125 Years of the Automobile
It's 125 years since Carl Benz registered his vehicle - a three-wheeled motor car - under patent number 37435 with the Berlin Patent Office in 1886. Ever since, that day has been considered the official birthday of the motor car, which in 2011 celebrates its 125th anniversary. While the concept of the horseless carriage can be traced back to the sketchbooks of Leonardo da Vinci and the steam-powered self-propelled Cugnot Carriage of 1769, these early ideas were far from practical. Other inventors, including Frenchman Edouard Delamare-Debouteville and Italian Enrico Bernardi, have laid claim to the title of inventor of the automobile with modest patents, which in reality were mostly unsuccessful.
Central to the development of the automobile was the combustion engine in 1867, although its basic principle is credited to Christiaan Huygens as far back as 1673. The early combustion engine was powered by gas, and was further refined by Jean-Joseph Lenoir and Nikolaus Otto. The "Otto" engine solved many of the earlier problems, but in so doing was impractically large and destined only for stationary operation. This engine gave rise to the large Deutz Gas Engine factory Ag, which in 1872 employed a new technical director, Gottlieb Daimler. The following year another engineer, Wilhelm Maybach, joined the company and between them they refined the Otto engine to maximum efficiency.
The pair left the company and in 1882 patented a new fast running four-stroke engine that weighed just 45kg. The Daimler/Maybach partnership was to prosper and they developed a successful auto, named the Phoenix after his successful engine. This vehicle met all the accepted criteria for an automobile, but history shows that Carl Benz took the honour, being the first to patent his motorised machine. Ironically, the two inventors and founding fathers of today's Daimler AG and its globally successful Mercedes-Benz arrived at a similar solution, despite never meeting and living just 100km apart.
The Benz motorised vehicle:
In contrast to the Daimler approach, Carl Benz set out to create a motorised vehicle that incorporated the engine as an integral part of its overall design. Daimler always saw his product as a 'horseless carriage', where the engine was attached to existing wheeled vehicles. Benz finally developed a four-stroke engine and was granted a patent on January 29, 1886 for a 'vehicle powered by a gas engine whose gas is produced by fuel gasification by means of a device carried on the vehicle.' Benz rapidly assembled a three-wheeled steel-framed carriage with an integrated engine and demonstrated his invention in public on September 5. The original Benz was a rudimentary machine with no fuel tank and a high voltage ignition system, the primary circuit of which was closed when the engine was in operation.
The frame of the vehicle was constructed at the Adler cycle factory, which also built the simple steering shaft that controlled the front wheel. Most of the early Benz three-wheelers were sold in France, with some 69 examples being built between 1887 and 1893. It was 1892 before Benz received significant market interest, but the quantity of orders soon increased with the introduction of the Viktoria model in 1893, the first Benz vehicle with four wheels. This model featured another Benz patent, stub-axle steering, and carried a 3hp, 1730cc single-cylinder engine mounted at the rear. Initially, it had just two forward gears (three forward and one reverse from 1896) and these were changed by shifting belts from one of the two pulleys of the countershaft to which the differential was connected.
The rear wheels were driven by chains. The Benz "Patent-Motorwagen" and Daimler "motorised carriage" represent the start of a unique success story - a story that continues to unfold today as Mercedes-Benz adds new chapters. Despite critics of the day proclaiming the 'horseless carriage' had "no future", the automobile has evolved into an icon of personal freedom and plays a significant role in the modern economy. Alongside the first bus and the first motor truck, the company's most important innovations also include the first modern passenger car, the Mercedes 35 hp, which was presented in February 1900.
Mercedes 35 hp: the prototype of all modern passenger cars:
Marking the transition at the turn of the century from the long-legged "motor carriage" to the motor car as we know it today, the Mercedes 35 hp was the prototype of all modern passenger cars. The decisive technical innovations were its long wheelbase, wide track, low centre of gravity and angled steering column. These improvements created the basis for comfortable and safe driving, something that first became reality in a Mercedes. Characteristic features of the Mercedes 35 hp included its elongated form and honeycomb radiator. Organically integrated into the front end, the honeycomb radiator solved the hitherto omnipresent problem of cooling the engine, quite apart from emerging as a distinguishing mark of the brand.
With its light-alloy crankcase, the powerful four-cylinder engine served as a model for today's still-current lightweight design and was, furthermore, installed low in the frame. Its exhaust valves were controlled by a camshaft, this significantly improving the smoothness of operation, stability at idle and acceleration. The construction principle of "engine at the front, final drive to the rear wheels" was to establish itself in the long term as the conventional drive layout. The "35 hp" was the first vehicle to sport the Mercedes brand name and went down in history as the first modern-day motor car.
Specifications: 1886 Motowagen
Engine: 1-cylinder
Bore and Stroke: 70 x120mm
Displacement: 462cc
Compression ratio: 2.6:1
Power: 1.1hp at 600rpm
Fuel system: Surface carburettor
Lubrication: Oil sump
Transmission: 2 gear ratios by means of different size pulleys
Clutch: Cone
Frame: Wood
Handbrake: Block on rear wheels
Wheelbase: 1300mm
Track (F/R): 1160/1160mm
Tyres: Iron hoops, front 930mm, rear 1165mm
Weight: 290kg
Max. Speed: 18 km/h
Specifications: 1901 35 PS
Engine: 4-cylinder in-line, cast in pairs
Bore and Stroke: 116 x 140mm
Displacement: 5913cc
Power: 35hp at 950rpm
Gearbox: 4-speed
Clutch: Coil
Frame: Sheet steel, U-section
Brakes: Mechanical on the drive shaft
Handbrake: Mechanical on rear wheels
Wheelbase: 3020mm
Track (F/R): 1414mm
Tyres: Front 910x90, rear 1020x120
Weight: 1200kg
Max. Speed: 75 km/h
