Engineer and car manufacturer, born in Karlsruhe, SW Germany. He developed a two-stroke engine (18779) and founded a factory for its manufacture, leaving in 1883 when his backers refused to finance a mobile engine. He then founded a second company, Benz & Co, Rheinisch Gasmotorenfabrik, at Mannheim. His first car - one of the earliest petrol-driven vehicles - was completed in 1885 and sold to a French manufacturer. In 1926 the firm was merged with the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz & Co.
Karl Friedrich Benz (November 26, 1844 – April 4, 1929) 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 Maybach, also worked independently on the same type of invention, but Benz patented his work first and, after that, patented all of the processes that made the internal combustion engine feasible for use in automobiles. In 1879 Karl Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which he designed in 1878.
In 1885, Benz created the Motorwagen, the first commercial automobile, powered by a gasoline engine.
In 1896, Karl Benz designed and patented the first internal combustion boxer engine with horizontally-opposed pistons, which continues to be the design principle for high performance engines used in motorsports.
Benz founded the Benz Company, precursor of Daimler-Benz, Mercedes-Benz, and DaimlerChrysler.
Early life
Karl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant, in Karlsruhe, Germany to locomotive driver Johann George Benz and Josephine Vaillant. When Karl was two years old, his father was killed in a railway accident, and his name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in remembrance of his father.
Benz had originally focused his studies on locksmithing, but eventually followed his father's steps toward locomotive engineering.
Following his formal education, Benz had seven years of professional training in several companies, but did not fit well in any of them.
Benz's Factory and his first inventions (1871 to 1882)
In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Karl Benz joined August Ritter in launching a mechanical workshop in Mannheim, also dedicated to supplying construction materials: the Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop, later renamed, Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working. Benz then bought out Ritter's share in the company using the dowry provided by the father of his fiancée, Bertha Ringer.
In July 20, 1872 Benz and Ringer married, later having five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890).
Despite such business misfortunes, Karl Benz led in the development of new engines. Benz finished his engine on 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 sparks with battery, the spark plug, the carburetor, the clutch, the gear shift, and the water radiator.
Benz's Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim (1882 to 1883)
Problems arose again when the banks at Mannheim demanded that Benz's Gas Factory enterprise be incorporated due to the high production costs it maintained.
After all the necessary agreements, Benz was unhappy because he was left with merely 5% of the shares and a modest position as director.
Benz & and the Motorwagen
1885 Benz Patent Motorwagen| Three wheels | |
|---|---|
| Electric ignition | |
|
Differential rear end gears
(mechanically operated inlet valves) |
|
| Water-cooled engine | |
| Gas or petrol four-stroke horizontal engine | |
| Single cylinder. Bore 116 mm, Stroke 160 mm | |
| Patent model: 958 cc, 0.8 hp, 600 W, 16 km/h | |
| Commercialized model: 1600 cc, ¾ hp, 8 mph | |
| Steering wheel chained to front axle | |
Benz's lifelong hobby brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, usually referred to as, Benz &
The company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing a horseless carriage. Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it the Benz Patent Motorwagen. It was the first automobile entirely designed as such, not simply a motorized carriage, which is why Karl Benz is regarded by many as the inventor of the automobile. The next year Karl Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2 which had several modifications, and in 1887, the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced.
Benz began to sell the vehicle—advertising it as the Benz Patent Motorwagen—making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second buyer, the Parisian Emile Roger, who purchased an 1888 Benz, had a profound effect on Benz's success. Roger had been building Benz engines under a license from Karl Benz for several years, and in 1888, decided to add his automobiles to the line. Many of the early Benz automobiles were indeed built in France and sold by Roger, since the Parisians were more inclined to purchase automobiles at the time. This limitation was rectified after Berta Benz made her famous trip driving one of the vehicles a great distance and suggested the addition of another gear to her husband. The popular story goes that, on the morning of August 5, 1888, Berta Benz took this vehicle (without the knowledge of her husband), and embarked on a 106 km (fifty miles) trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim to visit her mother, taking her sons Eugen and Richard with her. In addition to having to scrounge for fuel at pharmacies on the way, she also overcame various technical problems and finally arrived at nightfall announcing the achievement to Karl Benz by telegram.
Benz's Model 3 made its widescale debut to the world in the 1889 World's Fair in Paris, and about twenty-five Motorwagens were built during the period between 1886 and 1893.
Benz & expansion
The great demand for stationary, static internal combustion engines forced Karl Benz to enlarge the factory, and in 1886 a new building located on Waldhofstrasse (operating until 1908) was added.
The new directors recommended that Karl Benz should create a less expensive automobile suitable for mass production. In 1893 Benz created the Victoria, a two-passenger automobile with a 3 hp engine, which could reach the top speed of 11 mph and a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for steering.
In 1894 Benz improved this design in his new Velo model. The Benz Velo also participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894.
In 1895 Benz designed the first truck in history, with some of the units later modified by the first bus company: the Netphener, becoming the first buses in history.
In 1896, Karl Benz was granted a patent for his design of the first boxer engine with horizontally-opposed pistons.
Although Gottlieb Daimler died in March of 1900—and there is no evidence that Karl Benz and Daimler knew each other nor that they knew about each other's early achievements—eventually, competition with Daimler Motors (DMG) in Stuttgart began to challenge the leadership of Benz &
Benz countered with his Parsifil automobile, introduced in 1903 with 2 vertical cylinders and a top speed of 37 mph. Then, without consulting Benz, the other directors hired some French designers. 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 until his death in 1929. Benz's sons Eugen and Richard also left the company, but Richard returned in 1904 as designer of passenger vehicles.
By 1904 the sales of Benz & Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Karl Benz soon would found another company—with his son, Eugen—that was closely held within the family, manufacturing automobiles under another brand.
In 1909 the Blitzen Benz was built by Benz & The land speed record of the Blitzen Benz was unbroken for ten years.
Benz-Söhne (1906 to 1923)
Karl Benz, Bertha Benz, and his son Eugen then moved to live in nearby Ladenburg, and solely with their own capital, founded the company Benz Sons (Benz-Söhne) in 1906, producing automobiles and gas engines. This company never issued stocks publicly, building its own line of automobiles independently from Benz &
The Benz-Söhne automobiles were of good quality and became popular in London as taxis. In 1912, Karl Benz liquidated all of his shares in Benz-Söhne and left the company to Eugen and Richard, but remained as a director of Benz & On November 25, 1914, the 70 year-old Karl Benz was awarded an honorary Doctor title by the Karlsruhe University.
Almost from the very beginning of the production of automobiles, participation in sports car racing became a major method to gain publicity for manufacturers. At first, the production models were raced and the Benz Velo participated in the first automobile race: Paris to Rouen 1894. Unique race vehicles were built at the time, as seen in the photograph here of the Benz, the first mid-engine and aerodynamically designed, Tropfenwagen, a "teardrop" body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza. Finally, in the following year, 1924, Karl Benz built two additional 8/25 hp units tailored for his personal use, which he never sold; Cie. proposed a cooperation suggested by Karl Benz through a representative, Karl Jahn, but DMG rejected the proposal in December.
In 1926] (June 28) Benz & A new logo was created—consisting of a three pointed star (representing Daimler's motto: "engines for land, air, and water") surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo—and was labeled, Mercedes-Benz.
On April 4, 1929, Karl Benz died at his home in Ladenburg at the age of eighty-four from a bronchial inflammation in his lungs. The Benz home has been designated as historic and is used as a scientific meeting facility for a nonprofit foundation that honors both Bertha and Karl Benz for their roles in the history of automobiles.
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