29/01/2020
World Automobile day : 29 Th of January !
Today, 29th of January is celebrated as the World Automobile Day. It was on this day in 1885, the first motor car (a tri car) invented by legendary Karl Benz was patented.
Benz Patent Motor Car : The first automobile (1885–1886)
The Benz patent motor car was the world's first gasoline-engined automobile. Unlike Daimler's motorized carriage, the motor car - of which you see a replica here - formed an autonomous entity of chassis and engine. Carl Benz designed the car as a three-wheeler because he was not satisfied with the steering systems available for four-wheeled vehicles back in 1886.
Cylinders 1
Displacement 58 cu in
Output 0.75 PS (0.55 kW)
At engine speed 400/min
Top Speed 10 mph
The first stationary gasoline engine developed by Carl Benz was a one-cylinder two-stroke unit which ran for the first time on New Year’s Eve 1879. Benz had so much commercial success with this engine that he was able to devote more time to his dream of creating a lightweight car powered by a gasoline engine, in which the chassis and engine formed a single unit.
The major features of the two-seater vehicle, which was completed in 1885, were the compact high-speed single-cylinder four-stroke engine installed horizontally at the rear, the tubular steel frame, the differential and three wire-spoked wheels. The engine output was 0.75 hp (0.55 kW). Details included an automatic intake slide, a controlled exhaust valve, high-voltage electrical vi****or ignition with spark plug, and water/thermo siphon evaporation cooling.
The first automobile :
On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. In July 1886 the newspapers reported on the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no. 1.
Forerunners to the automobile.
Apart from Carl Benz, in the 19th century a number of other inventors also worked on developing a vehicle powered by a combustion engine. These pioneers included the likes of Swiss inventor Isaac de Rivaz (1807), Belgian Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir (1863) and Siegfried Marcus in Austria (1870). In some cases these vehicles only existed on paper, while in others they were small, self-propelled carriages which were not capable of transporting people.
The first ever vehicle to be powered by an engine was the three-wheeled steam cart, weighing in at 4,000 kg, which Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot presented in 1769. The subsequent period saw further steam-powered vehicles being built, which in some cases even went into series production. The disadvantages of such vehicles powered by steam engine included the very high weight of the drive system and the need to put the vehicles into operation some time before departure.
The combustion engine, in contrast, promised a host of advantages. In 1807, Isaac de Rivaz developed a simple experimental vehicle designed to be driven by hydrogen gas. In 1863, Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir constructed a motor vehicle fitted with an atmospheric gas engine which he had invented himself.
In 1870, the German Siegfried Marcus, living in Vienna, built his first simple motor vehicle from an ordinary handcart, which he combined with an atmospheric engine which he had designed and built himself. In this particular example, the engine's two flywheels served as rear wheels.
In 1888/89 Marcus developed his second motor vehicle: this featured a four-stroke petrol engine, which was fitted with a surface carburettor and electric ignition system – components which Marcus had designed himself. It is not known whether longer journeys were ever undertaken in this vehicle, and instead of working on developing it further the versatile inventor Siegfried Marcus turned his attention to other matters.
In 1883 the Frenchmen Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville and Léon Malandin had built a combustion engine based on Ottos’s four-stroke engine, and initially tested it in a three-wheeled chassis. After this test vehicle exploded, they built a two-cylinder engine into a carriage, but brought all of their trials to an end after the frame broke.
Carl Benz was the first inventor who not only had the idea of creating an engine-powered vehicle, but also designed, built and tested one. His great achievement lay in the consistency with which he developed his idea of 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 - unlike the other inventors mentioned here.
Reference : SiRA Experts Automotive Training Academy
