Mercedes 35 hp

Mercedes 35 PS (1901) in the foyer of the Mercedes-Benz Museum

The 35 PS Mercedes was a sports car that Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft developed after Emil Jellinek ordered dozens of copies of a new type of car as the successor to the Daimler Phoenix on April 2, 1900 . The model was delivered to Jellinek on December 22nd.

Jellinek was an important man: the racing enthusiast car dealer and consul resided in Monaco and had excellent contacts with the top European people on the Côte d'Azur. He sold Daimler cars in France, Italy and Switzerland. He demanded that the cars built in bulk according to his requirements and racing experience should bear the Spanish name “Mercedes” (“the merciful”) on the radiator, after his idolatrously loved daughter Mercédès Jellinek . She had also given him the idea for his pseudonym, with which he competed in his races: "Monsieur Mercedes".

In March 1901 and August 1901, the 35 PS Mercedes was followed by two smaller sister models to complete the first Mercedes series: the 12/16 PS and the 8/11 PS Mercedes .

Details of the Mercedes 35 PS

Wilhelm Maybach first developed the new engine for the “Mercedes” car that he had in mind. The horizontally divided crankcase of the four-cylinder in- line engine was made of aluminum for the first time at Daimler . Magnalium , an aluminum alloy with a magnesium content of five percent , was used for the main bearings . The gray cast iron cylinders, manufactured in pairs, were given cast-on heads instead of the removable heads of the “Phoenix” car. With a bore of 116 mm and a stroke of 140 mm, the result was a displacement of 5913 cm³, a good 400 cm³ more than the "Phönix" car.

The intake valves, which were previously designed as sniffer valves - they open due to negative pressure during intake - were now controlled by a camshaft like the exhaust valves . The unencapsulated camshafts on the left and right of the crankcase were driven by an open gear drive on the flywheel side .

The exhaust camshaft drove the low-voltage ignition magnet and a water pump to increase cooling efficiency via a gear set in its center , while another gear set at the front end drove the small fan behind the radiator. There was one carburettor for each pair of cylinders, which was also new . The speed control between 300 and 1000 revolutions worked via a lever on the steering wheel.

In the end, all the improvements resulted in much smoother running, more stable idling and good acceleration behavior - a new quality of engine characteristics that was hardly thought possible at the time. In addition, the engine weight was reduced by 90 kg to around 230 kg.

Maybach no longer installed the engine with a subframe in the chassis, as was generally the case until then, but instead narrowed the front frame section from pedal height in such a way that the engine was screwed directly onto the longitudinal members, which were first pressed from sheet steel at DMG - and no longer folded could be. With both measures, he not only saved weight, but also achieved the desired lower center of gravity.

The very small and automatically readjusting spring band clutch was completely redesigned , a coil spring wound from spring steel , which was attached to the gearbox shaft with the help of a small drum and fastened inside the flywheel. Later further developments of the car benefited from this design. A conical cam regulated the spring tension when the clutch was disengaged.

The four forward gears and the reverse gear were engaged with a single lever guided in a shift gate. The gearbox was locked to the differential, the rear wheels were driven via drive shafts and open chains. The steering with a worm steering gear was improved and installed further back and relatively steeply inclined. The steering axles moved far outwards to the wheel hubs, which sustainably alleviated road bumps on the steering.

A significantly longer wheelbase of 2245 millimeters compared to the “Phönix” car and the widened track to 1400 millimeters resulted in a decidedly more stable handling of the new car. Wheels of almost the same size were also used on both axles, but still made of wood with twelve spokes. The two axes were rigid and suspended on semi-elliptical leaf springs.

The brakes corresponded to the stronger engine power. The Mercedes received 30 centimeter drum brakes on the rear wheels, which were operated via a hand lever and a linkage. The foot brake acted on the drive shaft.

One of the inventions on this first “Mercedes” that has remained unchanged to this day is the honeycomb cooler . Coiled pipe coolers , which required a large and therefore heavy cooling circuit with a high water content, were common. Maybach had come a big step closer to solving the cooling problem with the " tube cooler " in 1897 . This consisted of many small tubes around which the cooling water was washed and the wind flowed through it. The greater air flow allowed a significant reduction in the water supply, which was still 18 liters. Maybach achieved the decisive breakthrough with the honeycomb cooler, which was first implemented in the “Mercedes”. He had a completely new, rectangular cooler soldered together from square tubes measuring six by six millimeters - there were 8,070 pieces. The larger passage cross-section of the square tubes and the smaller gaps between the tubes enabled a significantly increased cooling effect; the water requirement fell by half to nine liters. The small fan behind the radiator served to improve the cooling performance when driving slowly. The honeycomb cooler was also used by other manufacturers well after the First World War .

The two-seater car could be used as an elegant four-seater after a race thanks to a rear body part that could be attached in a few minutes.

The successor to the Mercedes 35 hp was the Mercedes-Simplex from 1902 .

Technical details

	Mercedes 35 hp	Mercedes 12/16 hp	Mercedes 8/11 hp
Years of construction	Nov. 1900-1902	March 1901-1902	Aug. 1901-1902
engine	Otto engine (four-stroke)
Engine type	In-line engine (arranged in pairs)
Displacement	5913 cc	2860 cc	1760 cc
cylinder	4th
power	35 hp at 950 rpm	12 hp	8 hp
drive	Rear wheel drive
Power transmission	Chains
wheelbase	2245 mm		2325 mm
Track width (front / rear)	1400 mm / 1400 mm
Dimensions L × W × H
Empty weight	1200 kg

swell

Mercedes-Benz Classic: mercedes-benz-publicarchive.com
Halwart Schrader: German Cars 1885–1920. Volume 1. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02211-7 .