Carl (or Karl) Friedrich Benz (born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant; 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929) was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent Motorcar from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886, the same year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. His company Benz & Cie., based in Mannheim, was the world's first automobile plant and largest of its day. In 1926, it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, which produces the Mercedes-Benz among other brands.
Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car", as well as the "father of the automobile industry".
Carl Benz is widely recognized as the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile. In 1871, after graduating from a German technical college and working in machine shops, Benz established a machine tool manufacturing company with partner, August Ritter. When Ritter wanted out of their agreement, Benz’s future wife, Bertha, used her dowry to save the company. She was to remain his strongest supporter during 16 years of financial hardship while Benz dedicated himself to the creation of a dependable vehicle. Inspired by Nikolaus Otto’s engine innovations, Benz developed a commercially successful 2-stroke engine. He then designed a three-wheeled vehicle and a 4-stroke engine to power it. Benz patented his car in 1886, but was determined to perfect its design before beginning production.
A famous 66-mile drive in August 1888 to Pforzheim by his wife Bertha demonstrated the feasibility of Benz's vehicle as a mode of transportation. Bertha made the eight-miles-per-hour journey, accompanied by her two older children, in Model No. 3 of her husband's invention. Her actions garnered positive attention and publicity for the motorcar. Benz himself only learned of his wife's plans after she had made the drive herself. After that convincing success, Benz entered his invention in the Munich Engineering Exposition in 1888 and received the highest honor. Taking his newly acclaimed vehicle to the streets of Munich, Benz offered test rides and attrached crowds who followed him in breathless awe. One newspaper reported, “Seldom, if ever, have passers-by in the streets of our city seen a more startling sight.”
Source : Wikipedia, www.biography.com
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