HISTORY OF AUTOMOBILE

§  An automobile can be defined as a wheeled vehicle carrying its own motive power unit.

 

  World’s first three-wheeled automobile with Otto cycle petrol engine was built by Karl Benz of Germany in 1885 and was granted patent on 29^th January 1886. At the same time, another team from Germany , viz, Gattlieb Daimler and Wilhelm maybach built and patented the first motorcycle. Soon thereafter , benz also invented accelerator for speed regulation , battery ignition system ,spark plug ,clutch ,gear shift ,and the radiator for cooling of the engine. With these improvements , he started with production of automobile  , the first in the world , in the year 1888. However , it was in the year 1893 that the first four wheeled automobile was introduced by him. This was fitted with four stroke engine of his own design.

  Concurrently , Daimler and maybach also produced about thirty vehicles during 1890 to 1895 at the Daimler works and the hotel Hermann. Daimler died in 1900 but his production continued. In the year 1927, the companies of benz and Daimler united under the name of Daimler-benz with a commitment to keep that name till year 2000.

  Production of automobiles in France was started by Emile Levassor and Armand Peugot , using Daimler engines , in 1890. The first American car with a petrol engine is said to have been designed in 1877 by George Baldwin seldon of Rochester , new york , although he built an automobile only in 1905. In U.K., Walthough the first petrol car was made by Malvern in 1894 followed by Frederic William Lanchester in 1895,yet it was Harry J. Lawson, who first started production of automobiles in U.K. in 1897.

  Large scale production-line manufacturing of automobiles was started by Ransom Eli Olds in 1902 and the concept was vastly expanded by Henry Ford.  Since 1920, almost all automobiles have been mass-production resulting in lower costs.
 All round development in the fields of design and manufacture of automobiles has resulted in vast improvements  in their efficiency,comfort and safety, with consequential tremendous increase in their use worldwide. Whereas Benz produced only 25 vehicles and Daimler-Maybach made almost 30 vehicles in first five years of their production, 63 million cars and light trucks were produced worldwide in the year 2005.