Benz patent motor car number 1

Benz
Original Benz patent motor car number 1 in the German Museum in Munich
Patent motor car number 1
Production period:	1885-1886
Class :
Body versions :	Phaeton
Engines:	Otto engine : 0.95 liters 0.75 hp
Length:	2700 mm
Width:	1400 mm
Height:	1450 mm
Wheelbase :	1450 mm
Empty weight :	265 kg
successor	Benz patent motor car number 3

The Benz Patent Motor Car Number 1 is the first automobile with a combustion engine built by Carl Benz . The "vehicle with gas engine operation" patent for this three-wheeled vehicle was filed by Benz on January 29, 1886 and granted as DRP No. 37435 on November 2, 1886. On July 3, 1886, Benz carried out the first public test drive with the one-off in Mannheim . It is considered the first practical vehicle in the world and thus marks the birth of the modern automobile.

Benz made his crucial mobility experiences on a crank bicycle (pedal crank bicycle) and then built a light motorized velocipede for individual transport instead of the road locomotive he initially considered for collective transport. His patent motor vehicle is in many ways reminiscent of bicycles and carriages .

technology

The motor

Patent motor car number 1

The centerpiece of the car was a single-cylinder four-stroke engine with a displacement of 0.954 liters. Some details can still be found on engines today: crankshaft with counterweights, electrical ignition and water cooling.

"A number of revolutions of 250 revolutions per minute seemed sufficient, in fact a lot, and I was able to determine that this motor produced around 2/3 horse power."

- Carl Benz.

Later measurements showed 0.75 PS (551 W) at 400 rpm. The engine, which at the time weighed around 110 kilograms, had a cylinder with an open crankcase, an inlet slide valve controlled by an eccentric rod and an outlet poppet valve, operated via a cam disk, bumper and rocker arm. It was lubricated with a drip oiler. Benz designed the large flywheel to be installed horizontally in the chassis because he feared that if the flywheel was arranged vertically, the steering and stability of the vehicle would be impaired in tight bends due to the gyroscopic effect.

A surface carburetor developed by Benz prepared the mixture and at the same time contained a gasoline reserve of 4.5 liters. Which is not to gasoline in terms of petrol acted, but a as ligroin designated light gasoline, which in pharmacies was available. The composition of the gasoline-air mixture could be corrected with a sleeve valve which more or less covered the holes for the additional intake line and thus regulated the power output. In the vehicle, this slider was easily accessible below the driver's seat.

Benz devoted a number of experiments to the ignition until he found a solution that was adapted to the low power of the battery at the time . He transformed the current to a higher voltage with a spark inductor developed by Heinrich Daniel Rühmkorff . The spark plug was also an in-house development. Later investigations showed that the material of their electrodes largely corresponded to the commercially available spark plugs of the 1930s.

The cooling of the internal combustion engine was a particular problem because it couldn't simply be connected to a cooling water line like a stationary engine. Benz opted for simple evaporative cooling (evaporative cooling ), which proved to be effective and sufficient with the low power.

In Let the engine was courageous turning the flywheel. The fact that the fuel supply in the carburettor was insufficient for a longer distance did not bother Benz any further with the patent motor car. After all, the drive of the vehicle needed around 10 liters of ligroin, which was still considered dangerous at the time, per 100 kilometers .

Chassis and body

Patent motor car number 1

The frame was bent from steel tubes and welded . Since the car was supposed to have rear-wheel drive , i.e. it was pushed from behind, the problem of the steering arose, which had to be designed differently than with a drawn car. The turntable steering , which is otherwise commonly used in carriages , was out of the question, and after his two-wheel experience, Benz opted for a lightly built three-wheeler, a three-wheeled velocipede (see patent text). The front wheel hung in an unsprung fork and was steered by a rack connected to a crank . (It was not until 1893 that Benz used a steering knuckle steering). Benz manufactured the three wire- spoke wheels with solid rubber tires himself; only the rims were “third-party” from the Adler bicycle factory in Frankfurt. As was common in bicycle construction at the time, the front wheel ran in ball bearings , the rear wheels in white metal bushings.

Reconstruction, view of the drive

The car was driven by a chain on the left and right of the countershaft via the rear wheels, which in turn were connected to the frame via a rigid axle and fully elliptical springs . On the countershaft was a drive pulley with an integrated differential , next to it an idle pulley. The belt transmission thus only had a forward gear and no reverse gear. The flat belt between the camshaft, driven by bevel gears, and the countershaft, thanks to the idler pulley, also acted as a clutch . The flat belt was moved from the loose to the fixed pulley with a belt fork to start up. As with steam engines, the engine torque was regulated by adjusting the control of the inlet slide below the driver's seat. The storage tank for the cooling water was enthroned above the engine. Braking was done with a hand lever that acted on the countershaft pulley. There was no footbrake yet.

The seat was mounted directly on the frame in front of the engine on curved springs and covered with quilted leather. A low, leather-covered railing in the back and sides provided a firm hold.

The chains caused concern : the bicycle chains were still defective, mostly too soft, and therefore stretched a lot, jumped out of the gears or tore. But since there weren't any better ones, Benz had to be content with the existing material.

Postage stamp of the Deutsche Bundespost (1961) : 75 years of motorization of transport

testing

The first test drives took place in 1885 for reasons of secrecy in the factory yard and ended at the factory wall. The first "excursion" on the open road - at night - only lasted a few minutes. After a hundred yards the car stopped. In numerous tests, however, the range was gradually improved.

On January 29, 1886, a patent application was made for the "vehicle with gas engine operation" at the Reich Patent Office under number 37435. During the first public drive on the Ringstrasse in Mannheim, documented by newspaper articles, on July 3, 1886, Benz's son Eugen ran alongside with a bottle of gasoline "to refill when the gasoline runs out".

In Munich, the first "Benz" drove through the city on September 16, 1888.

Whereabouts

The car remained a one-off, as was its direct successor, Patent Motor Car No. 2 . It was first converted into a four-wheel vehicle and later cannibalized. It was reconstructed in 1903. This Benz Patent Motor Car No. 1 is now in the traffic center of the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

World Document Heritage

Patent specification

In 2011 the patent was included in the UNESCO World Document Heritage .

Technical specifications

Technical data of the Benz patent motor car number 1

engine	Water-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke engine with a large flywheel, installed horizontally in the rear
Bore × stroke	90 mm × 150 mm
Displacement	954 cc
power	0.75 hp (551 W) at 400 rpm
construction	Horizontal single cylinder with horizontal flywheel Gas change via inlet slide valve, controlled via eccentric rod Vertical exhaust valve controlled by a cam, rocker arm and bumper Mixture preparation via Benz surface carburetor Evaporative cooling Lubrication via drip oiler and grease bush High voltage electric buzzer ignition Start by turning the flywheel
landing gear	Tubular steel frame Front suspension on control fork without suspension Rear suspension on rigid axle on full elliptic springs Rack and pinion steering, steering crank in the middle of the car No foot brake; The handbrake acts as a band brake on the countershaft pulley Three wire-spoke wheels, diameter at the front 730 mm, at the rear 1125 mm, each with solid rubber tires
Power transmission	A flat belt from the engine to the countershaft with loose and fixed pulley and integrated differential One chain each from the countershaft to the two rear wheels
Transmission / gearshift	Moving the belt between the loose and fixed pulley
Top speed	16 km / h
consumption	approx. 10 l / 100 km
wheelbase	1450 mm
Gauge	1190 mm
length	2700 mm
width	1400 mm
height	1450 mm
Empty weight	265 kg

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  Drive pulley

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  Drive pulley

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  Drive of the original car

literature

• Richard von Frankenberg, Marco Matteucci: History of the Automobile. STIG, Turin / Sigloch, Künzelsau 1973, OCLC 760297916 (especially p. 22 ff.).
• Hans-Erhard Lessing: Mannheim pioneers. Wellhöfer, Mannheim 2007, ISBN 978-3-939540-13-7 , p. 77 ff.

Web links

Commons : Benz Patent Motorwagen Number 1  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Patent specification from 1886 (PDF; 561 kB)
• The first car - brief information

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The dispute over the "birthday" of the modern automobile. ( Memento from August 15, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the German Patent and Trademark Office, February 22, 2013
2. ↑ Hans-Erhard Lessing: The car comes from the bicycle. on: cycling4fans.de
3. ↑ Quoted in Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : Two men - one star. VDI-Verlag, 1984, ISBN 3-18-400645-X , p. 36.
4. ^ Werner Oswald : Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars 1886–1945 . Volume 1, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02167-6 , p. 21.
5. ↑ Ernst Kern : Seeing - Thinking - Acting of a surgeon in the 20th century. ecomed, Landsberg am Lech 2000, ISBN 3-609-20149-5 , p. 74.
6. ^ Benz patent from 1886. Retrieved August 31, 2017 .