History of the Motor Vehicle

The modern automobile is a convenience that we have all become so accustomed to that it is difficult to imagine what life would be like without them now. It is fairly well known that the motor vehicle became a refined method of transport in around 1900 and onwards, however how did the very first one come about? Who was the very first person that thought to try and take the horses off the carriage and make it move with a press of a pedal?

Ferdinand Verbiest is credited with the invention of the very first invention that could reasonably come under the name, automobile. It was in 1672 that he invented a toy for the Chinese Emperor of the time that was a small, steam powered, carriage-like (although too small for a passenger or driver) toy auto mobile.

Following this came several different versions of self-propelled mechanical and crude internal combustion engines. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot was the first to have one of these to his name in 1769, however there was speculation as to whether or not Cugnots machine ever worked properly.

The first internal combustion engine was invented in 1806 by Franois Isaac de Rivaz, an inventor from Switzerland. It was powered using a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen, but was not all that successful. Strictly speaking it worked but it was not very efficient and provided nothing like the comfortable ride that modern engines do.

The man who is usually accredited with the invention of the modern automobile is Karl Benz, although there were others working on it at around the same time such as Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus. Benz completed his first Motorwagen in 1885 and was granted a patent for it in early 1886. He then began promoting the vehicles in order to try and sell them to the wealthy and between 1888 and 1893 he had sold 25 vehicles.

Daimler and Maybach founded DMG (Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft / Daimler Motor Company) in 1890 under the brand name Daimler. Their first vehicle was a horse drawn carriage with one of their engines in it. By 1895 they had made around 30 automobiles, but they and Benz seemed unaware of each others early work.

Right towards the end of the 1900s the crankshaft and piston engine came about and throughout the 20th century developed into the sophisticated piece of technology we know it as today. Mergers between DMG and Benz in later years bore the Daimler-Benz company and the Mercedes-Benz automobile range.