Karl Benz,Karl Benz: Father of the Automobile,Biography of Karl Benz,History of karl benz,

                                     

                                       Karl Benz

  Father of the AutomobileLooking back on humanity’s achievements, you can pinpoint certain landmark momentsthat changed the world forever. One such moment was, undoubtedly, the birthof the automobile which, like rail transport before it and aviation afterwards, completelyrevolutionized how humans moved around. Many people deserve credit for this achievement. As you are about to find out, the conceptof the “first car in the world” is, by no means, a settled matter, but the lion’sshare of the accolades goes to Karl Benz who designed and built what is regarded by manyas the true first automobile.

They say that behind every great man, thereis a great woman and, perhaps, there is no better example than Bertha Benz. She was there to support her husband throughthick and thin, enjoying the highs together and using her own money to get him back onhis feet during the lows. Then, of course, there was also her iconicroad trip which solidified the car as a practical machine. Bertha’s daringness combined with Karl’sengineering genius ensured that people finally looked at the car as something that couldactually be used in day-to-day life. We’ve come a long way since then, but itwould be completely fair to say that the automotive industry would not be what it is today withoutKarl Benz. Early YearsKarl Benz, sometimes spelled with a C instead of a K, was born Karl Friedrich Vaillant onNovember 25, 1844, in the German town of Mühlburg which today is a borough of Karlsruhe in thestate of Baden-Württemberg.

 His name was Vaillant because his father,Johann Georg Benz, and his mother, Josephine Vaillant, were not married at the time ofhis birth. However, they did, in fact, marry a few monthslater and the baby became Karl Friedrich Benz. Johann Benz was a locomotive driver, but hedied in an accident when Karl was only two years old. This left the family in dire financial straits,but the mother did her best to ensure a good education for her son. Young Karl followed in his father’s footstepsand studied engineering and, from an early age, proved to be a prodigious student. In fact, when he was just 19 years old, KarlBenz graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe. This was in 1864 and yet, it would be a whilebefore Benz finally found his vocation in life. He spent the next seven years trying out variousjobs with multiple construction and engineering firms throughout Germany, but he found themall to be unsatisfying. At the same time, he became an avid bicyclerider and enjoyed tinkering with them, fantasizing about a similar vehicle that would be motorized. In 1871, Karl Benz started his first business.

He partnered with a mechanic named AugustRitter and opened the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop in Mannheim. The company was not successful and, withina year, it was struggling financially. Fortunately for Benz, he soon found a betterpartner, one who would have an enormous impact on his life and the development of the automobile- his bride-to-be, Bertha Ringer. Karl and BerthaBertha Ringer had been born in a time when it was firmly believed that women had no businesswith scientific and mechanical matters and that even just exerting their brains woulddecrease their ability to have children.

Certainly not the case here - Karl and Berthawould go on to have five children together. And yet, even when she was young, Bertha tookan interest in engineering. According to a particularly heartbreakinglegend, she became determined to show the world that women were capable of achievinggreat things after reading her family’s Bible one day and finding an entry that said“Unfortunately only a girl again” - written by her father, on the day she was born. Whether this story is true or not, the elderMr. Ringer did leave Bertha a substantial dowry after working as a successful carpenterall his life. Besides her wealth, Bertha Ringer was alsoa beautiful and clearly intelligent woman.

When she reached marrying age, she had a longlist of potential suitors to choose from. And yet, fate led to a poor, disheveled engineernamed Karl Benz to share the same coach as Bertha and her mother during an excursionin 1869. The two started talking and, as soon as Karlbrought up a horseless carriage he was working on, he captured Bertha’s interest and, soonenough, her heart. Despite warnings and admonishments from herfamily, Bertha’s mind was made up - Karl was the man she wanted to be with for therest of her life. The couple married in 1872. Bertha’s support of her husband was unwavering. Her first act was to use part of her dowryto buy out August Ritter’s share in Benz’s company. The rest of her money was used to keep thebusiness afloat while Karl worked on new patents. Although Benz was, undoubtedly, a genius engineerand designer, nobody could ever accuse him of being a shrewd businessman.

The Benz CompaniesBenz’s first great achievement was his stationary gasoline two-stroke engine. He was inspired by the work of an earlierGerman engineer, Nikolaus Otto, who created the first four-stroke engine in 1861. Benz received a patent for his invention in1880 and went on to add improvements such as an engine speed regulation system and ignitionvia a battery system. This new device of Benz managed to garnerinterest from banks and businessmen who wanted to invest. Because he needed the capital to grow hiscompany, Benz converted his business into a joint-stock company named Gasmotoren-FabrikMannheim in 1882. This did not work out as he hoped it would. After all the agreements were completed, Benzended up only owning five percent of the company. More importantly, he did not have a say inhow the business was run, anymore. Not a significant one, at least. His partners had differing notions on whatproducts to design and sell and the engineer’s ideas often went ignored.

Not happy with this arrangement, Karl Benzleft the corporation the following year. Undeterred, Benz looked to start a new companybut, this time, he searched for more amenable partners. He found them in Max Rose and Friedrich WilhelmEsslinger, two men who owned a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim. Together, they established the Benz & CompanieRheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, better known simply as Benz & Co. The business focused on manufacturing enginesand proved to be profitable, growing to 25 employees in a short amount of time. This newfound success eased the pressure offBenz a little bit and allowed him to indulge in his passion project - building an automobileusing his engine.

 The First Car? In 1885, Karl Benz finished his magnum opus- the Benz Patent Motorwagen. It was a two-seater vehicle. It had three wire-spoke wheels and a single-cylinder,gasoline-powered engine that formed a single unit with the chassis and was capable of producing0.75 horsepower and reaching top speeds of 10 mph. Other bells and whistles on the vehicle includeda controlled exhaust valve, an automatic intake slide, and high-voltage electrical vibratorignition with spark plug. In January of 1886, Benz received patent number37435 for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine” or the “birth certificate of theautomobile”, as it came to be known. Later in July, Benz drove his car in publicfor the first time. So was this the first car in the world? Well, for the sake of simplicity, it is generallyregarded as the first automobile, but that question is difficult to answer because itdepends on what your definition of an “automobile” is.

 The Motorwagen definitely does not look likeour idea of a “car” today, but it was the first vehicle of its kind to be made commerciallyavailable to the public. Benz’s machine had another advantage overdesigns that came before it in that it managed to function without exploding or falling apartwhile in operation. The truth is that some people regard an automobileas simply a self-propelled vehicle powered by some kind of engine and, in that case,we have to go even farther back than horseless carriages. French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot createda full-size mechanical land vehicle called the Fardier à vapeur back in 1769.

 It weighed over 8,800 lbs and was poweredby steam. In 1807, another Frenchman named Isaac deRivaz designed an experimental vehicle powered by hydrogen gas. Robert Anderson was a Scottish inventor whocreated an electric carriage sometime during the 1830s which was powered by non-rechargeablebatteries. In 1867, Belgian Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoirbuilt a vehicle powered by an atmospheric gas engine. German Siegfried Marcus did something similara few years later by combining a handcart with an atmospheric engine. He did keep improving his design and endedup with something that could be called a car, but this happened in 1888, after the BenzPatent Motorwagen. We should also mention the French team ofÉdouard Delamare-Deboutteville and his assistant Leon Malandin who started work on a vehiclewith an internal combustion engine and a three-wheeled chassis back in 1883.

 Some people do argue that Delamare-Debouttevillemight deserve some of the accolades usually given to Karl Benz, but the truth of the matteris that his vehicle never functioned well enough to go into production. Last, but not least, we should also includeGottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach who were working on their own automobile independentlyof Karl Benz, at the same time, about 60 miles away. They finished the Daimler Motorcoach a coupleof months after the Benz Motorwagen. As you can see, the question of “Who builtthe first car?” is a tricky one and does not have a universal answer, although we cangenerally agree that the Benz Patent Motorwagen was the first practical automobile and, therefore,set in motion the nascent stages of an industry that would grow to become one of the biggestin the world.

The Trip that Changed EverythingAfter the original Motorwagen came out, Benz immediately went back to work. Two new and improved models of his automobilewere released in the next couple of years. But it seemed like the rest of the world didnot share Karl and Bertha’s vision for an automotive future as demand for the Motorwagenwas not particularly high. The Benz engine still sold nicely, but whatwould be the point of buying a whole vehicle? Up until then, these kinds of self-poweredmachines were only used in trials over short distances and still needed mechanics to beon-hand.

There was no practicality to them whatsoever. Not to mention the fact that they were expensiveand would have only been accessible to the rich elite. They were not interested, though, becausethey considered something like the Motorwagen to be too loud and messy - not very gentlemanly. What the car needed was a bit of good PR. Like we said before, Karl Benz was at hisbest when he was getting his hands dirty in the workshop. Fortunately for him, Bertha had a better mindfor marketing and she realized that they needed some kind of stunt not only to garner publicityfor their new product, but also to show people that it had a purpose. Therefore, in the early hours of a hot Augustday in 1888, Bertha Benz jumped behind the wheel of a Benz Patent Motorwagen No. 3 andembarked on one of the most important automotive journeys in history - the first long-distancetrip by car. Bertha did not tell her husband of her plan.

She also did not inform the authorities so,technically, what she did was illegal. Bertha recruited her teenage sons, Richardand Eugen, to tag along for the ride, and left Mannheim in the morning on the pretenseof going to visit her mother in Pforzheim. This was 66 miles away and, while that mightsound like a routine trip nowadays, it was significantly longer than any journey thathad been previously attempted in any kind of motorized carriage. Moreover, Bertha had to contend with problemsthat nobody else had to deal with, starting with the fact that there were no roads suitablefor cars back then. She had to follow wagon tracks for most ofthe way and even went on ancient Roman roads in some parts.

Another problem was fuel as the Motorwagenneeded to refuel every 15 to 20 miles and, obviously, there were no gas stations anywhere. Her automobile used a fuel called ligroinwhich was a petroleum-based solvent that could be bought at pharmacies. Bertha made a stop at Wiesloch and paid avisit to the local apothecary, looking to buy ten liters of ligroin. This startled the elderly chemist who sawa young woman with stains on her dress and naturally assumed that she wanted to use thesolvent to clean her clothes. He offered her a one-liter bottle, notingthat that would be sufficient but Bertha, of course, had no interest in clean clothes. She was looking to refuel her car. In the end, she purchased three liters ofligroin which was all the chemist had in stock but, since then, that pharmacy in Wieslochhas branded itself the first fuel station in the world. It even has a monument of Bertha and her twosons in front of it. Other problems included needing to refillthe water tank regularly, a chain that broke and had to be fixed by a blacksmith, the leatherbrake pads that wore out and had to be replaced by shoemakers, and even the occasional steephill where the boys had to get out and push the car. Bertha even showed off her own know-how onoccasion, using her garter to plug a leak and hairpins to clear up clogged valves.

The 66-mile journey took over 12 hours, butBertha, Richard, and Eugen made it to Pforzheim safely. More importantly, the trip achieved its goal. Many people took notice, some were even frightenedto the point of prayer by the crazy woman speeding through their towns in a “smokingmonster.” Almost overnight, everyone heard of the BenzPatent Motorwagen. And in case they missed her the first time,they had another chance soon after because, a few days later, Bertha and the boys returnedhome in the same car, but on a different route. Moreover, Bertha even identified a few waysof improving the Benz car, such as adding a new gear for climbing hills. In 2008, this 121-mile long return-trip fromMannheim to Pforzheim was declared a European Route of Industrial Heritage and there isa parade of antique cars that follows it every two years in celebration of Bertha’s iconicvoyage. Finding SuccessBertha’s trip was a turning point for the automobile industry, but especially for theBenz company. Of course, we were still decades away fromthe car becoming the standard method of transportation, but people started to see it not as some kindof oddity, but the way of the future. The Benz Patent Motorwagen went on sale in1888 and, bizarrely, it sold better in France than in Germany. Again, this was down to Karl Benz’s lackof business acumen. Because of this, transactions were slow inhis native country. In France, however, the marketing was doneby a Parisian engineer and bicycle manufacturer named Emile Roger who had more of a flairfor showmanship. Roger was already a successful distributorof Benz engines and he received sole agency rights to sell Benz cars in France. Some of his creative marketing ideas includedshowing off his Motorwagen Model III at the 1889 World’s Fair and signing up the carsfor racing events.

There was some tension between the two becauseRoger made an effort to minimize Benz’s role in the development of the car and increasehis own. He gave out leaflets to prospective buyersthat described the automobile, not once mentioning the name “Benz.” He made special Roger badges that he fittedto the cars he sold and he made sure that the vehicles he raced were all referred toas Roger cars. Even with Roger’s shenanigans, the Benzcompany continued to grow and had to relocate to a bigger production factory. By 1890, it had become the second-largestengine manufacturer in Germany and was poised to grow even more after the addition of twonew partners - Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganss. As for Karl, he cared about the one thinghe always cared about - the engineering. Throughout the 1890s, he came up and patentedseveral new innovations, most notably the double-pivot steering, planetary gear transmission,and the flat engine with a boxer configuration which was better known as the contra engineback then.

At the recommendation of his partners, Karldesigned a new and improved automobile - the Benz Victoria which went on sale in 1892. However, it was his follow-up design, theBenz Velo, that really took off and came to be regarded as the world’s first large-scaleproduction car. By the end of its sales run in 1902, over1,200 Velos had been sold. And, while Karl was looking for new ways touse his increasingly-powerful engines, he also invented the motorized bus, originallycapable of seating eight people. Although Benz & Co was successful, it wasfeeling the heat from its number one competitor, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) headedby Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Daimler passed away in 1900 but, just oneyear later, Maybach designed and produced his crowning achievement - the Mercedes 35HP. While previous cars still mostly looked likecoaches with engines fitted to them, this was a vehicle we would consider to resembleour modern idea of a car.

Not to mention that it was the first automobilebranded as a Mercedes. And in case you were wondering where the Mercedesname comes from, it was named after the daughter of Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek whonot only commissioned the 35 HP, but was very hands-on in its development and specificallyrequested certain improvements that ensured the car became a landmark moment in automotivehistory. To counter their competition, the Benz companybrought in some French designers to help with new models. This angered Karl Benz who resigned his positionin 1903, although he still remained on the board of directors. His sons Richard and Eugen soon followed suitand they founded a new company, Carl Benz Söhne, in 1906, headquartered in Ladenburg. They searched for new markets and found successin England where their cars became quite popular as taxis. Because the Benz family had enough capitalby this point, they never issued public stocks in this new company so they could retain completecontrol over it. Benz Sons lasted until 1923, although KarlBenz liquidated his shares and retired in 1912, leaving the business in the hands ofhis sons. During the 1920s, the German economy plummetedand all industries were hurting, including the automotive one.

In order to survive, Benz & Co and DMG signedan “Agreement of Mutual Interest” in 1924. The automakers combined their production andmarketing efforts while still retaining their individual brands in order to save on costs. This did not last long as just two years later,they merged completely and formed Daimler-Benz. Immediately, this deal was a success as theirsales tripled in 1927. All their new vehicles were labeled as Mercedes-Benz,a brand that is still as popular as ever. Karl stayed on the board of directors forthe rest of his life. He died on April 4, 1929, at the age of 84,in his home in Ladenburg. Bertha kept on living in the same home, untilshe also passed away on May 5, 1944. They both lived long enough to see the industrythat they helped create and dedicated their entire lives to grow and thrive into one whichbecame indispensable to humanity.