Karl Benz
1844-1929
Engineer and Car Manufacturer Founded Benz & Co.
Karl Friedrich Benz (Carl
Friedrich Benz) was a German engineer and automobile pioneer, widely
acknowledged as being the creator of the first successful internal combustion
motor car. His Patent Motor Car No. 1 of
1885 is regarded as the first automobile.
Karl Benz was born on November 25, 1844 as Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant, the illegitimate
child of Josephine Vaillant, a house servant, and locomotive engineer Johann
George Benz, at 22 Rhine Road, Karlsruhe district, in Muehlburg. His parents were later married at St. Stephan’s
Catholic Church on November 16, 1845 and moved to 13 Prince Street in
Muehlburg. Johann Georg, an engineer at the Baden Railway, contracted
pneumonia due to the Steam Engine's open cab and died in the summer of 1846. Karl's name was changed to Karl Friedrich Benz in
remembrance of his father.
Josephine, at the cost of great sacrifices and hardships, was able
to provide an exceptional education for Karl. He began his studies at Karlsruhe
grammar Karl was a good student and September 30th, 1860, the 15-year-old
passed the entrance examination at the Polytechnic Institute. . Four
years later, under the instruction of Ferdinand Redtenbacher, he
graduated as an engineer, on July 9th, 1864.
His apprenticeship began in Karlsruhe with two years of
varied jobs in a mechanical engineering company. He then relocated to Mannheim
where he worked as a draftsman and designer in a scales factory. In 1868 he
went to work for Gebrüder Benckiser Eisenwerke und Maschinenfabrik, a bridge
building company in Pforzheim. Finally, he went to Vienna for a short period to
work at an iron construction company.
This to Karl and August Ritter launching an Iron Foundry and Mechanical
Workshop in Mannheim. During this period Karl met Bertha Ringer who, after
their engagement, invested in the workshop buying out Karl's problematic
partner.
On July 20th, 1872, he married Bertha Ringer and together they had five children: Eugen (May 1, 1873 - March 9, 1958), Richard (October 21, 1874 - September 19, 1955),
Clare ( August 1,1877 - ?) Thilde (February 2, 1882 - ) and Ellen (March 16, 1890
- ).
Karl Benz turned to the development of combustion engines. He
finished his two-stroke engine on December 31, 1878, New Year's Eve, and was
granted a patent for it in 1879. This design would become the production
standard for future two-stroke engines. Benz also 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.
Due to the high production costs, the banks at Mannheim demanded
that Bertha and Karl Benz's enterprise be incorporated and capitalized with
more private equity. The Benzes were trapped and they hastily formed an association
with the Bühler Brothers, in order to get additional bank support. The company
became the joint-stock company Gasmotoren Fabrik Mannheim in 1882.
After all the necessary incorporation agreements and capital
requirements Benz was left with merely five percent of the shares and a modest
position as director. Moreover, his ideas were ignored when designing new
products, so he withdrew from that corporation in 1883.
Benz interest in bicycles led him to a repair shop in Mannheim
owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. Together they founded Benz
& Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik (Benz & Cie ) that began to
produce industrial machines. The company prospered and it began producing
static gas engine.
Thanks to the company’s success, Benz returned to working on “horseless carriages.” His bicycle
experience enabled him to adapt that tricycle design to his new engine technology
creating the first automobile. The vehicle featured wire wheels powered by a
four-stroke engine of his design. The
engine was mounted between the rear wheels and equipped with a very advanced
coil ignition. He cooled then engine with an evaporative system
rather than a radiator. Power from the
engine was transmitted to the wheels by means of two roller chains to the rear
axle. The vehicle was completed in 1885 and named the Benz Patent Motorwagen.
 |
The vehicle was not just another motorized stage coach or horse
carriage. Its design was revolutionary
and hence he was granted a patent on January 29, 1886 as DRP-37435: "automobile
fueled by gas". The first
successful tests of the DRP-37435 on public roads were carried out in the early
summer of 1886. The engine was a horizontal single cylinder with a vertical
crankshaft, which had a large horizontal flywheel.
The engine developed ¾ hp,
and a speed of eight mph is recorded for one of the very first trial runs. Benz,
by virtue of this tricycle design and patent, is regarded the inventor of the
first automobile.
During 1886 and 1887 Benz spent a great deal of his time developing
and improving the Motorwagen. His first real sale occurred in 1887 when he sold
one to Emile Roger, a Parisian bicycle-maker who had already been building Benz
engines under license from Karl for several years. Roger added the Benz
automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and
initially most Motorwagen’s were sold there.
This made the Motorwagen, the first commercially available automobile in
history. Later in 1887 Benz improved the
automobile with his Model III introducing its wooden wheels.
The early customers of automobiles could only buy gasoline from
pharmacies that sold small quantities as a cleaning product. At this time, motorized excursions were merely
very short trial drives made with mechanical assistants. Bertha Benz believed that practice
hampered the marketability of Karl’s invention.
On August 5, 1888, to demonstrate the practicality
of the automobile, Bertha took one of the newly constructed Motorwagen
automobiles on an excursion with her sons Richard and Eugen to visit their
grandmother.
This 66 mile historic trip from Mannheim to Prforzheim
is notable because in addition the distance (having to locate pharmacies along
the way to fuel up), she repaired various technical and mechanical problems along
the route that resulted in important
improvements on the invention. For example,
the long downhill slopes presented difficulties in slowing down the vehicle to
stop and turn. Along the route Bertha
found and paid a shoemaker to nail leather on the brake blocks thus inventing
the first brake lining. Climbing hills was also difficult with the boys often dismounting
and pushing the vehicle. This resulted
in Karl developing gears for later models.
Bertha and sons arrived at Pforzheim just at nightfall, reporting
the achievement to Karl by telegram. Her intention to demonstrate the
feasibility of using the Benz Motorwagen for family travel was a success and it
generated publicity which increased automobile sales. Bertha’s trip to Pforzheim
is celebrated every each year in Germany with an antique automobile rally along
what is now called the Bertha Benz Memorial Route, the first long distance trip
by an automobile.
Benz's Model 3, after Bertha’s trip, was improved by adding gears
for climbing hills and improved brake linings. To further publicity, Karl Benz sought
and was issued the first driver's license in the world by the Grand Duke
of Baden's district office. The car was then driven 200 miles, by its legally
licensed driver, to attend the Munich International Exhibition where it was awarded
the Gold Medal. The newly improved Motorwagen then was driven south where it made
its wide-scale international debut at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris.
In 1899 Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß joined the Benz
& Cie’s Board of Management with the later member being put in charge of the
commercialization department. The new “marketing” department convinced Benz to create
a less costly automobile suitable for mass production. In
1893, he created a two-passenger automobile with a 3.0 hp engine. The Victoria was able to reach the top speed
of 11 mph and had a pivotal front axle operated by a roller-chained tiller for
steering. 85 units were sold in 1893. In
1894 Benz produced a new model called the Velo This was produced on such a
remarkably large scale for the era - 1,200 total from 1894 to 1901 and it is considered
as the first production automobile.
The Benz Velo participated
in the first automobile race, the 1894 Paris–Rouen, Le Petit Journal
Competition for Horseless Carriages. The first driver across the finishing line
at Rouen was Jules-Albert, Comte de Dion but his steam vehicle was declared
ineligible because it needed a 'stoker.'
The fastest petrol powered car was driven by Albert Lemaître, a 3 hp Peugeot. Émile
Roger in the Velo finished 14th, after
covering the 127 km (79 mi) in 10 hours 01 minute at an average speed of 12.7
km/h (7.9 mph).
In 1895, Benz also designed the first truck and after some modifications
introduced the first motor bus. The Netphener Company operated the first bus
service in the world using Benz's petrol engine driven vehicle. The bus route,
between Siegen and the then independent municipality Deuz, was launched on
March 18, 1895.
Karl Benz was granted a patent for the first flat engine design in
1896. The design had corresponding pistons that reached top dead centre
simultaneously, thus balancing each other with respect to momentum. These horizontally opposed pistons with four
or fewer cylinders were commonly called boxer engines. This engine is still used by Porsche, Subaru,
and some high performance racing cars. BMW uses the design in its motorcycles
and Honda in its Gold Wing.
In ten years the Benz Company grew from 50 employees to 430 in
1899 becoming the largest automobile company in the world. 572 Motorwagens
were produced in 1899.
Benz’s stiffest competition was with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft
(DMG) of Stuttgart. In October 1900 the main designer of DMG, Wilhelm Maybach,
built the engine to the specifications of Emil Jellinek under a contract for
him to purchase thirty-six vehicles with the engine. The contract also called for him to be a dealer
of the new series. The new engine was to be named Daimler-Mercedes for Jellinek’s
daughter. DMG's automobile sales took
off due to racing successes. The Production capacity was extended to
Untertürkheim. In 1902, DMG produced the first Mercedes models and officially
adopted Mercedes as its automobile trademark. Capable of 75 mph, the 60
combined touring and racing capacity, and was the top-status car to own.
Benz countered with Parsifil, introduced in 1903 with a vertical
twin engine that achieved a top speed of 37 mph (60 km/h). Then, without
consulting Benz, the other directors hired some French designers. France was a
country with an extensive automobile industry based on Maybach's creations.
Because of this action, after difficult discussions, Karl Benz announced his
retirement from design management on January 24, 1903. In 1904, sales of Benz
& Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading
manufacturer of automobiles.
During the “00s,” DMG and Benz & Cie. would put the best of
their cars on the track competing with each other. Daimler cars were able to
beat Benz until 1908, when a Benz achieved the land speed record.
There is no evidence that Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler knew each
other nor that did they know about each other's early achievements in
automotive development. Gottlieb Daimler,
had died in March 1900, never seeing the great success of his automotive
partnership Wilhelm Maybach.
 |
Autograph letter in German, signed “Benz & Cie.,” by Karl Benz on Benz & Co. letterhead, dated November 21, 1896 to the German astronomer Max Wolf, a pioneer in the field of astrophotography, about sending him the construction plans for an engine and offering further details on the project, in part (translated): “Herewith please find the layout chart for the 2 HP motor. From this you will see that the exhaust gas line is requiring only a short channel of about 400 mm depth and 250 mm width. The channel for the cooling water pipe as well as for the filling line for gasoline shall be appr. 150-200 mm deep and wide. So it would be possible to start laying cement floors.” |
Although Benz was a director on the Board of Management, he founded
another company, C. Benz Söhne, with his wife and son Eugen. This company never
issued stocks publicly but built its own line of automobiles independently from
Benz & Cie. The Benz Sons became popular in London as taxis because their
quality required minimal repairs and maintenance. In 1912, Karl Benz liquidated
all of his shares in Benz Sons and left the family-held company in Ladenburg to
his sons Eugen and Richard.
In 1914, during his 70th birthday celebration, Karl was awarded an honorary
doctorate by his alma mater, the Karlsruhe University. Dr.
Karl Benz, remained on the Board of Management throughout World War I. During this period, Benz & Cie, expanded
there manufacturing to include engines and parts for planes as well as boats.
After the war, Germany’s economy faltered and by 1923 Benz &
Cie. produced only 1,382 units in Mannheim. DMG in made Stuttgart only sold 1,020 units in
the hyper-inflation economy with the average cost of an automobile at about 25
million marks. To avoid bankruptcy, merger
negotiations between the two companies resulted in an "Agreement of Mutual
Interest”. Both companies standardized their design, production, purchasing, and
jointly marketing their automobiles while keeping their respective brand names
intact and separate.
Two years later, on June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG merged forming
the Daimler-Benz company. All of its automobiles
were named Mercedes Benz after Karl Benz and Mercédès Jellinek, the daughter of
Emil Jellinek, who had set the specifications for the 1900 DMG model. Although
Jellinek had resigned from DMG’s board, Karl Benz became a member of the new
Daimler-Benz board of management.
A new logo was created, consisting of a three pointed star around Daimler’s
motto: "engines for land, air, and
water" which was surrounded by traditional laurels from the Benz logo.
The same logo and convention is still retained for all Daimler-Benz automobiles.
Karl Benz died at home in Ladenburg, on April 4, 1929, at the age
of eighty-four from pneumonia. Bertha
Benz remained in their family villa and was honored with the title “Honorable Senator,” by the Technical
University of Karlsruhe in 1944. On May
5, 1944, Bertha at the age of 95, died at the villa. The house now has since been designated as
historic site and is now utilized as a scientific meeting facility. Nonprofit
corporation, the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz Foundation, owns the house that
honors both Bertha and Karl Benz for their roles in the history of automobiles.
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