Karl Benz, The Man Behind Mercedes-Benz

Biography Of Karl Benz

Posted by eMercedesBenz.com on September 21, 2005 at 10:15 AM CST

In a follow-up to my last post, Mercedes has just released a short  
biography on Karl Benz, detailing his various ventures in the field  
of engineering.  If you're unfamiliar with the history of Karl Benz  
or want to learn more about the history of the Mercedes-Benz brand,  
it makes for a pretty interesting read.  You can check out the full  
press release below.


OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE


Karl Benz

Karl Benz was born on November 25, 1844 in Karlsruhe where he also  
grew up, went to school and subsequently studied at the polytechnic.  
After completing his studies, Benz worked first as an intern at  
Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft (a mechanical engineering company) in  
Karlsruhe and then as a design engineer in Germany and Austria. In  
1871, he founded his first own company in Mannheim, an iron foundry  
and mechanical workshop. In the following year, he married Bertha  
Ringer with whom he had five children: Eugen, Richard, Klara, Thilde  
and Ellen.

Alongside mechanical engineering, Benz soon discovered a new field of  
activity for himself, the development of engines, and as early as  
1879 his factory presented an operational two-stroke engine. However,  
Benz left the company, meanwhile converted into a stockholding  
company, as early as 1883 because he had had too little scope for  
decisions on technical developments.

In the fall of 1883, Karl Benz established a new company, “Benz & Co.  
Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik” (Rhenish Gas Engine Factory) in  
Mannheim and turned his attention to the design of a vehicle to be  
driven by an internal combustion engine. In 1886, he was granted a  
patent on this “Motor Car” which he presented to the public the same  
year.

The inventor’s wife, Bertha Benz, used the third version of this  
motorized three-wheeler for her famous long-distance journey from  
Mannheim to Pforzheim in 1888. With this courageous trip, which also  
took her through Ladenburg, the energetic lady and her sons  
demonstrated the reliability of her husband’s motor car.

By 1890, Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik had developed into Germany’s  
second-largest engine factory. Innovations such as the double-pivot  
steering for automobiles (1893) and the horizontally-opposed piston  
engine (1896) consolidated the company’s position in the budding  
market for motor vehicles. In 1903, however, Karl Benz largely  
retired from the company out of protest against the employment of  
French engineers at the Mannheim plant. They were to restore the  
competitiveness of the technically conservative Benz cars vis-à-vis  
Daimler’s Mercedes cars.

Karl Benz remained a silent partner and served as a member of the  
supervisory board from 1904. He lived to see the merger of Daimler- 
Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. in 1926 and remained a member of  
the supervisory board of the resulting Daimler-Benz AG until his death.


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