts
An interesting fact was the name of the track in honor of B. Benz. According to her, in 1888, a woman made her great journey, which became a huge event in the life of the Benz family. In 2008, in February, this route was recognized as a monument to the history of industry in Germany.
In 2011, the German director Til Endemann, taking the joint autobiography of Karl and Berta Benz as the plot, made a feature film. It was presented to the viewer on the 125th anniversary of the appearance of the car. It was watched by about 4.5 million viewers.
Today we can’t imagine our life without vehicles, and all this thanks to the great woman Berthe Benz and her husband Karl.