Karl Benz - Automotive pioneers

No one describes this section better than the individual being featured this time. Generally regarded as the inventor of the petrol powered automobile the gentleman is none other than Karl Benz. Born on the 25th of November 1844, he worked at a number of firms as a draughtsman, designer and works manager before founding his first firm in1871 along with August Ritter. 

Karl Benz led in the development of new engines in the early factory he and his wife owned. To get more revenues, in 1878 he began to work on new patents. First, he concentrated all his efforts on creating a reliable gas two-stroke engine. Benz finished his two-stroke engine on December 31, 1878, New Year's Eve, and was granted a patent for it in 1879. Karl Benz showed his real genius, however, through his successive inventions registered while designing what would become the production standard for his two-stroke engine. Benz soon patented the speed regulation system, the ignition using white power sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.

Later on, Benz’s lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eblinger and in 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines. The success of the company gave Benz, the opportunity to indulge in his longtime passion for 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 with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator. Power was transmitted by means of two roller chains to the rear axle. Karl Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it the Benz Patent Motorwagen.

Since it was the first automobile to generate its own power, and not a motorized stage coach or a horse carriage, Karl Benz was granted his patent and regarded as its inventor. Benz began to sell the vehicle in 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The great demand for stationary, static internal combustion engines forced Karl Benz to enlarge the factory in Mannheim. Benz & Cie had grown in the interim from 50 employees in 1889 to 430 in 1899. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899.

In 1903, Benz came out with the Parsifil which had a vertical twin engine and hot a top speed of 60 km/h. However, at that time the other directors hired some French designers with consulting Benz. Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Karl Benz announced his retirement from design management on January 24, 1903, although he remained as director on the Board of Management through its merger with DMG in 1926 and, remained on the board of the new Daimler-Benz Corporation until his death in 1929. A man of true mettle!