Daimler riding car

Reitwagen is a redirect to this article. For the Austrian trade journal, see Der Reitwagen .

Daimler's riding car, 1885 replica (Mercedes-Benz Museum) with direct steering and gear drive (secondary transmission)

The Daimler riding car was the world's first motorcycle (motor vehicle) powered by a combustion engine (gasoline ) and was designed by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885 .

development

Daimler had founded a test workshop in Cannstatt in 1882 . Together with his employee Maybach, he developed a compact, high-speed single - cylinder four-stroke engine .  The controlled gas engine with glow tube ignition was protected by the patents dated December 16, 1883 (DRP 28022) and December 22, 1883 ( DRP 28243) . The engine called the grandfather clock achieved an output of 1 HP (735 W ) at 600 revolutions per minute from a displacement of 462 cm³  . A revised version of the "grandfather clock" with a smaller displacement (264 cm³) was patented on April 3, 1885 (DRP 34926). With a weight of around 60 kilograms, the motor was comparatively light and it produced around half a horsepower (368  W ) at 700 revolutions per minute. The small dimensions and the low weight, but also the operation with gasoline, made the reduced grandfather clock motor ideal for a location-independent use.

Patent models

1885 patent drawing, still with indirect steering and a belt transmission

Daimler and Maybach's next step was to install the engine in a vehicle. For cost reasons, they decided on a wooden, with training wheels provided two-wheeler . They built the frame from hickory wood , which was reinforced with iron plates. The engine was installed vertically between the wooden supports and cross braces. The power could be interrupted via the drive belt that was detachable from a pulley. The 60 cm high wooden spoke wheels carried 35 mm wide iron tires, as was common at the time. The exhaust was located directly under the leather seat, shaped like a riding saddle. The block brake, which acts on the rear wheel, could be operated via cords on the handlebar.

On August 29, 1885 (DRP 36423), Daimler applied for a patent for this first vehicle with a combustion engine. Daimler called this "vehicle with a gas or petroleum engine", the name "Reitwagen" came about later. In the patent specification, the claims, along with drawings, were filed for a “chassis or sled frame”, i.e. two different vehicle types. The Daimler snowmobile built afterwards had a skid instead of the front wheel, the spring-loaded cantilever wheels were replaced by slide rails and the rear wheel was provided with spikes . In the winter of 1885/86, the first attempts at driving were made on the frozen Cannstatter See; these were not satisfactory.

Model 1885

Daimler riding car from 1885 (the technical changes are easy to see)

Maybach further developed the patent model; In particular, the indirect belt steering was improved by a direct steering head. The drive on the rear axle was also changed and was in two stages. The power was transmitted from the pulleys via a shaft with pinion to an internally toothed ring gear on the rear wheel. The gear ratio (while stationary) could be varied by using two different sized pulleys. With it either 6 or 12 km / h could be driven. The gradeability in the small gear ratio was 9 percent.

After the first test drives around Cannstatt, which Maybach carried out, on November 10, 1885 Paul Daimler made the twelve-kilometer maiden voyage from Daimler's workshop in Cannstatt, Taubenheimstrasse 13, to Untertürkheim and back.

The original was destroyed in a fire in 1903. Ten replicas, including nine exhibits and one as a ready-to-drive demonstration model, have been built by Mercedes since then. In the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart and the German Museum in Munich two replicas are on display.

Technical data (model 1885)	Daimler riding car
drilling	58 mm
Hub	100 mm
Displacement	264 cc
Compression ratio	2.3: 1
power	0.37 kW / 0.5 HP at 700 min -1
V max	12 km / h
Empty weight	90 kg
wheelbase	1030 mm
trailing	0 mm
Steering head angle	90 degrees

miscellaneous

An Austrian motorcycle magazine that has appeared since 1986 is called Der Reitwagen, based on Daimler's groundbreaking development .

literature

• Volker Bruse: German motorcycles of the imperial era 1885–1918. 1st edition. Johann Kleine Vennekate, Lemgo 2009, ISBN 978-3-935517-50-8 .
• Two men - one star. Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz in pictures, data and documents. In: Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoss (Hrsg.): Classics of technology. VDI Verlag, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-18-400645-X . (Source documents for Daimler's patents)

Web links

Commons : Daimler-Reitwagen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Automobile on two wheels: On August 29, 1885, Gottlieb Daimler applied for a patent for the “riding car”. at: media.daimler.com , as of August 20, 2010.
• Claudia Heidenfelder: “Riding wagon” with support wheels. on: www.kindestetz.de , as of August 20, 2010
• Automobile on two wheels - the "riding car". ( Memento from July 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Video on YouTube , as of August 23, 2003.

Remarks

1. ↑ Sometimes instead of Paul Daimler (born September 13, 1869), the younger son Adolf Daimler (born September 8, 1871) is named as the driver. Since Adolf was 14 years old at that time, this is considered rather unlikely in literature. According to the Mercedes-Benz Museum ( see also media.daimler.com ( Memento of the original from April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and remove then this hint. ) According to their chronicles, it is Adolf and not Paul who first drove on the riding carriage. 

Individual evidence

1. ^ The international motor vehicle exhibition in Berlin 1899. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 314, 1899, pp. 133-144.
2. ↑ Seherr-Thoss, p. 19 ff.
3. ↑ Volker Bruse, p. 75.
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Cyril Posthumus, Dave Richmond: Motorcycles yesterday and today. Munich 1978, ISBN 3-453-52080-7 , p. 8 ff.
5. ↑ mercedes-benz-classic.com riding car chassis (accessed on September 26, 2013)
6. ↑ Seherr-Thoss, p. 75.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Krackowizer: Milestones in motorcycle history. 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-613-01141-7 , p. 10.
8. ↑ Seherr-Thoss, p. 78.
9. ↑ Volker Bruse, p. 79.
10. ↑ Paul Simsa : The miracle on two wheels. In: Christian Bartsch (Ed.): A century of motorcycle technology. VDI Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-18-400757-X , p. 11.
11. ↑ ^{a b} Werner Oswald : Mercedes-Benz passenger cars 1886-1945. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02167-6 , p. 80.
12. ↑ Harry Niemann: Gottlieb Daimler: Factories, Banks and Motors. , 1st edition, Delius Klasing, 2000, ISBN 3-7688-1210-3 , p. 113.
13. ^ LJK Setright: The Guinness Book of Motorcycling. Facts and Feats. 1982, ISBN 0-85112-255-8 , p. 18.
14. ↑ Helmut Hütten: The four-stroke engine in two-wheelers. In: Christian Bartsch (ed.): A century of motorcycle technology. VDI Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-18-400757-X , p. 50.
15. ^ Daimler motorcycle 1885. In: MOTORRAD Revue. Edition 1979, p. 62.
16. ↑ Georg Etscheit: The tinkerer in the glass house. In: The time. 15/2004, April 1, 2004 (accessed January 14, 2012)
17. ↑ swp.de from November 10, 2010  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Petrol engine installed in riding car (accessed January 19, 2012)  
18. ↑ Tom Grünweg: Daimler riding car from 1885. on: Spiegel online. August 20, 2010 (accessed January 15, 2012)
19. ^ Helmut Hütten: The four-stroke engine in two-wheelers. In: Christian Bartsch (ed.): A century of motorcycle technology. VDI Verlag, 1987, ISBN 3-18-400757-X , p. 98.