This week, we will be looking into something a little more different. Cars. The 4-wheeled vehicle has been the most popular form of transportation since the early ages. Lets dwell into its history for a moment.
When was the first car created?And by whom?I've done my research and most of the sources that I've checked out seems to point to the same conclusion. There don't seem to be a definite answer for the questions stated above. This is due to the fact that the cars or "automobile" seems to work the same but, with a different source of power. The list below shows some example:
AUTOMOBILE FIRSTS | |||
Inventor | Date | Type/Description | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804) | 1769 | STEAM / Built the first self propelled road vehicle (military tractor) for the French army: three wheeled, 2.5 mph. | France |
| Robert Anderson | 1832-1839 | ELECTRIC / Electric carriage. | Scotland |
| Karl Friedrich Benz (1844-1929) | 1885/86 | GASOLINE / First true automobile. Gasoline automobile powered by an internal combustion engine: three wheeled, Four cycle, engine and chassis form a single unit. | Germany Patent DRP No. 37435 |
| Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (1834-1900) and Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929) | 1886 | GASOLINE / First four wheeled, four-stroke engine- known as the "Cannstatt-Daimler." | Germany |
| George Baldwin Selden (1846-1922) | 1876/95 | GASOLINE / Combined internal combustion engine with a carriage: patent no: 549,160 (1895). Never manufactured -- Selden collected royalties. | United States |
| Charles Edgar Duryea (1862-1938) and his brother Frank (1870-1967) | 1893 | GASOLINE / First successful gas powered car: 4hp, two-stroke motor. The Duryea brothers set up first American car manufacturing company. | United States |
Karl Benz is the only one regarded as the first pioneer of cars. He is now regarded as the guy who had invented the most practical and the first "running and operational car" in history.
The lists above summarizes my point exactly on the issue raised above earlier. There is no definite answer to that ever elusive question.
However, we should be proud of what we have achieved throughout the ages. Cars in the past is scrap metal as compared to what technology and development has done to the new,more advanced, more cutting edge cars of today.
This picture is regarded as the first operational car or "automobile". Although we are more familiar to our cars being in the form of a 4-wheeled drive, resources and ideas in the earlier ages were limited. Karl had it patented ( DRP 37435 ). DRP 37435 is later commonly known as the birth date of the vehicle.
Specs:
- Engine horizontal
- 4 cycle
- Single Cylinder
- Water-cooled
- Bore 116mm
- Stroke 160mm
- Displacement 1600cc
- 3/4 hp
Those specs seemed outdated and useless, however, in the olden days, they were regarded as a breakthrough and regarded as a work of genius. However, and remarkably, some of the features found here could still be found in cars nowadays.
For example:
- Water-cooled engine
- Electric ignition
- Mechanically operated inlet valves
This just goes to show how important Karl Benz's invention was. Little did he know that it will inspire future works of art in the future like the Ferrari Spider 360, Maserati MC12 and many more luxury cars nowadays.
Ferrari Spider 360
Maserati MC 12
Through the ages, the concept of the car remains, only the form and the elegance of the cars evolve.
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