Benz Patent-Motorwagen
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Benz Patent-Motorwagen | |
---|---|
Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik Benz & Cie. (known today as Mercedes-Benz) | |
Production | 1886 | –1893
Powertrain | |
Engine | 1.0L (954cc) single cylinder engine 2⁄3hp (Ligroin fuel) |
Chronology | |
Successor | Benz Velo |
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen ("patent motorcar"), built in 1885 by the German
Two years after Karl Benz first drove the car in July 1886,[10] Karl's wife Bertha demonstrated its feasibility in a trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim in August 1888, shortly before it became the first commercially available automobile in history in the late summer of 1888.[11]
Due to the creation of the Patent-Motorwagen, Karl Benz has been hailed as the father and inventor of the automobile.[1][12][13]
Development, specifications and Karl Benz's first drive
After developing a successful
The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was a
The first Motorwagen used the Benz 954 cc (58.2 cu in) single-cylinder
The vehicle was awarded the German patent number 37435, for which Karl Benz applied on 29 January 1886. Following official procedures, the date of the application became the patent date for the invention once the patent was granted, which occurred in November of that year. Benz unveiled his invention to the public on 3 July 1886, on the Ringstrasse in Mannheim. For the first time Karl Benz publicly drove the car on July 3, 1886, in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph).[10]
Benz later made more models of the Motorwagen: model number 2 had 1.1 kW (1.5 hp) engine, and model number 3 had 1.5 kW (2 hp) engine, allowing the vehicle to reach a maximum speed of approximately 16 km/h (10 mph). The chassis was improved in 1887 with the introduction of wooden-spoke wheels, a fuel tank, and a manual leather shoe brake on the rear wheels.[citation needed]
About 25 Patent-Motorwagen were built between 1886 and 1893.[citation needed]
Bertha Benz's trip
Bertha Benz, Karl's wife, whose dowry was said to have made a portion of contribution to finance the development of the Patent-Motorwagen,[15] was aware of the need for publicity. She took the Patent-Motorwagen No. 3 and drove it on the first long-distance internal combustion automobile road trip to demonstrate its feasibility. That trip occurred in early August 1888, when she took her sons Eugen and Richard, fifteen and fourteen years old, respectively, on a ride from Mannheim through Heidelberg, and Wiesloch, to her maternal hometown of Pforzheim.[16]
In Germany, a parade of antique automobiles celebrates this historic trip of Bertha Benz every two years. On February 25, 2008, the Bertha Benz Memorial Route,[17] following the route of Benz's journey, was officially approved as a Tourist or Scenic Route by the German authorities as a route of industrial heritage of mankind. The 194 km (121 mi) of signposted route leads from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim (Black Forest) and back.
In media
The car can be driven in the video game Gran Turismo 4 and Android video game Driving Legends: The Car Story. It was also driven by Sherlock Holmes's sister Enola in the film Enola Holmes.
See also
- History of the automobile
- Benz Velo (later 4 wheel model)
- List of Mercedes-Benz vehicles (incl. summary of Benz vehicles)
- List of motorcycles of the 1890s
- List of motorized trikes
- Three-wheeler
Notes
- Karl Benz patented his Motorwagen in 1886, several inventors were working on automobiles powered by steam engines; in 1769, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-propelled vehicle.[2] During the 1870s, Bollée created several steam vehicles which could carry passengers for road trips.[3] Steam cars have, however, been characterized by various authors as "distinctly uncommercial",[1] "unsafe",[4] and "difficult to manage".[5] According to automotive historian G. N. Georgano, innovations such as the stationary Otto engine helped make the invention of the Benz Motorwagen possible, which he labelled as "the first motorcar" due to its commercial production.[6] The company Mercedes-Benz also acknowledge there were forerunners to the Motorwagen, but also state that Benz was the first to develop "a 'horseless carriage' into a product for everyday use, which he then brought to market and as a result made his idea useful for the entire world".[7]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-250-04063-3.
- ^ "Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ Lavergne, Gérard (1902). The Automobile: Its Construction and Management. Cassell. p. 17.
- ISBN 9780691210797.
- ISBN 9781629697666.
- ISBN 9780517480731.
- ^ "Forerunners to the automobile". Mercedes-Benz Group. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
- ^ "Der Streit um den "Geburtstag" des modernen Automobils" [The fight over the birth of the modern automobile] (in German). German Patent and Trade Mark Office. 2014-12-22. Archived from the original on 2017-01-02.
- ^ Neil, Dan (2006-06-21). "Before the Rumble Seat". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
- ^ a b Karl Benz drives the first automobile 3 July 1886 edn.com
- ^ "Carl Benz and the Invention of the Automobile". 29 January 2018.
- ISBN 9783642957727.
- ISBN 9780486274720.
- Daimler AG. Archived from the originalon 21 November 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ISBN 3-406-42866-5, p. 464
- ^ MercedesForum (8 May 2011). "Making of 'Carl & Bertha' (Film)". Archived from the original on 2021-12-14 – via YouTube.
- ^ Bertha Benz Memorial Route (German-government-approved non-profit official site)
External links
- Patent 37435, by Karl Benz for his 1885 Motorwagon The birth certificate of the automobile – the German patent application of January 29, 1886, that was granted on November 2, 1886, to Benz & Company in Mannheim
- Automuseum Dr. Carl Benz, Ladenburg (Heidelberg)
- John H. Lienhard on Bertha Benz's ride