The life of karl benz

Automotive and engine designer and manufacturer (–)

Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (German:[kaʁlˈfʁiːdʁɪçˈbɛnts]^ⓘ; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November – 4 April ) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer.

His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from is considered the first practical modern automobile and first auto put into series production.^[1] He received a patent for the motorcar in , the equal year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen.^[2]

His company Benz & Cie., based in Mannheim, was the world's first automobile plant and largest of its day.^[3] In , it fused with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, which produces the Mercedes-Benz among other brands.

Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car",^[4][5] as well as the "father of the automobile industry".^[6]

Early life

Carl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant on 25 November in Mühlburg, now a borough of Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, which is part of modern Germany.

His parents were Josephine Vaillant and a locomotive driver, Johann Georg Benz, whom she married a scant months later. According to German law, the child acquired the name "Benz" by legal marriage of his parents.^[7][8][9] When he was two years old, his father died of pneumonia,^[10] and his name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in remembrance of his father.

Despite living in near poverty, his mother strove to give him a good education. Benz attended the local school in Karlsruhe and was a prodigious student. In , at the age of nine, he started at the scientifically oriented Lyceum.

Next he studied at Karlsruhe's polytechnical educational facility under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher.^{[citation needed]}

Benz had originally focused his studies on locksmithing, but he eventually followed his father's steps toward locomotive engineering.

On 30 September , at age 15, he passed the entrance exam for mechanical engineering for the Karlsruhe polytechnical school, which he subsequently attended. Benz graduated on 9 July , aged ^{[citation needed]}

Following his formal learning process, Benz had seven years of professional training in several companies, but did not fit adv in any of them.

The training started in Karlsruhe with two years of varied jobs in a mechanical engineering company.^{[citation needed]}

He then moved to Mannheim to work as a draftsman and designer in a scales factory. In he went to Pforzheim to work for the bridge building company Gebrüder Benckiser Eisenwerke und Maschinenfabrik.

Finally,^[when?] he went to Vienna for a short period to work at an iron construction company.^{[citation needed]}

Benz's first factory and early inventions (–)

In , at the age of twenty-seven, Benz joined August Ritter, in launching the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop in Mannheim, later renamed Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working.^[11]

The enterprise's first year went very poorly.

Ritter turned out to be unreliable, and the business's tools were impounded. The difficulty was overcome when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer, bought out Ritter's contribute in the company, using her dowry.^[11][12]

On 20 July ,^[13] Benz and Bertha Ringer married.

They had five children: Eugen (), Richard (), Clara (), Thilde (), and Ellen ().

Despite the business misfortunes, Benz led in the development of modern engines in the early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenue, in he began to work on new patents.

First, he concentrated on creating a reliable petrol two-stroke engine. Benz finished his two-stroke engine on 31 December , and was granted a patent for it on 28 June

While designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine, Benz patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear switch, and the water radiator.

Benz's Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim (–)

Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that the Benz's undertaking be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained. They were forced to improvise an association with photographer Emil Bühler and his brother (a cheese merchant), to get additional bank support.

The company became the joint-stock companyGasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in

After all the necessary incorporation agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest position as director.

Worst of all, his ideas weren't considered when designing new products, so he withdrew from that corporation just one year later, in

Benz and Cie. and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen

Main article: Benz Patent-Motorwagen

Three wheels
Tubular steel frame
Rack and pinion steering, connected to a driver end tiller; wheel chained to front axle
Electric ignition
Differential rear end gears (mechanically operated inlet valves)
Water-cooled internal combustion engine
Gas or petrol four-stroke horizontally mounted engine
Single cylinder, bore &#;mm, stroke &#;mm
Patent model: cc, &#;hp, 16&#;km/h (&#;mph)
Commercialized model: cc, 3&#;4 hp, 13&#;km/h (&#;mph)

Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger.

In , the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, usually referred to as Benz & Cie. Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static gas engines as well.

The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing a horseless carriage. Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an automobile. It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones)^[14] with a four-stroke engine of his control design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition^[15] and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator.^[15] Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle.

Benz finished his creation in and named it "Benz Patent-Motorwagen".

The Motorwagen was patented on 29 January as DRP "automobile fueled by gas".^[16] The version was difficult to regulate, leading to a collision with a wall during a widespread demonstration.

Karl Friedrich Benz | Biography, Facts, Automobile ...: Karl Friedrich Benz, German mechanical engineer who designed and in built the world’s first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. In Benz & Co. merged with Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, maker of Mercedes-Benz.

The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of Benz first publicly drove the car on 3 July in Mannheim at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph).^[2] The next year Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2, which had several modifications, and in , the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year.^[15]

Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as "Benz Patent-Motorwagen") in the late summer of , making it the first commercially free automobile in history.

The second customer of the Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer^[15]Emile Roger, who had already been building Benz engines under license from Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there.

The early version of the Motorwagen had only two gears and could not mount hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after Bertha Benz drove one of the vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of a third gear for climbing hills.

In the course of this trip she also invented brake pads.

Bertha Benz's long-distance drive

The world's first long distance automobile trip was undertaken by Bertha Benz using a Model 3. On the morning of 5 August Bertha – supposedly without the knowledge of her husband – took the vehicle on a &#;km (65&#;mi) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her.

In addition to having to locate pharmacies along the way to refuel, she repaired various technical and mechanical problems. One of these included the invention of brake lining; after some longer downhill slopes she ordered a shoemaker to nail leather onto the brake blocks.

Bertha Benz and sons finally arrived at nightfall, announcing the achievement to Karl by telegram. It had been her intention to demonstrate the feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for travel and to generate publicity in the manner now referred to as live marketing.

Today, the event is celebrated every two years in Germany with an antique automobile rally.

In , the Bertha Benz Memorial Route^[17] was officially approved as a route of the industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in The widespread can now follow the &#;km (&#;mi) of signposted route from Mannheim via Heidelberg to Pforzheim (Black Forest) and back.

The return trip – which didn't go through Heidelberg – was along a different, slightly shorter route, as shown on the maps of the Bertha Benz Memorial Route.

Benz's Model 3 made its wide-scale debut to the world in the World's Fair in Paris; about twenty-five Motorwagens were built between and

Benz and Cie.

expansion

The superb demand for static internal combustion engines forced Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim, and in a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until ) was added.

Benz & Cie. had grown in the interim from 50 employees in to in

During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile business in the world with units produced in

Because of its size, in , Benz & Cie. became a joint-stock firm with the arrival of Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, who came aboard as members of the Board of Organization.

Ganß worked in the commercialization department, which is somewhat similar to marketing in contemporary corporations.^[18]

The new directors recommended that Benz should create a less luxurious automobile suitable for mass show. From to Benz sold the four wheel, two seat Victoria,^[19] a two-passenger automobile with a &#;kW (&#;hp) engine, which could reach the top speed of 18&#;km/h (11&#;mph) and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chainedtiller for steering.

Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (German: [kaʁl ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈbɛnts] ⓘ; born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November – 4 April ) was a German engine creator and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. [ 1 ].

The model was successful with 85 units sold in , and was produced in a four-seated version with face-to-face seat benches called the "Vis-à-Vis".

From to , Benz produced over 1, of what some consider the first mass-produced car, the Velocipede, later known as the Benz Velo.^[20] The early Velo had a 1L metric-horsepower (&#;hp; &#;kW) engine, and later a 3-metric-horsepower (3&#;hp; 2&#;kW) engine.

giving a top speed of 19&#;km/h (12&#;mph).

The Velo participated in the world's first automobile race, the Paris to Rouen, where Émile Roger finished 14th, after covering the &#;km (78&#;mi) in 10 hours minute at an average speed of &#;km/h (&#;mph).

In , Benz designed the first truck with an internal combustion engine in history. Benz also built the first motor buses in history in , for the Netphener bus company.^[21][22][23]

In , Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first flat engine.

It had horizontally opposed pistons, a layout in which the corresponding pistons reach top dead centre simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum. Many even engines, particularly those with four or fewer cylinders, are arranged as "boxer engines", boxermotor in German, and also are established as "horizontally opposed engines".

This design is still used by Porsche, Subaru, and some steep performance engines used in racing cars. In motorcycles, the most famous boxer engine is create in BMW Motorrad,^[24] though the boxer engine design was used in many other models, including Victoria, Harley-Davidson XA, Zündapp, Wooler, Douglas Dragonfly, Ratier, Universal, IMZ-Ural, Dnepr, Gnome et Rhône, Chang Jiang, Marusho, and the Honda Gold Wing.^[25]

Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March —and there is no evidence^{[citation needed]} that Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, contest with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Stuttgart began to oppose the leadership of Benz & Cie.

In October , the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach, built the engine that would later be used in the Mercedeshp of The engine was built to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine, and for him to grow a dealer of the unique series.

Jellinek stipulated the modern engine be named Daimler-Mercedes (for his daughter).

Karl Benz was a German inventor and engineer. He overcame financial setbacks and unsupportive associates to design and build a car with a fully integrated internal combustion engine, which is seen as the first practical automobile. Benz's invention was driven for the first time in and received a patent the next year. Though his automotive goals were initially mocked and dismissed, Benz saw motor vehicles become a dominant mode of transportation before his death at age 84 in

Maybach would quit DMG in , but he designed the model and all of the important changes. After testing, the first was delivered to Jellinek on 22 December Jellinek continued to make suggestions for changes to the model and obtained good results racing the automobile in the next few years, encouraging DMG to engage in commercial production of automobiles, which they did in

Benz countered with Parsifal, introduced in with a vertical twin engine that achieved a top speed of 60&#;km/h (37&#;mph).

Then, without consulting Benz, the other directors hired some French designers.^[26]

France was a country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Benz announced his retirement from design management on 24 January , although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz corporation until his death in

Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie.

in , but Richard returned to the firm in as the designer of passenger vehicles.

That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3, automobiles, and the organization remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles.

Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Benz founded another business, C.&#;Benz Söhne, (with his son Eugen and closely held within the family), a privately held company for manufacturing automobiles.

Karl Friedrich Benz November 26 — April 4 was a German engine designer and automobile engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile. Other German contemporaries, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybachalso worked independently on the same type of invention, but Benz patented his function first and, after that, patented all of the processes that made the internal combustion engine feasible for use in automobiles. In Karl Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which he designed in InBenz created the Motorwagenthe first commercial automobile, powered by a gasoline engine.

The brand label used the first initial of Benz's first name, "Carl".^{[citation needed]}

Blitzen Benz

Main article: Blitzen Benz

In , the Blitzen Benz was built in Mannheim by Benz & Cie.

The bird-beaked vehicle had a liter (ci), &#;kW (&#;hp) engine, and on 9 November in the hands of Victor Hémery of France,^[27] the ground speed racer at Brooklands, arrange a record of &#;km/h (&#;mph), said to be "faster than any plane, train, or automobile" at the time, a log that was not exceeded for ten years by any other vehicle.

It was transported to several countries, including the Combined States, to establish multiple records of this achievement.

Benz Söhne, –

Carl Benz, Bertha Benz, and their son, Eugen, moved 10 kilometres (&#;mi) east of Mannheim to live in nearby Ladenburg, and solely with their hold capital, founded the private corporation, C.&#;Benz Sons (German: Benz Söhne) in , producing automobiles and gas engines.

The latter type was replaced by petrol engines because of lack of demand.^[28]

This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz & Cie., which was located in Mannheim.

The Benz Sons automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis.

In , Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to Eugen and Richard, but he remained as a director of Benz & Cie.

During a birthday celebration for him in his home town of Karlsruhe on 25 November , the seventy-year-old Benz was awarded an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the Karlsruhe University, thereby becoming—Dr.&#;Ing.

h.&#;c.&#; Benz.^[28][29]

Almost from the very beginning of the performance of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became a major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the show models were raced and the Benz Velo participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen Later, investment in developing racecars for motorsports produced returns through sales generated by the association of the name of the automobile with the winners.

Unique race vehicles were built at the time such as the first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, Tropfenwagen, a "teardrop" body introduced at the European Grand Prix at Monza.

In the last production year of the Benz Sons company, , three hundred and fifty units were built.

During the following year, , Benz built two additional 8/25&#;hp units of the automobile manufactured by this company, tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; they are still preserved.

Toward Daimler-Benz and the first Mercedes-Benz in

The German economic crisis worsened.

In Benz & Cie. produced only 1, units in Mannheim, and DMG made only 1, in Stuttgart. The average cost of an automobile was 25&#;million marks because of rapid inflation. Negotiations between the two companies resumed and in they signed an "Agreement of Mutual Interest" valid until the year Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertising—marketing their automobile models jointly—although keeping their respective brands.^[30]

On 28 June , Benz & Cie.

and DMG finally blended as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles as Mercedes-Benz, honoring the most crucial model of the DMG automobiles, the Mercedes 35 hp, along with the Benz name. The name of Mercedes 35 hp had been chosen for ten-year-old Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of Emil Jellinek who had position the specifications for the fresh model.

Between and he was a member of DMG's board of management, however had resigned long before the merger.

Benz was a member of the new Daimler-Benz board of administration for the remainder of his life. A new logo was created in , consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto: "engines for territory, air, and water") surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo, and the brand of all of its automobiles was labeled Mercedes-Benz.

Model names would follow the brand name in the same convention as today.

The next year, , the number of units sold tripled to 7, and the diesel line was launched for truck production. In , the Mercedes-Benz SSK was presented.

On 4 April , Benz died at his home in Ladenburg at the age of 84 from a bronchial inflammation. Until her death on 5 May , Bertha Benz continued to reside in their last home. Members of the family resided in the home for thirty more years.

The Benz home has now been designated as historic and is used as a scientific meeting facility for a nonprofit foundation, the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation.

• The Carl Benz monument in Mannheim ()

• The Carl Benz monument in Mannheim ()

• The Carl Benz monument in Mannheim ()

• The Carl Benz monument in Mannheim ()

• The Carl Benz monument in Mannheim ()

• The Carl Benz monument in Mannheim, in the evening ()

Legacy

The Carl-Benz-Gymnasium Ladenburg&#;[de] in Ladenburg, where he lived until his death, is named in his honor, as is the Automuseum Dr.

Carl Benz, also located in Ladenburg.

In , Benz was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.^[31][32] and the European Automotive Hall of Fame.^[31]

In popular culture

In , a dramatized television motion picture about the life of Carl and Bertha Benz was made named Carl & Bertha&#;[de], which premiered on 11 May^[33] and was aired by Das Erste on 23 May.^[34] A trailer of the film^[35] and a "making of" special were released on YouTube.^[36]

Benz was also featured^[when?] in the first episode of the History Television miniseries The Cars That Made The World.^{[citation needed]}

See also

References

Specific

General

• Benz, Carl ().

  Lebensfahrt eines deutschen Erfinders&#;: meine Erinnerungen / Karl Benz [The life of a German inventor: my memories / Karl Benz] (in German). München: Koehler und Amelang. ISBN&#;. (autobiography)

• Benz, Carl Friedrich (c.

  ). Lebensfahrt eines deutschen erfinders; erinnerungen eines achtzigjahrigen [The life of a German inventor; memories of an octogenarian] (in German) (1&#;ed.). Leipzig: Koehler & Amelang. Archived from the original on 6 July Retrieved 15 May

• Elis, Angela ().

  Mein Traum ist länger als die Nacht&#;: wie Bertha Benz ihren Mann zu Weltruhm fuhr [My dream is longer than the night&#;: how Bertha Benz drove her husband to worldwide fame] (in German). Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;

• Kirchberg, Peter; Wächtler, Eberhard; Goetz, D.; Wächtler, E.; Winter, I.; Wußing, H.

  (). Carl Benz Gottlieb Daimler Wilhelm Maybach (in German). Wiesbaden: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag&#;: Imprint&#;: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;

• Benz, Karl; Pein, Max-Gerrit von; Niemann, Harry; Engelen, Günter; Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft; Mercedes-Benz-Museum ().

  Benz & Cie.&#;: zum Geburtstag von Karl Benz [Benz & Cie.&#;: on the th birthday of Karl Benz] (in German). Stuttgart: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN&#;.

  Karl Benz was a German mechanical engineer and inventor. Karl Benz invented the automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. He was a first-person, helped to overcome the financial setbacks and unsupportive associated with the design and architecture of cars. His innovation initiated the automobile industry.

  OCLC&#;

• Seherr-Thoss, Hans Christoph (). Zwei Männer – ein Stern&#;: Gottlieb Daimler und Karl Benz in Bildern, Daten und Dokumenten [Two men – one star: Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz in pictures, data and documents] (in German) (2&#;ed.).

  Düsseldorf: VDI-Verlag. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;

• Seidel, Winfried A. (). Carl Benz&#;: eine badische Geschichte; die Vision vom "pferdelosen Wagen" verändert pass away Welt [Carl Benz&#;: a Baden history; the vision of the "horseless car" changes the world] (in German).

  Weinheim: Diesbach. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#; (biography)

• Siebertz, Paul (). Karl Benz; ein Pionier der motorisierung [Karl Benz; a pioneer of motorization] (in German) (2&#;ed.). Stuttgart: Reclam. OCLC&#;
• McNeil, Ian; Day, Lance ().

  "Benz, Karl". Biographical dictionary of the history of technology. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN&#;. OCLC&#; Archived from the original on 15 November Retrieved 17 October

External links

• Brief biographies of Karl Benz and Bertha Benz, with portraits, an extensive archive, and detailed histories presented at the Mercedes-Benz Museum
• Mercedes-Benz corporate archives, company archives, history, media management archives, and publications
• Honorary doctorate and Baden State medal in gold, both awarded to Karl Benz in his lifetime
• Das Automuseum Dr.

  Carl Benz in der alten Benz Fabrik(in German) is the Dr. Carl Benz Auto Museum created by a intimate group in [1]Archived 23 April at the Wayback Machine in a former Benz factory for an ancillary business founded with his sons in Ladenburg, which was separate from his major companies.

  The company opened in and closed in , the site has a description of this museum and contemporary photographs, showing "C.&#;Benz SÖHNE KG" painted on the building, which contains historical photographs, some restored automobiles, and a chronology of the life of Karl Benz.

• Karl Benz on (Archived 5 February at the Wayback Machine)
• Bertha Benz Memorial RouteArchived 3 February at the Wayback Machine
• Bertha Benz's RideArchived 22 October at the Wayback Machine
• The Karl Benz family grave site in Ladenburg: the urn contains the ashes of their son, Richard Benz, and the inscription on the gravestone reads "Dr.
  His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from is considered the first practical latest automobile and first car lay into series production. Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car", [ 4 ] [ 5 ] as well as the "father of the automobile industry". His parents were Josephine Vaillant and a locomotive driver, Johann Georg Benz, whom she married a several months later. According to German law, the child acquired the name "Benz" by legal marriage of his parents.

  Ing. h. c. Karl Benz" (Mercedes Benz, A European Travel Guide at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 October ))

• The Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation founded in at the last residence of Bertha and Karl Benz in Ladenburg
• Newspaper clippings about Carl Benz in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW
• Germany’s Oldest Street-Legal Car | Benz Victoria | German Cars on YouTube, video of a Benz Victoria existence driven on the streets of Germany in the 21st century
• Mercedes Benz, A European Travel Guide