HISTORY OF CARS
The History of the Car has been a long and challenging one. In 1678 a small steam car
was shown off that had been made for the Chinese emperor. It was the founding of the
early history of the car. By 1769, Nicholas Cugnot was demonstrating a Automobile in
France. By 1801, Richard Trevithick was demonstrating a steam-carriage in Britain. The
Car continued its development in Britain until a law governing the use of cars basicall
stopped development for the rest of that century in Britain.
In 1789, Oliver Evans was granted the first automobile patent in the United States.
The first automobiles that had gasoline powered internal combustion engines were
developed in Germany by several different inventors around the same time about 1885.
By 1895, the disc brake was patented by Frederick William Lanchester of Britain. In
1889, Panhard et Levassor in France became the first company to form to build just
automobiles. Steam, electricity, and gasoline-powered autos competed for the market
share. The car was becoming big business in history.
From 1908 to 1927, the Ford Model T became the most widely produced car of its time.
The vintage era of Car History lasted lasted from 1919 to 1929 and was dominated by
front engine cars. The pre-war era of car history laster from 1930 to 1948. This ear was
perhaps dominated by the Volkswagen Beetle.
The Post-War era of Car History was the greatest period of Car Development.
Although Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is often credited with building the first self-propelled
mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769, this claim is disputed by some, who
doubt Cugnot's three-wheeler ever ran, while others claim Ferdinand Verbiest, a member
of a Jesuit mission in China, built the first steam powered car around 1672. In either case
Franois Isaac de Rivaz, a Swiss inventor, designed the first internal combustion engine
which was fuelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen and used it to develop the
world's first vehicle to run on such an engine. The design was not very successful, as
was the case with Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir who each
produced vehicles powered by clumsy internal combustion engines. In November 1881
French inventor Gustave Trouv demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile.
This was at the International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris. An automobile powered
by an Otto gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885 and
granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major
company, Benz & Cie. which was founded in 1883. Although several other German
engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were
working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz is generally acknowledged as
the inventor of the modern automobile. In 1879 Benz was granted a patent for his first
engine, designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal
combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle and in 1896, Benz designed and
patented the first internal combustion flat engine. Approximately 25 Benz vehicles were
built and sold before 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced. They were
powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already
producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of
products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, more were built and
sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. Daimler and Maybach
founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (Daimler Motor Company, DMG) in Cannstatt in
1890 and under the brand name, Daimler, sold their first automobile in 1892. By 1895
about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works
or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after falling out with their backers.
Benz and Daimler seem to have been unaware of each other's early work and worked
independently. Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed a model
named Daimler-Mercedes, special-ordered by Emil Jellinek. Two years later, a new
model DMG automobile was produced and named Mercedes after the engine. Maybach
quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler
brand name were sold to other manufacturers. Karl Benz proposed co-operation between
DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany
following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially.
Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later and in 1924 they
signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises
standardized design, production, purchasing, sales, and advertisingmarketing their
automobile models jointly although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926,
Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its
automobiles Mercedes Benz honoring the most important model of the DMG
automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35hp, along
with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-
Benz until his death in 1929. In 1890, Emile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France
began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the motor
industry in France. The first American car with a gasoline internal combustion engine
supposedly was designed in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York, who
applied for a patent on an automobile in 1879. In Britain there had been several attempts
to build steam cars with varying degrees of success with Thomas Rickett even
attempting a production run in 1860. Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran
Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in
1894 followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895 but these were both one-offs.
The first production vehicles came from the Daimler Motor Company, founded by Harry
J. Lawson in 1896, and making their first cars in 1897. In 1892, German engineer Rudolf
Diesel got a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897 he built the first
Diesel Engine. In 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent (U.S. Patent 549,160 )
for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered more than encouraged development
of autos in the United States. Steam, electric, and gasoline powered autos competed for
decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.
Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the
conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine
has had more than very limited success.
Production of the Car:
The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted
by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This concept was then greatly
expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914. As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in
fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing production by
seven to one (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less
manpower. It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry
fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914,
until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. In 1914, an assembly line worker
could buy a Model T with four months' pay. Ford's complex safety procedures,
especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam
about dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high
efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency
gains from the assembly line also coincided with the take off of the United States. The
assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions
which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive
methods. In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread
worldwide. Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany
1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufactuer to adopt it. Soon,
companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies
which did not had disappeared. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due
in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention.
Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles
Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and
four-wheel brakes. Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet
market needs, so marketing plans have often heavily influenced automobile design. It
was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one
company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. Reflecting the rapid
pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume
resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by
Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet
shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate drivetrains
and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were
common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with
decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not
manage: of some two hundred carmakers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930,
and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left. In Europe, much the
same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon
outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of vertical integration,
buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance,
as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car
production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Autocrat to Meteorite to Seabrook,
to name only three, had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in
1919; between them and the cheap cars in reply, Renault's 10CV and Peugeot's 5CV,
they produced 550000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete.
Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off
the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with
37.5% of the market.
Diesel:
Diesel engined cars have long been popular in Europe with the first models being
introduced in the 1930s by Mercedes Benz and Citroen. The main benefit of Diesels are
a 50% fuel burn efficiency compared with 27% in the best gasoline engines. A down side
of the diesel is the presence in the exhaust gases of fine soot particulates and
manufacturers are now starting to fit filters to remove these. Many diesel powered cars
can also run with little or no modifications on 100% biodiesel.
Gasoline:
Gasoline engines have the advantage over diesel in being lighter and able to work at
higher rotational speeds and they are the usual choice for fitting in high performance
sports cars. Continuous development of gasoline engines for over a hundred years has
produced improvements in efficiency and reduced pollution. The carburetor was used on
nearly all road car engines until the 1980s but it was long realised better control of the
fuel/air mixture could be achieved with fuel injection. Indirect fuel injection was first
used in aircraft engines from 1909, in racing car engines from the 1930s, and road cars
from the late 1950s. Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) is now starting to appear in
production vehicles such as the 2007 BMW MINI. Exhaust gases are also cleaned up by
fitting a catalytic converter into the exhaust system. Clean air legislation in many of the
car industries most important markets has made both catalysts and fuel injection
virtually universal fittings. Most modern gasoline engines are also capable of running
with up to 15% ethanol mixed into the gasoline - older vehicles may have seals and
hoses that can be harmed by ethanol. With a small amount of redesign, gasoline-powered
vehicles can run on ethanol concentrations as high as 85%. 100% ethanol is used in
some parts of the world (such as Brazil), but vehicles must be started on pure gasoline
and switched over to ethanol once the engine is running. Most gasoline engined cars can
also run on LPG with the addition of an LPG tank for fuel storage and carburetion
modifications to add an LPG mixer. LPG produces fewer toxic emissions and is a
popular fuel for fork lift trucks that have to operate inside buildings.
Ethanol:
Ethanol and other alcohol fuels have widespread use an automotive fuel. Most alcohols
have less energy per liter than gasoline and are usually blended with gasoline. Alcohols
are used for a variety of reasons - to increase octane, to improve emissions and as an
alternative to petroleum based fuel, since they can be made from agricultural crops.
Brazil's ethanol program provides about 20% of the nations automotive fuel needs,
including several million cars that operate on pure ethanol.
Electric Car:
The first electric cars were built around 1832 well before internal combustion powered
cars appeared. For a period of time electrics were considered superior due to the silent
nature of electric motors compared to the very loud noise of the gasoline engine. This
advantage was removed with Hiram Percy Maxim's invention of the muffler in 1897.
Thereafter internal combustion powered cars had two critical advantages: 1) long range
and 2) high specific energy (far lower weight of petrol fuel versus weight of batteries).
The building of battery electric vehicles that could rival internal combustion models had
to wait for the introduction of modern semiconductor controls and improved batteries.
Because they can deliver a high torque at low revolutions electric cars do not require
such a complex drive train and transmission as internal combustion powered cars. Some
post-2000 electric car designs such as the Venturi Ftish are able to accelerate from 0-60
mph (96 km/h) in 4.0 seconds with a top speed around 130 mph (210 km/h). Others have
a range of 250 miles (400 km) on the EPA highway cycle requiring 3-1/2 hours to
completely charge.
Steam car:
Steam power, usually using an oil or gas heated boiler, was also in use until the 1930s
but had the major disadvantage of being unable to power the car until boiler pressure
was available. It has the advantage of being able to produce very low emissions as the
combustion process can be carefully controlled. Its disadvantages include poor heat
efficiency and extensive requirements for electric auxiliaries.
1. In 1789, Oliver Evans was granted the first automobile patent in the UnitedStates.
2. The first automobiles that had gasoline powered internal combustion engines
3. built the first steam powered car around 1672.
4. The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was
debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902.
5. in France, 1919; between them and the cheap cars in reply, Renault's 10CV and
Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550000 cars in 1925.
6. Diesel engined cars have long been popular in Europe with the first models being
introduced in the 1930s by Mercedes Benz and Citroen.
7. Gasoline engines have the advantage over diesel in being lighter and able to work
at higher rotational speeds and they are the usual choice for fitting in high
performance sports cars.
8. Ethanol and other alcohol fuels have widespread use an automotive fuel.
9. The first electric cars were built around 1832 well before internal combustion
powered cars appeared.
10.Steam car:Steam power, usually using an oil or gas heated boiler, was also in use
until the 1930s but had the major disadvantage of being unable to power the car
until boiler pressure was available.
1. 1789 m. Oliver Evans buvo suteiktas pirmasis automobili patentas UnitedStates.
2.Pirmas automobilis, kuris turjo benzinu varomu vidaus degimo varikl.
3. Madaug 1672m. pastat pirmj garo varoma automobil.
4. Didelio masto gamybos linijai gamybos automobili debiutavo Ransom Olds jo Oldsmobile
gamykloje 1902 metais.
5, Pranczijoje 1919 m.; tarp j ir pigi
main atsakymas, "Renault" 10CV ir Peugeot5CV, j pagaminta 550000 automobili 1925 m.
6. Su dyzeliniais varikliais automobiliai jau seniai populiars Europoje pirmieji modeliai
diegiamos Mercedes Benz "ir" Citroen "1930m.
7. Benzininiams varikliams turi pranaum dyzelino yra lengvesni ir gali dirbti auktosiosesukimosi
daniui, ir jie paprastai pasirinkti montuoti galingus sportinius automobilius.
8. Etanolis ir kit alkoholio ri kurui, taip plaiai naudojami automobili degalai.
9. pirmi elektriniai automobiliai buvo sukonstruota 1832m.atsirado ankiau u vidaus degimo
variklius
10. Garo automobiliai
Garo galia, paprastai naudojant naft ar dujas ildomas katilas, taip pat buvonaudojamos iki 1930
m., bet turjo dideli sunkum, neturjo galios tol, kol katilo slgis nebuvo tinkamas.
