Automobiles · Vol. III|Benz Motorwagen|1886

Benz Motorwagen

1886

Benz built a three-wheeled carriage around a single-cylinder gasoline engine and patented it in 1886. It is a convenient birthday for the automobile as a designed whole, not a converted coach. In 1888 Bertha Benz drove it to Pforzheim and back, inventing the road trip and the pit stop (a pharmacist’s ligroin) in one journey. The car is a package: engine, chassis, steering, and fuel.

Carl Benz; Bertha Benz (first long drive) · Mannheim

Benz Motorwagen — Original plate drawn for this atlas. Not a photograph of a museum object or a copyrighted portrait.

How it works

A small gasoline engine turns a drive toward the wheels.
A frame carries engine, driver, and steering.
A tank of distilled petroleum is the energy store.

Why it mattered

Proved a self-propelled road vehicle could be a product, not a stunt.
Set the template of personal mechanical mobility.
Began the century-long rebuild of cities around parking and pavement.

Who turned the wheel

1844–1929 / 1849–1944Carl and Bertha Benz

What it unlocked

For further study

Mercedes-Benz Museum. Patent-Motorwagen.
Mom, The Electric Vehicle. Rival early paths.

Check

What did Bertha Benz demonstrate that a patent drawing cannot?