In the summer of 1896 at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod the first model of a domestic car was presented, a joint project of the Petr Frese carriage factory and machine-building plant Evgenia Yakovleva.

The first 20 years for our automotive industry turned out to be much more turbulent and fruitful than subsequent eras.

Yakovlev-Frese (1896)

The engineers of the first self-propelled carriage planned to put it into mass production, but the death of one of them, Yevgeny Yakovlev, put an end to the idea. His companions considered the production of cars to be unpromising and ceased cooperation with the Frese factory. He was forced to buy engines abroad, and then sold the company to the Russo-Baltic Plant, which began to produce the first mass-produced cars. The idea to assemble and produce a car in Russia came to Frese and Yakovlev back in 1893 at an exhibition in Chicago. There they saw the car of Karl Benz, which impressed them with its simple and efficient design. Russian industrialists spent three years to get around patent barriers and reinvent the wheelchair on their own. Weight finished model amounted to 300 kg. The gasoline engine contained two horsepower, allowed to drive without refueling for 10 hours and could accelerate to a speed of 21 km per hour. There were only two gears: forward and idle.

Romanov (1899)

3 years after the appearance of the first gasoline engine, the first electric motor appeared. And the first electric car. It was created by Ippolit Romanov, a nobleman from Odessa. Romanov's car was much faster, but also heavier than Yakovlev-Frese's car. He accelerated to 37 km per hour with a weight of 750 kg. It is noteworthy that almost half the mass of the car was the battery. It was disposable, it was not subject to recharging and worked only 65 km: on average, it was enough for two to three hours of driving. Except cars, enthusiast Romanov developed a model of an omnibus designed for 17 people, which could accelerate to 19 km per hour. Alas, Romanov's electric vehicles were not put into serial production: the engineer could not find financial support, although he received a state order for 80 models.

Dux (1902)

Russian cars ran not only on gasoline and electricity, but also on steam. Yes, they didn’t just drive, but in all respects they left behind both electric and gasoline counterparts. They seemed elegant to contemporaries, were relatively silent and faster. The first steam car (or, as it was also called, a locomobile) was assembled at the Duks enterprise. The engines of locomobiles had from 6 to 40 horsepower. The company produced not only passenger models, but also motorcycles, omnibuses, railcars, snowmobiles. racing model"Duksa" could reach speeds of up to 140 km per hour! All this was not enough for the inventor and entrepreneur Julius Meller, who owned the Dux company, and since 1910 he began to produce aircraft and airships. Gradually, with the development of aircraft construction, the automotive component of the enterprise fades into the background. And in 1918, "Dux" was nationalized and turned into the "State Aviation Plant No. 1".

Leitner, motorcycle "Russia" (1902)

In the same 1902, the first motorcycle appeared in Russia, which was called "Russia". It was assembled by the Riga industrialist Alexander Leitner. The first motorcycle was an improved bicycle equipped with a motor. The engine had a volume of 62 cubic centimeters, consumed 3.5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers and developed top speed at 40 km per hour - at 1.75 horsepower. The first motorcycle cost three times more expensive than a bicycle: 450 rubles against, for example, 135 for a Duxa bicycle. However, this price was 10 times lower than the price passenger car: inexpensive "Renault" cost 5 thousand rubles, Russian models- even more expensive.

Cheapness in comparison with cars is relative, because 450 rubles is almost a six-month income of a Russian with an average income. therefore, the trade in the first motorcycles was sluggish, at ten units a year, and by 1908 had ceased altogether.

Lessner (1904)

What is an omnibus or a motorcycle - in 1904, the first one appeared in Russia fire engine. It was made at the Lessner company by order of the Alexander Nevsky fire department of St. Petersburg. Its designer was already at that time well-known in Russia and abroad Boris Lutsky. Back in April 1901, two of his five-ton trucks and one passenger car made a test drive along Nevsky Prospekt and were shown to the emperor. However, it is the two-ton fire engine "Lassner" that is considered the first car completely assembled according to Lutsky's drawings in Russia. The model was designed for 14 people of the fire brigade and developed a speed of up to 25 kilometers per hour.

Another "Lessner", a dark green limousine of 1907, became one of the inhabitants of the densely populated garage of Nicholas II, who passionately loved cars. Due to the similarity in design and appearance this car was called "Russian Mercedes".

Russo-Balt (1909)

The most popular car brand in Tsarist Russia was Russo-Balt, first released in 1909. There were two main engines: C and K. The first was larger, more powerful, with an estimated engine power of 24 horsepower. The second is smaller, with twelve horses under the hood.

Due to production costs, the price of the Puzyrev-28-35 car amounted to eight thousand rubles, which even exceeded the price of the expensive Russo-Balts. The car was reliable, but bulky. All this did not add to her popularity. Yes, and in the press, the patriotic car was disliked: they called it handicraft and compared it with the worst foreign models.

Bad luck added to the failures in the market. In January 1914, a fire broke out at the Puzyrev plant, destroying eight assembled machines and fifteen sets of parts ready for assembly. And in September, the patriotic engineer died.

On July 14, 1896, the first Russian car was presented at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.

The end of the 19th century was marked by a massive technical progress worldwide. However, many novelties of domestic inventors were not perceived by contemporaries as a breakthrough into the future, although they provided the country with a worthy place in the history of science and technology. Among these innovations was a “self-propelled car” or, as it was also called at that time, a “gasoline engine” - the first in the country and one of the first cars in the world with an engine internal combustion.

On July 14 (July 2, according to the old style), 1896, at the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod, a “self-propelled machine” designed by Evgeny Alexandrovich Yakovlev and Petr Alexandrovich Frese was presented. The exhibition was attended by masters Russian business and dignitaries, Tsar Nicholas II himself personally examined latest achievements domestic production in different areas.

Yakovlev and Frese's "gasoline engine" was presented for inspection among the ceremonial carriages of the carriage department of the exhibition, and an incomprehensible exotic novelty was lost among the mass of other exhibits, without making much impression on the king. Only a century later, compatriots were able to appreciate the contribution of this invention to global automotive industry and restore the model exactly, thanks to one single surviving photograph.

That day, Benzinomotor was photographed against the backdrop of the central pavilion of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair by photographer Maxim Petrovich Dmitriev, who received official permission to photograph the visit of the tsar to the main all-Russian exhibition. Dmitriev took several photographs of the car, but most of them have not survived to this day. Another small image of the first Russian car was preserved by the Illustrated Bulletin of Culture and Commercial and Industrial Progress of Russia, released in 1900.

The birth of the first domestic car was preceded by the acquaintance of talented Russian entrepreneurs, which took place three years earlier than the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition at a similar exhibition in Chicago, where they each took part with their invention. Evgeny Yakovlev, being a retired lieutenant of the navy, was the owner of a small machine-building and copper foundry plant, and Peter Frese, a mining engineer by education, owned a well-known carriage factory in St. Petersburg.

At an exhibition in Chicago, both Russian inventors received bronze medals - Yakovlev for their gas engines, and Frese for perfect models of horse-drawn vehicles. But in addition, at this exhibition, inquisitive and enterprising Russian inventors met the German engineer Gottlieb Daimler, the creator of the first patented motorcycle powered by an internal combustion engine.

Also, the general attention of Yakovlev and Frese was attracted by the world's first car that demonstrated Karl Benz. The model looked more like a horseless carriage and was called Benz Victoria. Russian inventors carefully studied these novelties and decided to make a more perfect "auto".

First of all, their "self-propelled car" or "gasoline engine" was adapted not only for driving on city pavements, but also for off-road driving and bad roads. Frese and Yakovlev's car was equipped big wheels- front with a radius of 780 mm and 836 mm rear. There was no mass production of metal wheels of this size at that time, and the “gasoline engine” received specially created wide-gauge wheels made of wood covered with rubber.

The springs were placed next to the wheels so that they turned with him. The car frame was connected to the front axle beam through the cross member, and the steering axle was attached to it. chain main gear make the rear wheels turn.

The length of the car was only 2 meters 45 cm, weight - 300 kg. The result was a compact and maneuverable car for its time with good technical characteristics. With an engine power of two horsepower, it developed a speed of about 20 km / h, which was a very good indicator for those times.

Yevgeny Yakovlev designed a four-stroke engine lighter than the existing European models, with a complex cooling system. The water constantly boiled and evaporated, and only a part of it was cooled, entering the condenser. Therefore, water had to be constantly added, and, like all the first cars, the Frese-Yakovlev car carried with it a supply of water - 30 liters in two side brass tanks.

The belt drive was similar in design to the one in Karl Benz's car. Levers two-stage box gears were located on the side of the steering wheel. It is noteworthy that the car had electric ignition.

As a result, the Frese-Yakovlev car had a cost half that of the single analogues that existed then in Europe and America, not inferior to them in terms of technical specifications. Thus, the day of July 14, 1896 testifies that Russia is rightfully one of the pioneers of the world automobile industry.

It's time to touch on such a popular question: the first Russian car, as well as who invented it and when. We have already found out who invented the first car in the world, but our craftsmen are only 10 years behind Henry Ford and Gottlieb Daimler.

The very first Russian car was created by two inventors, then living in St. Petersburg - Yakovlev Evgeny Aleksandrovich, a retired lieutenant of the Russian navy, and Frese Petr Aleksandrovich, a mining engineer. It was in St. Petersburg that the first in Russia self-propelled carriage. It was presented to the public at the All-Russian Art and Industrial Exhibition, which took place in June 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod. According to the creators of the first Russian car, they created it a little earlier - in May of the same year.

Frese Pyotr Alexandrovich

But following the letter of the law, it is known that everyone saw it in June at an exhibition in 1896. This is confirmed by a report in the St. Petersburg newspaper Novoye Vremya, which appeared on June 8, 1896. It is also known that the first Russian car was equipped with a body for two passengers, while it weighed 300 kg and could reach speeds of up to 20 km / h.

Yakovlev in 1891 founded in St. Petersburg on Bolshaya Spasskaya Street "The First Russian Plant of Gas and Kerosene Engines by E. A. Yakovlev", now it is called "Volcano". And Peter Frese owned Joint stock company, which produced Frese and Co. crews. It was located at St. Petersburg, Ertelev lane house 10 (now it is Chekhov street)

E. Yakovlev made for the first Russian car an engine with one horizontal cylinder and a transmission consisting of a differential and a two-speed gearbox. The engine had a power of 2 horsepower. Producing these inventions, Yakovlev used the experience of Karl Benz. It is worth noting that other car makers of those years from France, the USA, Germany and many other countries did the same.

An interesting fact: the first car on the streets of St. Petersburg was the Benz, a four-seat Victoria model.
The first Russian automobile plants.

At the dawn of the growth of the automotive industry in Russia, there were almost no full-cycle automobile plants. Almost all factories produced only chassis and motor base. In order to receive full car it was necessary to buy a chassis and deliver it to the factory for the production of carriages, where, taking into account your wishes, they created the car body. At that time, the body was called "carosseri".

However, it should be said that Russian carosseri were highly valued even abroad. Bodies produced by Russian factories many times received the highest awards at prestigious international exhibitions cars in the period from 1907 to 1913 held in Russia.

For example, at the first of these exhibitions, held in 1907, a large gold medal was awarded to car bodies firm "P. D. Yakovleva. And at the 4th International Automobile Exhibition of 1913 (Petersburg), half a dozen Mercedes cars were presented, having the bodies of the Breitigam carriage factory in the city of Petersburg.

Among the best carriage factories there were such names as Pobeda, Frese, P. D. Yakovlev”, “Bubbles” and “Otto”. But among them, only the Frese and Co factory tried to start producing trucks and cars. At the beginning of the 20th century, she created several dozen cars with a transmission and a De Dion Bouton engine, as well as the first trolleybus and train with an electric transmission. But all these inventions were never developed to complete final samples.

First Russian car factory Bubble.

I. P. Puzyrev

Naturally, the first Russian automobile plant was founded in 1909. It was called "Russian Automobile Plant I.P. Puzyrev". Its creator wanted to and made a plant that made all the parts for cars himself from Russian materials, by the hands of Russian workers under the guidance of domestic engineers. Also, this plant had a goal - to invent and make a car for Russian roads. And soon it was created: the models were named "28-35" (1911) and "A28-40" (1912). These cars were simple in design. They were embedded large stock strength, but they were a bit heavy. They had great cross-country ability, thanks to the high ground clearance - 320mm.

On cars produced by the Puzyrev plant, for the first time in the world, gears in the transmission were switched using cam clutches - this is the plant's own invention. All levers for gear shifting were placed inside the body. And all the crankcases of the engine, differential and gearbox were created from aluminum. The engine developed power up to 40 hp.

At the IV International Automobile Exhibition in St. Petersburg (spring 1913), already mentioned by us, Puzyrev presented 3 cars - a closed five-seater limousine and an open seven-seat car with a torpedo body, as well as the first Russian racing car with an overhead valve engine and a sports chassis.

By 1912, there were only 2 operating automobile plants in Russia: the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works in Riga, which produced the famous Russo-Balts, and the I.P. Puzyrev plant in St. Petersburg. The history of this enterprise is connected with difficult and tragic fate Russian automotive enthusiast Ivan Petrovich Puzyrev, who decided to independently produce cars, taking into account Russian conditions.

Ivan Petrovich, a lawyer by education, according to his contemporaries, was “a rare type of true motorist lover, such a lover who is not satisfied only with owning wheelchairs, using them, but who also needs to build, design himself ... and ride his own in machine in the full sense of the word. Ivan Puzyrev was the son of a major general from artillery and could have lived comfortably and carefree, but he was irresistibly attracted to cars. In 1907 he opened a small shop selling car parts, and after 2 years he establishes a plant and is already repairing cars. This enterprise was located on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, in Novaya Derevna, and was called the “Russian Automobile Plant of IP Puzyrev”. Soon he began to produce single copies cars, "made by Russian craftsmen entirely from domestic materials."

Puzyrev was considered a rich and unbridled romantic of motoring. The huge fortune of his father allowed him at first to experiment and make all the details on his own. The patriotic businessman decided to “set things up in such a way that Russian production was not just a name.” His second task was "to work out a type of a specially Russian car that meets the requirements of movement in Russia and in relation to the peculiarities of our communications." Puzyrev's ideas and plans were grandiose and bold. Even such a large enterprise as the Russian-Baltic Plant could not at first get rid of imports intricate details and mechanisms, and no one threatened to produce a completely domestic car in Russia.

At first, only 3 people worked at the Bubble Plant founded by the Bubble Plant, but in 1911 there were already 80 of them. The first Russian automaker also had engineers who independently developed machine components. As a basis, they took a strong and solid american car“Case”, so sometimes these machines were called “Case Bubble”. At the beginning of production, it was not possible to do without the purchase of imported carburetors and magnetos. However, everything else at the factory was made on its own. Even the most could not dream of such major manufacturers cars in the West.

Office space

To everything else, it should be added that all Puzyrev's cars had bodies with aluminum panels, and the wings were stamped from steel 2 mm thick. The mass of cars reached 2 tons, and they cost, at that time, incredibly expensive - up to 8 thousand rubles. One chassis without a body was sold for 5200 rubles, because the cost of production was very high. Sell ​​such expensive cars It was very difficult for the designer.

Assembly shop.

Of course, the life of an enthusiast of the domestic automotive industry was not easy. He had few supporters. In the newspapers, Ivan Puzyrev was more often scolded than praised, calling his production handicraft. Allegedly, his cars could not be compared even with the worst foreign models. Financial position Ivan Petrovich gradually became critical. The money invested in production did not give a return. Nobody bought cars, solid orders also did not come. Using the connections of his father-general, he was able to receive an order from the Military Department for ... 2 cars. Having made them with great difficulty and handed over to the customer, Puzyrev fell into debtors to the state. He was never paid for the cars. But the inventor did not lose heart and even thought about expanding production.

Foundry workshop.

The last blow to the brainchild of Puzyrev was dealt by the elements - on January 8, 1914, his factory burned down, burying 15 new chassis under its debris. For some time, Ivan Petrovich Puzyrev tried to set up the production of engines on the fire, but in September of the same year he died suddenly.

So the idea of ​​​​creating a completely domestic car in Russia died out at the beginning of the 20th century.

Welcoming the new production in Russia, so desirable for current situation conditions of movement, we wish him successful development and improvement, for which, as it seems, there are solid data, since firms known for their factories throughout Russia have taken up the matter.

Despite the importance of the event, neither the car itself nor detailed information about him, so today we can only see his copy, carefully recreated in the restoration center from the surviving photographs for the 100th anniversary of the Russian car. Much more information preserved about the people who built the first car in Russia.

Yevgeny Yakovlev was born in 1857 into a poor noble family. After serving in the Navy, rising to the rank of lieutenant, in 1883 he retired and married, taking a good dowry for his wife. It was with this money in St. Petersburg on Bolshaya Spasskaya Street that the “First Russian Kerosene and gas engines E.A. Yakovlev".

The company was one of the first domestic factories who built internal combustion engines. Yakovlev designed all his motors himself. By the beginning of the 90s. 19th century his factory already had a solid reputation, and the owner himself had several privileges (patents) for his products. In 1893, Chicago hosted the World Industrial Exhibition dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America, which brought together manufacturers from all over the world. Most likely, it was in Chicago that Yakovlev met his future companion Frese.

Peter Frese was born in 1844 in St. Petersburg and after graduating from the Mining Institute he connected his fate with the crew

Building, going to work at the Nellis factory. Frese quickly made a career: he soon became the manager of the factory, and then a co-owner. The aging Karl Nellis, the owner of the company, observing the business qualities of a young partner, gradually transferred the reins of government into his hands. At the end of the XIX century. the company was already called Frese and Nellis, and later - Frese and KV The authority of the company was so great that in 1893 it was offered to represent Russia at the World Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Frese's crews and Yakovlev's internal combustion engines were awarded bronze medals and honorary diplomas of the exhibition. In the same place, Russian machine builders drew attention to the experienced Benz-Velo, which, apparently, influenced their decision to create their own car. The first demonstration of the result of this cooperation took place at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition in 1896.

In 1898, after the untimely death of Yevgeny Yakovlev, Frese entered into an agreement with the French company De Dion-Buton, which allowed him to start independent production of motors. The swan song of Peter Alexandrovich was the St. Petersburg International Industrial automobile exhibition 1910, in which his firm was awarded a large gold medal. After the exhibition, Frese retired from automotive affairs and in April 1918, at the age of seventy-four, died in Petrograd.

It is widely known from history that the first cars with gasoline engines appeared in the Russian Empire as early as 1896. Inventors E. Yakovlev and G. Frese, who worked hard on the creation of gasoline and diesel engines, created their car on the basis of diagrams and drawings of Western engineers and even successfully exhibited it at international technical exhibitions. Development and production were located in Nizhny Novgorod, and the engines came from St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, the Frese-Yakovlev car did not become the prototype of the series, remaining a kind of toy for fans. technical innovations.

From 1910 to 1914, the Russo-Balt plant, based in Riga and other cities of present-day Latvia, assembled more than 200 vehicles (including fire engines) based on Western developments (Belgian brand Fondu). Cars competed in price and quality with American (Ford) and European models, but the main purchases of cars still came from Europe.

One of the original Russian factories producing cars was the plant of I.P. Puzyrev. The most famous were the models "28-35" and "A28-40": the engine power of these machines already reached 40 hp, the body acquired almost modern look, ground clearance was 320 mm. The speed of these cars was up to 80 km / h. Unfortunately, the owner of the plant and the main generator of ideas - I.P. Puzyrev died in 1915, after which the plant focused on servicing cars and manufacturing parts.

After the revolution, the Soviet Union did not have its own automobile production for a long time. First soviet cars were also made at Russo-Balta, although the plant was now located in Moscow. The cars were different high quality, reliability and adaptability to Russian roads and climate, but were produced in extremely limited numbers. Normal mass production began in the early 1930s when Gorky Automobile Plant began to produce the famous "gas" - GAZ-A and trucks GAZ-AA, the prototypes of which were Ford models.

Before the beginning of the forties, private cars also appeared, now known only to lovers of retro cars "Kims", including the most popular "Kim-10". And finally, immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, Soviet Union at the same time, he began to produce Pobeda (GAZ-M-20) and the first Moskvich models - completely according to the designs of Soviet engineers.

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Although the first developments of self-propelled vehicles began in the 18th century, the first vehicle close enough to the modern and actually used car on gasoline engine was created in Germany by Karl Benz in 1885. Later mass production of cars began not only in Germany, but also in France and the British Empire.

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