Autos, Past and Present

FROM the earliest of times, man has been interested in transportation. At first, he depended on animals for locomotion. But there was a need for more efficient ways of getting around. A key element was the wheel, which led to horse-drawn carts and coaches. However, innovations of the 19th century revolutionized transportation in ways that were previously unimaginable.


Improved Engines  In the second half of the 19th century, a German named Nikolaus August Otto developed a four-stroke gas-powered engine, which eventually prevailed over both steam and electric engines. Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler of Germany were important pioneers in European automobile manufacturing. In 1885, Benz ran a three-wheeled car driven by a two-cycle, one-cylinder engine that reached 250 revolutions per minute. Daimler had been building stationary gas engines since 1872. More than a decade later, along with Wilhelm Maybach, he developed a high-speed internal-combustion engine with a carburetor that made it possible to use gasoline as fuel.


Soon Daimler and Maybach built an engine that reached 900 revolutions per minute. Later, they built a second engine, which they mounted on a bicycle and ran for the first time on November 10, 1885. In 1926 the Daimler and Benz firms merged and sold their products under the name Mercedes-Benz. Interestingly, the two men never met.


In 1890 two Frenchmen—Emile Levassor and René Panhard—produced in their shop a four-wheeled vehicle with a motor mounted in the center of the chassis. The following year they placed the motor on the front end, where it was better protected from the dust and mud of the unpaved roads.


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Come back next week.  I will continue the little history lesson with - Making Autos More Accessible.

By: Shane Smith.  If you are looking for landscape or backyard lights then check out: http://makevoltz.com