120th Birthday Of The Automobile

Posted by www.eMercedesBenz.com
December 30, 2005


Believe it or not, it's been almost 120 years since the birth of the  
world's first automobile.

On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz applied for a patent for his motorized  
vehicle.  In November of the same year, Benz received Patent No.  
37435a, and his three-wheeled invention has since been recognized as  
the world's first automobile.

Although other inventors of the day had thought to install an  
internal combustion engine on a coach body, what set Karl Benz's  
vehicle apart was his design, which extended to the entire vehicle.  
By adding not only an engine but also an electronic ignition,  
carburetor, water-cooled radiator, steering and a tubular frame,  
Karl's originality and foresight allowed him to implement features  
still found in modern vehicles.

For more info on the world's first automobile, you can check out  
photos and the full press release by clicking the link below


http://www.emercedesbenz.com/Dec05/30AutomobileBirthday.html


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

The 120th Birthday Of The Automobile

Stuttgart, Dec 30, 2005

The automobile celebrates its 120th birthday on January 29. On this  
date in 1886 Karl Benz applied for a patent for his motorized  
vehicle. With the German Reich Patent No. 37435a, granted in November  
of the same year, his Patent Motor Car, as this three-wheeled vehicle  
has since been known, received official recognition as the world’s  
first automobile.

It was the individualized technology that secured the Benz Patent  
Motor Car this status. Unlike other inventors, Benz did not merely  
install an internal combustion engine into an existing coach chassis,  
thereby making it capable of autonomous motion (Greek/latin: auto/ 
mobil). His design extended to the entire vehicle: It was quite clear  
to him that a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine was  
subject to engineering principles quite different from those applying  
to a horse-drawn carriage.

Benz created innovative technology with classic engineering methods:  
a small horizontal, single-cylinder four-stroke engine running on  
gasoline, electric ignition, carburetor, water-cooled radiator,  
steering and a tubular frame. With these features, the first motor  
car came into being in 1886.

It was the Benz Motor Car’s holistic design that made it worthy of a  
patent. The vehicle is thus an absolute original: all automobiles  
produced since that time stand in the tradition of the Patent Motor  
Car. Originality – a quality that constitutes the basis of the entire  
brand philosophy. This finds its unique and highly diversified  
expression in the New Mercedes-Benz Museum, to be opened in May 2006.

The further biography of the Patent Motor Car is history. Three  
vehicles were completed by 1888. One was secretly taken out by Bertha  
Benz, the inventor’s wife, who drove it with her sons 100 kilometers  
from Mannheim to Pforzheim; this journey earned the vehicle much  
publicity, and Benz sold a number of cars to customers as a result. A  
four-wheeled vehicle, the Benz “Victoria”, followed in 1893. This  
again incorporated numerous innovations, including double-pivot  
steering, which is still employed in today’s automobiles. And so it  
continues: with each new vehicle, the automobile improves just that  
much more – to this very day.

For more Mercedes-Benz news and information, visit eMercedesBenz at  
www.eMercedesBenz.com