- German automobile
engineer who produced the world's first petrol-driven motor vehicle.
He was born Nov. 25, 1844, Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany and died April
4, 1929, Ladenburg, near Mannheim.
He built his first model engine 1878 and the petrol-driven car 1885.
Benz made his first four-wheeled prototype in 1891 and by 1895, he was
building a range of four-wheeled vehicles that were light, strong, inexpensive,
and simple to operate. These automobiles ran at speeds of about 24 kph/15
mph. In 1926, the thriving company merged with the German firm of Daimler
to form Daimler-Benz.
Benz was born and educated in Karlsruhe, and worked for mechanical and
engineering companies before setting up on his own in Mannheim 1871.
He produced a two-stroke engine of his own design 1878, and in 1885,
the first vehicle successfully propelled by an internal-combustion engine.
It achieved a speed of up to 5 kph/3 mph. Benz, who for his invention
drew on experimental work by engineers in many different fields, believed
that this vehicle would be a completely new system and not simply a
carriage with a motor replacing the horse. The engine had a massive
fly-wheel and was mounted horizontally in the rear, using electric ignition
by coil and battery. The cooling system consisted simply of a cylinder
jacket in which the water boiled away, being topped up as necessary.
The production model Tri-car appeared in 1886-87 and had a 1 kW/1.5
hp single-cylinder engine.
|