The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was a three-wheeled vehicle built by the German engineer Karl Benz in Mannheim, and is widely regarded as the first practical automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. It was driven by a single-cylinder four-stroke engine mounted at the rear, producing less than one horsepower, with electric ignition and a water-cooling system. Benz received a patent for the vehicle, which was designed as an integrated whole rather than a carriage adapted to take an engine. In 1888 his wife Bertha Benz made the first long-distance journey in it, driving with her two sons from Mannheim to Pforzheim without telling her husband and buying fuel from a pharmacy along the way. The trip showed the potential of the vehicle, and Benz soon began to sell it.
Before and after
- 1886Founding of Addis Ababa
- 1886Discovery of germanium
- 1886Statue of Liberty
- 1886Founding of Arsenal F.C.
- 29 January 1886Benz Patent-Motorwagen
- 27 March 1886Birth of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- 4 May 1886Haymarket affair
- 31 July 1886Death of Franz Liszt
- 9 September 1886Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
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The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.