The car is one of the most famous and essential inventions of mankind. The history of the invention is long and contradictory. Until now, the discussion is about who is the first inventor of the automobile. For 15 years, the greatest scientists and mechanics have been trying to find out. to elaborate and construct a means of transport in the nineteenth century.
Compared to the modern vehicles, the first cars had a strange design. They were big and rough, had 3 or 4 wheels and different mechanisms that made this construction work.
the word "automobile" comes from greek and actually means something that can move on its own. The idea of developing a vehicle that could go long distances quickly has never left technicians in different eras. But who should really be thanked that many people around the world today can drive the car?
Was leonardo da vinci the first??
the earliest drawings of a car, or in other words a self-propelled device, belong to the famous italian artist and scientist leonardo da vinci. in 1490 he designed a car with a spring motor. This was "a wooden car" driven by the stored energy of two flat springs.
The device was small and was now intended for theatrical performances. For example, for the impressive appearance of the heroes on stage. When examining the drawings of da vinci’s "wooden car", surprising details were discovered. In this device was found a braking system invented by leonardo, which gave an idea for the future development of braking systems.
But like many other new developments of da vinci, this vehicle design went unnoticed.
steam engine by ferdinand verbiest and self-propelled toy for the chinese emperor
ferdinand verbiest occupies a special place among the pioneers of car manufacturing. He became a close friend of the chinese emperor kangxi, who often sought help from verbiest in studying such sciences as geometry, philosophy and music. Ferdinand worked as a diplomat and cartographer as well as a translator in china, as he knew latin, german, dutch, spanish, hebrew and italian.
However, an interesting achievement belongs to this talented man. He has elaborated the first vehicle with length of 65 cm. It was called steam mobile. People could not ride in this car because it was too small. Verbiest gave this little car as a gift to the Chinese emperor.
The car has an interesting steam mechanism. The steam is produced in a spherical boiler and fed through a tube at the top to the simple open blades of a steam turbine. It allows to turn the rear wheels and make the device move. This invention has been processed and continued.
grandfather of all cars: means of transport with steam engine
Further attempts to construct the car belong to a french artillery officer nicolas joseph cugnot, which began with the end of the 18th century. The first car can be dated back to the mid-nineteenth century. In 1770 and 1771 he demonstrated his experimental artillery towing machine with steam traction. It was elaborated on the order of military chiefs. Such vehicle had to allow the heavy military loads.
this "road vehicle" had three wheels and a large steam boiler. The steam energy drove the front wheel. The power of the huge steam boiler was infinitesimal. The highest speed was 3.65 kilometers per hour and it was necessary to stop the car every 15 minutes and let it produce steam again.
The design of nicolas joseph cugnot seemed impractical and did not develop in france.
internal combustion engine: a cologne otto invention
New epoch of vehicle invention began with development of internal combustion engine. Nicholas otto was the first to develop a technically advanced device that could efficiently convert fuel energy into mechanical energy. But before that, in 1860, french technician etienne lenoir invented an engine using luminous gas as fuel. Unfortunately, the consumption of the engine was too high and the engine could easily explode. Nevertheless, Lenoir showed that internal combustion engine was possible for use, but its construction had to be worked on.
Nikolaus von otto was a travelling salesman for colonial goods, but as a hobby he had machine building. He wanted to work on the mechanism of lenoir. In this engine was a big problem: air and gas were mixed in the piston when going down, which actually caused it to explode. The idea of otto was simple: to condense this mixture. It was possible to reduce the gas content and consumption and to avoid explosions.
Nikolaus otto realized his idea and nowadays his invention is called four-stroke engine. Together with cologne entrepreneur eugen langen he began to produce internal combustion engines. otto’s invention is very valuable until now. No wonder that his tombstone bears the phrase "creator of the internal combustion engine".
The first worldwide known gasoline engine based on otto-motor appeared in 1883 and was invented by gottlieb daimler. This made it possible to elaborate and produce the first gasoline cars.
"horseless carriage": benz’s first gasoline car
In germany, they always celebrate the birthday of the car. 125 years ago, engineer karl benz applied for a patent for a three-wheeled vehicle with a four-stroke gasoline engine. In the newspapers it was called a "carriage without horse".
At the first use in the german city of mannheim, this vehicle showed surprisingly. The smell and the noise it produced were terrible. But benz was sure in his idea and vehicle. First petrol car from benz had a 0.9 hp engine and drove at a maximum speed of 16 kilometers per hour.
People perceived the first gasoline vehicle as something terrible. It was too ugly, too noisy, too fast. One can think nowadays that it is a joke, but benz had to obtain a permit from the ministry to be able to drive in his car. The maximum speed was set at 6 kilometers per hour inside the city and 12 kilometers per hour outside it. But karl benz began to invite the ministry of motoring and soon he was allowed to drive faster on the city streets.
It can be said that benz is not the first inventor of the car. But he met all the requirements for this title:
- Development of car design;
- Patent application;
- Formation of the experimental automobile model;
- Carrying out the testing of this model;
- Organization of vehicle production.
Accordingly, he offered the people an already finished vehicle that they could use right away. that’s why benz is officially considered the inventor of the automobile, but gottlieb daimler was the first to invent a gasoline engine. Later they founded a joint company to manufacture cars. the car brand was named after the name of daimler’s daughter mercedes.
Finally
the invention of the self-driving car was really complicated, but excellent and romantic. The question "who invented the car?" can not be answered clearly, because this process is still in the 15. century has begun.
Thanks to the talented, creative and meticulous technicians of the past, almost every country in the world has its own successful car companies. Nevertheless, the vehicles of 5 german companies like volkswagen AG, BMW AG, daimler AG, adam opel AG і ford-werke gmbh are always popular and desired. by the way, they produce 6 million cars a year.
Hello all! My name is paul meyer auto mechanic. In this blog I give advice on car care. I would be pleased about your comments.
