Thursday, June 18, 2015

the origins of automobiles in a nutshell

The first car powered by petrol which was sold to the public, was that of Karl Benz: it was equipped with a stationary engine at low speed in the frame of a tricycle.

The vehicle was both homogeneous as possible. In 1886 Benz was the first car ever marketed. At the same time worked another German, Gottlieb Daimler, assisted by Wilhelm Maybach another type of engine oil which was completely different from the heavy, slow stationary engines of the time. They wanted a light engine with high speed that could be used in all kinds of machinery .

 Oddly enough, this type of engine was first used in France and not in Germany. Panhard-Levassor built it under license from Daimler.

Peugeot bought these engines also Panhard and installed them in the first Peugeots rear-engined. Shortly installed thereon Emile Levassor engine Panhard Daimler in the first Panhard-Levassor car that was the harbinger of how the next generation cars would look like this: a front engine with a gearbox behind it that drives the gears (via chains at that time).

Therefore, we consider Daimler as the developer of the modern engine and we see Levassor as the creator of the layout of the vehicle the following years would be followed by all cars.

These types of cars on oil, steam and electricity were now in competition offered to the public. France was taking the lead in this new sector with Panhard, Peugeot, De Dion Bouton.

Germany was slower despite the technical lead for the land was divided and there were fewer roads, while England suffered from restrictive legislation such as the law stipulated that each vehicle had to be preceded by a man on foot with a red flag - which hardly gave rise to a rapid industrial expansion.

In the United States, the motor industry had a slow start due to lack of roads and the Selden patent. That was the name of an impostor who claimed to have invented the car and managed through various legal maneuvers to require a royalty each built or imported car.

http://www.autoworld.be/tijdreis

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