Karl Benz is a German engineer, inventor, and automotive pioneer. In 1885 he built the world's first benz car(Motorwagen, stored in Munich). A patent for the invention of this car was received by Benz on January 29, 1886.
The ancestors of several generations of the Karl Benz family lived in Pfaffenort and were always engaged in blacksmithing. Karl's father first became a skilled blacksmith and metalworker, but later worked as a locomotive driver on the railroad. Karl Benz studied at high school in Karlsruhe and later, under the influence of his mother, entered the technical school in Karlsruhe and successfully completed it, brilliantly passing the final exams. While studying at a technical school, the main interest for young Karl was steam locomotives and other means of transport on steam traction. The difficult period of life for Carl was the years after graduating from technical school. He worked as an employee in many engineering companies, but was always obsessed with the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating a new type of engine, since at that time atmospheric engines Otto.
After the death of his mother in 1870, Benz decided to leave work and establish his own workshop with an acquaintance in which experiments could be carried out. They bought a small piece of land and started by making metal parts. However, as his partner resisted the idea of experimenting with engine development, Carl had to give up his dreams. Benz is almost resigned to it.
Soon he met Bertha Ringer and married her. Thanks to his wife's inheritance, he managed to buy out his leisurely partner's share and became the sole owner of the workshop. Now he could devote all his time to the development of a new engine. Unfortunately, he did not pay attention to the financial condition of his enterprise, and it soon went bankrupt in 1877. All banks refused him further loans, although by this time he had developed new engine internal combustion and now there is an urgent need to start production of a prototype model. Despite considerable difficulties, Benz managed to create a prototype of a new two-stroke engine, but he could not bring it to the market, since an English company had already developed and patented a similar engine, which made it impossible to obtain an authorship certificate. However, the Patent Office still issued a patent for fuel system, which eventually allowed him to begin production of a number of engine models. He founded new firm, which began manufacturing small two-stroke engines.
In 1885 Karl Benz founded another new firm with his investors. During the day he worked in his workshops, and at night he experimented in a barn near his house. Perseverance, initiative and determination allowed Benz to overcome the initial difficulties. The result was the creation tricycle with a 4-stroke engine in his workshop. Benz himself designed and developed all the components of his car and himself came to the decision of many technical problems. In January 1886, Karl Benz received a patent for his new car, which did not arouse much interest among buyers, although the engines were in great demand in the market, especially in Germany. They were also produced under license in France by Panhard et Levassor (Panhard and Levassor).
In 1889, Benz's representative in France presented his car on car exhibition in Paris. At the same time, cars of the German company "Daimler" ("Daimler") were demonstrated there. Unfortunately, the exhibition did not bring successful sales. This was until 1890, when a number of German firms did not have an interest in the production of the Benz car. A new company was founded, producing exclusively the Benz car. In the following period, Benz worked continuously on his new project, including test runs of cars. In 1897 he developed a 2-cylinder engine with horizontal arrangement, known as the "contra-engine". Firm "Benz" soon achieved recognition and high popularity among buyers due to the high sports performance of the cars it developed. Finally, after many years of failure, a more successful stage came for Karl Benz. In 1926, the Benz company merged with the Daimler company ("Daimler"), the Daimler-Benz company arose, which still exists today. Karl Benz died on April 4, 1929 at the age of 85.
Start
Karl Benz was born on November 25, 1844 in Karlsruhe in the family of a worker - a locomotive driver. In 1846, tragedy struck the family. Karl's father died of pneumonia, leaving his wife with a two-year-old child in her arms. A small pension was enough only for the bare necessities, but mother Karla took on any job, just to raise her son and give him a good education. In 1850, Benz entered primary school Karlsruhe. In 1853 he graduated from it and entered the technical lyceum. The boy was distinguished by outstanding abilities, especially he was given the exact sciences. After graduating from the Lyceum at the age of 15, Karl effortlessly entered the faculty technical mechanics University of Karlsruhe. And four years later (the full course of study lasted five years), on July 9, 1964, at the age of 19, Karl Benz received an engineering degree.
Formation
Since childhood, knowing the value of money, knowing poverty and need, Benz did not shy away from dirty and hard work. For the first seven years of his independent life, Benz worked at small enterprises in Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Pforzheim, and Vienna. He worked in repair shops, in factories for the production of agricultural equipment. And for a long time he nurtured the idea of his own business. In 1871, this idea came to fruition - Benz and his friend August Ritter opened a private mechanical workshop in Mannheim.
Things did not work out, the owners of the workshop fell into debt. Ritter announced his resignation from the enterprise, which meant the collapse of the company. To save the small company, Benz was forced to turn to the father of the girl he was courting at the time - his future father-in-law, Carl Friedrich Ringer.
A carpenter by profession, a simple man, but firmly on his feet, Carl Ringer appreciated the talent, enterprise and determination of the young Benz. He loaned Benz a significant amount, which, on the one hand, allowed Karl Benz to buy out his share of the company from August Ritter and become the sole owner of the workshop, and on the other hand, greatly strengthened Benz's relationship with the Ringer family.
July 20, 1872 Karl Benz and Cecile Bertha Ringer became spouses. The dowry of the bride was the same loan received by Charles from his father-in-law.
Personal life
The marriage of Karl and Bertha Benz is the clearest example of a happy union of two hearts that lasted a lifetime. Berta Benz outlived her husband for a long time - she died on May 5, 1944, having survived her 95th birthday by two days. In this marriage, the Benzes had five children.
The role of Berta in the history of the creation of the car is difficult to overestimate. Several times, Karl's company was on the verge of ruin. And Berta came to the rescue, moreover, providing not only moral, but also quite practical support. There is a well-known story when Berta, without the knowledge of her husband, made, in fact, an advertising run on the first Benz car. It happened on August 5, 1888. Berta put her two eldest sons in the car and drove to independent travel from Mannheim to Pforzheim, to my parents. She managed to get to her hometown before sunset, having overcome 106 km of travel in a daylight hours. On the way, Bertha made several trips to pharmacies to buy gasoline, which was sold as a cleaning agent. Worn-out brakes with leather pads she repaired at the saddler's. torn drive chain- at the blacksmith. Berta cleared the clogged gas line along the way with a hairpin, and replaced the broken insulator of the ignition system with a stocking garter. Having suffered from the climbs that Berta had to push the car with the boys by hand, she advised her husband to equip the car with an engine torque control device. After that, Benz designed car box gears.
First car
Karl Benz engine
Having acquired a mechanical workshop at his own disposal, Karl Benz took up the development of internal combustion engines - a fashionable novelty of that time. Benz planned to sell motors for use in agriculture and in industry. But in parallel with the development of the engine, he was also engaged in another idea - the development of a self-running stroller.
The development of the first engine took more than six years. Karl Benz received a patent for a two-stroke gasoline engine on December 31, 1878. And that was just the first sign. In the next three years, he patented a battery-powered ignition system, a spark plug, an accelerator, a carburetor, an engine water cooler and, somewhat later, a clutch and gearbox.
The workshop was engaged in the repair of agricultural machinery and horse-drawn carts, barely covering Benz's inventive expenses. Money was sorely lacking.
In 1882, feverishly seeking funds, Benz organized Joint-Stock Company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim. But the company was never able to launch the production of engines. In 1883, Benz stepped down from the company's board and invested in a small bicycle workshop. The new company received Benz name& Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik and was later renamed Benz & Cie. It was at this enterprise that Karl Benz managed to establish mass production gasoline engines. In the next three years, Benz, along with improving the design of the motor, was involved in the creation of the first car.
A rare shot of Karl Benz's first car. It has not been preserved to date.
What was this car? A tricycle carriage on bicycle wheels. Front wheel controlled by a steering mechanism with a handle rotating in a horizontal plane. four-stroke gasoline engine was located under the seat above rear axle. Torque is transmitted to rear axle bicycle chain. In general, the car was extremely capricious in operation and unreliable. But it was the first car in the world. Or - one of the first (a matter of priorities in this case we do not consider). Throughout 1886 and the beginning of 1887, Motorwagen underwent "sea trials". In fact, Benz simply could not sell the car and was forced to drive it himself. In 1887, Benz's car went to the World Exhibition in Paris.
In 1888, Benz sold the first car in Germany. In the same year, the Paris branch of the Benz company was opened - France showed more interest in the new product than Germany.
Karl Benz driving his first car.
The year 1888 was a turning point for Benz. In total, from 1886 to 1893, Karl Benz managed to sell 25 cars of the first Motorwagen model.
In 1893, the second Victoria model was prepared for production. The car received four wheels and a more powerful (about three times) engine in 3 horsepower. The maximum speed of the car was 20 km / h. During the year, Benz managed to sell 45 copies of the car.
In 1894 the Victoria was replaced by the Velo. For the first time in history, car races were held on these machines (Paris-Rouen). In 1895, Benz's enterprise turned into a full-fledged car company. The first ever truck and bus were produced.
The phenomenon of "Mercedes"
Since 1889, after the Benz car was again presented at an exhibition in Paris, the cars of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, another manufacturer German cars went head to head. But still, Karl Benz cars sold better - they had a reputation for reliable and durable cars.
In 1897, Karl Benz designed a 2-cylinder four-stroke boxer engine who brought success. The motor turned out to be compact and powerful.
In 1906 Karl and Bertha Benz moved to Ladenburg. Benz felt tired and needed rest. Son Eugene followed his parents. Ladenburg became the last home for the aging Karl Benz...
In 1926, in the wake of the post-war economic crisis that gripped Germany, Benz and Daimler decided to unite in order to save the fading business. On June 28 of the same year, Benz & Cie and DMG merged to form a new company, Daimler-Benz. All car models produced by the company were called Mercedes-Benz.
Under this now legendary name, a 1902 car was released, which became fateful for the Daimler company. Equipped with a 35-horsepower engine, this car was considered at one time the height of perfection. The name "Mercedes 35h" was given by the creators of the car at the request of Emil Ellinek, a German entrepreneur, racing driver, who formulated the engine specifications for this car. (According to other sources, the first car, named after the youngest daughter of Ellinek, was released in 1899, a year before the death of Gottlieb Daimler).
The success of the Mercedes was so convincing that in 1903 Emil Ellinek filed a petition to change his surname. After obtaining permission, he became Emil Ellinek-Mercedes. Ellinek-Mercedes died on January 1, 1918.
Last years
In this picture, Karl Benz, driving his own Patent Motorwagen, is 81 years old..
IN last years life Karl Benz retired. He enjoyed an impeccable reputation as the founding father of the global automotive industry.
Outstanding engineers of our time worked in the combined Daimler-Benz company. In particular, Ferdinand Porsche Sr., creator of the most famous models Mercedes, inventor, great auto designer...
Karl Benz died on April 4, 1929 from pneumonia in Ladenburg at the age of 85.
Benz got his first paid job as a technical draftsman and designer at a scale factory in Mannheim.
In 1868 he took a job with a bridge building company. Then he worked at a metalworking plant in Vienna.
In 1871, Karl Benz, together with the mechanic August Ritter, founded his first company in Mannheim. Benz later bought out Ritter's stake in the business with the dowry of his fiancée, Bertha Ringer.
In 1872 Karl Benz and Bertha Ringer got married.
In 1890, Karl Benz's three-wheeled vehicle became the world's first commercial vehicle. The car had an engine with a displacement of 1.7 liters, located horizontally, a T-shaped handlebar, two-stage box gears. Engine power increased from year to year: from 0.75 to 2.5 hp. This was enough to drive with a maximum speed of 19 km / h.
By the end of 1899, the two thousandth car was produced at the Benz factory, and production figures reached 572 models per year. Karl Benz's firm was ranked first in the world in terms of production among car manufacturers.
In 1906, Benz and his son Richard founded Carl Benz Sohne in Ladenburg. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, the company produced only about 350 cars. In the meantime, the Benz family also moved to Ladenburg.
In 1912, Benz left the company, leaving his sons in charge. In 1923, Carl Benz Sohne produced its last car.
Karl Benz died at his home in Ladenburg on April 4, 1929. The house is currently used as the headquarters of the Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler Foundation (Carl Benz- und Gottlieb Daimler-Stiftung).
In 1998, as a result of the acquisition by Daimler-Benz AG of the corporation Chrysler LLC, was formed concern Daimler Chrysler AG.
In 2007, the name DaimlerChrysler AG was changed to Daimler AG.
The German automotive concern Daimler AG is one of the largest companies in Germany in terms of turnover and one of the world's leading automakers.
The auto concern owns such car brands How " Mercedes Benz"(Mercedes-Benz), "Maybach" (Maybach), "Smart" (smart), "Freightliner" (Freightliner), "Fuso" (Fuso), "Setra" (Setra) and others.
In the winter of 1886, the German mechanic Karl Benz received a patent for the three-wheeled vehicle he invented, equipped with a gas engine, which would later be called a car. So, now we are celebrating the 130th anniversary of our favorite vehicle.
To be honest, more than 400 people from different countries peace. The question is, why Benz? The answer is simple: he was the first to patent his brainchild. Nevertheless, even during the lifetime of the inventor, his primacy was questioned. Many contemporaries believed that the first self-propelled carriage was invented by another German - Gottlieb Daimler, who in 1885 received a patent for a bicycle with a motor. This fact gave rise to talk about the championship of Daimler. Let's try to figure it out.
Biography facts
Karl Friedrich Michael Benz was born on November 26, 1844 in the German town of Ladenburg near Mannheim in the family of a hereditary blacksmith Hans-Georg Benz. About a year before his birth, the Karlsruhe-Heidelberg railway line opened nearby, where the father of the future inventor got a job as a machinist. But a couple of years after the birth of Karl Benz Sr., he caught a cold, fell ill and died. The family remained in the care of the mother.
For Carl Railway has always been something unusually attractive and mysterious. He himself later recalled that already in early childhood, no matter what he drew, he got a locomotive, no matter what he played, he got a train. Even in the evening the little boy threw himself into bed, puffing like a locomotive, and woke up in the morning, repeating the same sounds. He said: "For me, the locomotive was the highest goal, my favorite dream." As a result, Karl was so carried away by steam locomotives that even in his youth he set out to build a locomotive that would run without rails ...
Carl's mother, being a sane and practical woman, without overwriting her son's hereditary interest in technology, predicted for him a career as an official. Therefore, she made every effort to give him a good education. Benz was lucky with the teachers: the director of the lyceum was the famous German poet Johann-Peter Goebel. Later, at the Higher Polytechnic School in Karlsruhe, Ferdinand Redtenbacher, one of the founders of the German school of theoretical engineering, became his teacher. The well-known theoretical scientist Frani Grashof also worked there.
During his studies and immediately after graduating from the Polytechnic School, Karl had to work hard to pay for his education and support his family. The young man was a photographer, watchmaker, worker, then a draftsman and designer at a number of enterprises. He expressed his life credo with the words: "More respect for the craft."
In 1867, Benz first saw a bicycle and immediately built something similar. But his real passion was engines. Since the time of the Polytechnic School, Karl was convinced that the gas engine was more promising for use in transport than Steam engine. And that is why he devoted a lot of time to the design of such motors. The dream of youth - a self-propelled carriage - was also not forgotten, however, now the inventor wanted to build a wagon powered by an internal combustion engine.
Own business
In 1871, Benz decided to open a firm for the design and construction of stationary gas engines. The business promised to become profitable, since the booming industry demanded such equipment. But money was not enough, I had to take a companion. A year after the founding of the company, Benz married Bertha Ringer, having received a decent dowry for his wife. And immediately bought out the partner's share, becoming the sole owner of the enterprise. It was then that he built his first workable two stroke engine.
Support in the work was provided by his wife, who meekly endured all the hardships of life that resulted from Carl's fanatical attempts to build a motor crew, which took the lion's share of the family income. Things got to the point that in 1877 the bank refused to finance Benz. However, the inventor continued to work and in 1879 he tried to patent his engine. Alas, during the patent examination it turned out that shortly before Benz, a similar unit was patented in the UK.
Nevertheless, a patent was issued to Benz, but not for the entire engine, but for " original system fuel supply". Among other things, this gave the right to produce motors. Which the designer used. Having found partners, he organized a new enterprise for the production industrial engines, although he still spent most of his time creating self-propelled crew.
This, of course, distracted Karl from the main business and greatly annoyed business partners - their money was not allocated for dubious experiments, but for specific production. As a result, everyone refused to work with the inventor and he had to look for new investors. In 1883, Benz again managed to gain financial support and found in Mannheim Benz company& Co. Rheinische Gasmotorenfabrik. From the same mistakes, the corresponding conclusions were drawn: work on the motor crew continued in the home workshop.
The car was born!
The designer himself had to promote his invention. In 1888, Benz exhibited it at the Munich Industrial Exhibition and personally demonstrated the car for four hours a day, driving around the city. However, despite the general admiration and even gold medal awarded to the exhibit, there were still no buyers. In an attempt to secure applications for his invention, Carl took out patents outside of Germany.
According to the memoirs of Benz himself, the first buyer of the car was a resident of Paris, Emile Roger. In 1887, he bought one car, and when it performed well, he bought another batch.
The three-wheeled carriage turned out to be unstable, so from 1893 Benz switched to the production of the four-wheeled Viktoria car with a 3 hp engine, and a year later the Velo model appeared before the public. Gradually, the demand for cars grew, and to the extent that things went uphill. By the beginning of 1901, Benz's enterprise had become one of the largest in its industry and had branches in other countries. In 1903, together with his son Eugen, he founded new company Carl Benz & Sohne in Ladenburg.
The inventor was aware of the importance of his offspring and later wrote: "I can safely say that I was the first to create a car and overcome the difficulties associated with its implementation." But contemporaries were in no hurry to recognize Benz's primacy in the invention of the automobile. The case, as usual, was overgrown with numerous "details". So, already at the beginning of the twentieth century, some authors argued that “Benz was an employee of Daimler to work at the factory gas engines in Deitz and that the ideas of both inventors did not then meet with recognition either from Otto or from his companion Langen.
This was not true, but then, as, indeed, now, few people were interested in the truth. Everyone except Benz, of course, this version was fine. It got to the point that in a number of publications, the championship in the invention of the car was attributed not even to Daimler, but to third parties, most often the French. There were many reasons for this, but the main one was that in the late XIX - early XX centuries, France was the most automotive country peace.
All this drove the aging inventor to despair, because Karl Benz had invested his whole life in cars. And although he was lucky, as not many inventors are lucky, he saw the triumphal procession of his offspring around the world, nevertheless, offensive sounded everywhere: it was not Benz who invented the car!
Therefore, memoirs appeared, where Karl Benz describes in detail the process of inventing a car. The seventh chapter of his book is called "Inventors" of the car "and is dedicated to upholding historical justice. As a result, the merits of Karl Benz were recognized and he is rightfully considered the man who gave the world a car.
- a real auto legend of the world, a man who went down in history as the creator of the greatest invention of mankind - the car. Karl Benz was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on 11/25. 1844 in the family of steam locomotive driver Hans Georg Benz and Josephine Vaillant, an early orphaned daughter of a gendarme. The fate of little Karl miraculously repeated the fate of his mother. The boy was not even two years old, as he, too, was left without a father. Later, Benz recalled his mother with great love and respect, who was always there and, despite her modest condition, managed to give her son a good upbringing and education. Karl studied at the Karlsruhe school and from early childhood showed a penchant for technology, he especially singled out steam locomotives. Taking into account the abilities of her son, Frau Josephine sent her son in 1853 to the gymnasium (then lyceum), which enjoyed exceptional fame. The most favorite subjects of the future inventor are physics and chemistry. 30.09. 1860 Karl Benz entered the "Polytechnic School", as the technical university in Karlsruhe was previously called. Having successfully completed a five-year course in four years, Benz received an engineering degree at the age of 19. During his apprenticeship, Benz took a particular interest in steam locomotives and other steam-powered vehicles.
After graduating from this educational institution, Benz enters in August 1864 at machine building plant in his hometown, where steam locomotives were produced. Later he works in repair shops, at enterprises for the production of agricultural equipment in Mannheim, Pforzheim, Vienna. And all this time, Karl Benz dreamed of starting his own business and eventually starting to create a completely new type of engine. In 1871, his idea began to materialize. Together with August Ritter, they opened a mechanical workshop for the production of metal parts in Mannheim. The partner opposed Benz's idea of developing a new engine in every possible way and soon announced his resignation. The father of Bertha Ringer, whom Benz courted, helped save the workshop from debts and buy out his share from August Ritter. Thanks to a loan from his future father-in-law, Karl Benz became the full owner of the workshop. In July 1872, the wedding of Karl Benz and Bertha Ringer took place. The loan Benz received from Carl Friedrich Rigger was the bride's dowry. 
The talented inventor went headlong into the development of an internal combustion engine, but by 1877 his company was on the verge of ruin. Despite the fact that Benz created a new two-stroke engine, he did not receive a certificate of authorship, since the English company patented a similar engine before he did. On December 31, 1878, Benz nevertheless received a patent for a fuel system and was able to launch the production of small two-stroke gasoline engines. In parallel with the development of the engine, Benz began to develop a self-running sidecar. In 1883, in search of funds, Benz invested in a bicycle workshop, later renamed Benz & Cie, where he set up serial production of gasoline engines and developed the first car. As a result of his labors, a cart was born on three bicycle wheels with a 4-stroke gasoline engine located above the rear axle under the seat. The front wheel was controlled by a steering gear with a rotating handle. This was the first car in the world, for which Benz received a patent in early 1886. True, initially the car did not arouse much interest. Due to a lack of buyers during 1886 and early 1887, Benz drove the Motorwagen himself. 
However, in 1887 his car got to the Paris World Exhibition, and in 1888 the first Benz car was sold in Germany. 1888 was a turning point for Benz, this year a branch of Benz's company was opened in Paris. Huge moral and practical support was given to her husband by Berta Benz, who on August 5, 1888, made a kind of advertising run from Mannheim to Pforzheim in a Benz car and covered 106 km in a day. Thus, she proved to the whole world the possibility of traveling by car, both fast and reliable. vehicle. By the way, on August 1, 1888, Karl Benz became the proud owner of the first driver's license, which was issued to him in Baden. Do you want to pass the exam successfully? driver license Nowadays? Traffic tickets online will help you with this. In 1890, a number of German firms also became interested in the Benz car. By 1893, Benz had already sold 25 cars of the first model. In 1893, a second model appeared. New car had 4 wheels, its engine power was 3 hp, maximum speed- 20 km / h. In just one year, the Benz company sold 45 of these vehicles. In 1894 there appeared new model Velo, which for the first time in the history of the Paris-Rouen race. In 1897, a new “counter-engine” was developed, the Benz company is gaining more and more popularity, and the cars have a reputation for being the most reliable and durable. On June 28, 1926, in the wake of the economic crisis that swept Germany, two German companies Benz and Daimler merged to form famous company Daimler-Benz, which exists to this day. Karl Benz died at the age of 85 in Ladenburg on April 4, 1929.
