When was the first car invented?
13673345#11
In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle. His first "Motorwagen" was built in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany. He was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on 29 January 1886 (under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was founded in 1883). Benz began promotion of the vehicle on 3 July 1886, and about 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced along with a model intended for affordability. They also were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz car to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early cars, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. In August 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road-worthiness of her husband's invention.
Car
1983326#17
Sources point to different creations as the first electric car. Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain) Robert Anderson of Scotland invented a crude electric carriage, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells. In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris. But others regard the "Flocken Elektrowagen" of 1888 by German inventor Andreas Flocken as the first true electric car.
History of the automobile
1983326#22
It is generally acknowledged that the first really practical automobiles with petrol/gasoline-powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously by several German inventors working independently: Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885 in Mannheim. Benz was granted a patent for his automobile on 29 January 1886, and began the first production of automobiles in 1888, after Bertha Benz, his wife, had proved – with the first long-distance trip in August 1888, from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back – that the horseless coach was absolutely suitable for daily use. Since 2008 a Bertha Benz Memorial Route commemorates this event.
History of the automobile
267555#2
Modern cruise control (also known as a speedostat or tempomat) was invented in 1948 by the inventor and mechanical engineer Ralph Teetor. His idea was borne out of the frustration of riding in a car driven by his lawyer, who kept speeding up and slowing down as he talked. The first car with Teetor's system was the 1958 Imperial (called "Auto-pilot") using a speed dial on the dashboard. This system calculated ground speed based on driveshaft rotations off the rotating speedometer-cable, and used a bi-directional screw-drive electric motor to vary throttle position as needed.
A 1955 U.S. Patent for a "Constant Speed Regulator" was filed in 1950 by M-Sgt Frank J. Riley. He installed his invention, which he conceived while driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, on his own car in 1948. Another inventor named Harold Exline, working independently of Riley, also invented a type of cruise control, which he first installed on his own car and on on cars belonging to friends of his. Exline filed a U.S. Patent for "Vacuum Powered Throttle Control With Electrically Controlled Air Valve" in 1951, and the Patent was granted in 1956. Despite these patents, Riley, Exline, and the subsequent patent holders were not able to collect royalties for any of the inventions using cruise control.
Cruise control
5011914#0
The John Stephenson Car Company was an American manufacturer of carriages, horsecars, cable cars, and streetcars, based in New York City. It was founded by John Stephenson in 1831. John Stephenson invented the first streetcar to run on rails, building this in 1832, for the New York and Harlem Railroad. A reorganization in 1867 included shortening of the company's name to the John Stephenson Company. In the latter part of the 19th century, the company was a major builder of streetcars, constructing some 25,000 cars in the period 1876–1891 alone, including ones for export.
John Stephenson Company
59732521#243
Spyker is credited with building and racing the first ever four-wheel racing car in 1903. The first four-wheel-drive car, as well as hill-climb racer, with internal combustion engine, the "Spyker 60 H.P.", was presented in 1903 by Dutch brothers Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker of Amsterdam. The two-seat sports car, which was also the first ever car equipped with a six-cylinder engine, is now an exhibit in the Louwman Collection (the former "Nationaal Automobiel Museum") at the Hague in The Netherlands.
List of Dutch inventions and innovations
35926235#68
With the development of the U.S. railroad system, natural ice became used to transport larger quantities of goods much longer distances through the invention of the refrigerator car. The first refrigerator cars emerged in the late 1850s and early 1860s, and were crude constructions holding up to 3,000 lbs (1,360 kg) of ice, on top of which the food was placed. It was quickly found that placing meat directly on top of blocks of ice in cars caused it to perish; subsequent designs hung the meat from hooks, allowing the meat to breathe, while the swinging carcasses improved the circulation in the car. After the Civil War, J. B Sutherland, John Bate and William Davis all patented improved refrigerator cars, which used stacks of ice placed at either end and improved air circulation to keep their contents cool. This improved ventilation was essential to avoid warm air building up in the car and causing damage to the goods. Salt could be added to the ice to increase the cooling effect to produce an iced refrigerator car, which preserved foods even better. For much of the 19th century, the different gauges of train lines made it difficult and time consuming to move chilled cargoes between lines, which was a problem when the ice was continually melting; by the 1860s, refrigerator cars with adjustable axles were being created to speed up this process.
Ice trade
42027021#2
In 1895 he successfully experimented with a water velocipede on the rivers Leine and Ihme near Hanover. As early as 1899 he exhibited a small car at the First International Exhibition in Berlin. Between 1901 and 1903 Wenkel travelled through East India, Java, Sumatra and Borneo, where he built the first Wenkelmobils in rather primitive conditions. When back in Germany, the Berlin factory of Schneider & Co started the production of his Wenkelmobil. Wenkel won numerous prizes with it in races in its small-car class. In 1906 and 1907 he travelled the length of South America down to Patagonia in a Wenkelmobil. He was officially commissioned to open up the Cordillera region for motor traffic, and also built flat-bottomed speed boats suitable for Argentine rivers. Wenkel acquired several patents, e.g. for the Wenkelmobil’s friction drive and a high-speed compression and vacuum pump. The Berlin Directory lists him as engineer and owner of a technical bureau and export firm during World War I. When well over sixty he won the prestigious Garbaty Trophy with his speedboat "Java II", in 1929. Three years later he was still making his mark with the invention of a "motor in a trunk car", a newfangled though unsuccessful miniature automobile. An article in a boys’ yearbook in 1943 suggests that Wenkel died in that year, but his precise date of death has yet to be confirmed.
Max Wenkel
246550#47
To the extent that cultural contributions comprise invention, innovation, and progress, Springfield has been, historically, one of the nation's most innovative cities. In 1819, inventor Thomas Blanchard invented the lathe in Springfield, which would catalyze manufacturing developments now known the world over as interchangeable parts and the assembly line. In 1825, Blanchard also built the first American car, a "horseless carriage," which was powered by steam. In 1844, inventor Charles Goodyear perfected and patented his process for making vulcanized rubber in Springfield - as of 2011, as it has been for many years previous, Goodyear's name is known the world over for rubber production. In 1868, inventor Margaret E. Knight invented a machine for folding and gluing flat-bottomed paper bags.
Pioneer Valley
411441#4
In 1878, George B. Selden patented the first internal combustion automobile. Inspired by the internal combustion engine invented by Brayton displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, Selden patented a four-wheel car working on a smaller, lighter, multicylinder version. He then filed a series of amendments to his application which stretched out the legal process, resulting in a delay of 16 years before the patent was granted on November 5, 1895. In 1903, Selden sued Ford for patent infringement and Henry Ford fought the Selden patent until 1911. Selden had never actually produced a working car, so during the trial, two machines were constructed according to the patent drawings. Ford argued his cars used the four-stroke Alphonse Beau de Rochas cycle or Otto cycle and not the Brayton-cycle engine used in the Selden auto. Ford won the appeal of the original case.
Brayton cycle
15196983#0
Delamare-Deboutteville was among the earliest designs of car, driven by an internal combustion engine. It was developed in France by Édouard Delamare-Deboutteville and patented in 1884, but did not achieve commercial success.
Édouard Delamare-Deboutteville described how, with his assistant Leon Malandin, he had built and driven his car in early 1884. The car had a front bench seat and a rear platform, four wheels, a transmission to the rear wheels by chain, shaft transmission and a differential. In 1883 Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville made a trial run of a car whose engine was powered by gas; but the gas supply hose broke during this first trial, so he replaced the gas with fuel oil. In order to use this product, he invented a wick carburetor. This vehicle travelled for the first time on the little road from Fontaine-le-Bourg to Cailly in Normandy in early February 1884. On 12 February 1884, he registered his design under patent number 160267.
Several replicas were made of the Delamare-Deboutteville design and have been entered in all kinds of different events.
Delamare-Deboutteville
1983326#5
In 1885, Karl Benz developed a petrol or gasoline powered automobile. This is also considered to be the first "production" vehicle as Benz made several other identical copies. The automobile was powered by a single cylinder four-stroke engine.
History of the automobile