The History of the Automobile

Part One - Carl Benz

The automobile has been around for about 120 years, thanks to the work of Carl Benz. In January of 1886, Carl Benz obtained a patent for his invention. A patent is a copyright license, that allows inventors the rights to their invention for a limited period of time. This also allows them public disclosure of their invention as well. When Benz obtained this patent, he describes the automobile with the title "Benz Patent-Motorwagen". In the summer of 1888, Benz's wife drove to Portime (sp?)

with her two eldest sons, and the first Petrol Station is born. 

Benz made a lot of different models and designs of his great invention, each with newer upgrades as the years went by. One of his inventions for the automobile was the 'Axial Pivot Steering System", which allowed the driver to turn both front wheels simultaneously, solving the problem of not being able to turn two wheels at once. 

Three years before his death, Benz & Co. merges with another company, and they become Mercedes Benz. As a pioneer in technology, Benz got to experience something that many other pioneers did not get to; he lived to see and fulfill his dream. Without Benz, automotive road travel may never have been possible, or at least nowhere near as advanced as it is today.

Part Two - Henry Ford and the Model T

Henry Ford created the assembly line, but it wouldn't have been what it was without the suggestions from three of his employees, who suggested that the line move instead of the workers. The job that a person was best at would be the job they would do five thousand times a day, and the cars could be made faster and more efficiently because of it.  

Ford was also different in his ways of treating his employees. He wanted to make sure they were treated fairly in terms of wage, paying them a more livable salary. Therefore his employees were more committed to Ford's plant and company, and stayed longer as a result. 

The Model T was the car for the common man. It was manufactured for the middle class who couldn't have afforded the previous horse-less carriage. When the first Model came out, it costs about $1000, which dropped to about $800, which dropped to just roughly over $365. I think the price dropped so much because at this point, there were over 100 000 of his cars in completion. and when their is a large quantity of a product, the value drops. He would also have a lot of money coming in from all of the purchases, so there would be no need for a high price. 

As the automobile became more popular, it allowed people more freedom and the chance to travel for pleasure. You could visit family who lived farther away without the transportation of a train. You could go where you want when you wanted, and that is why the automobile has become one of the main means of transportation today.

My Video Selections

The Assembly Line: Then and Now

Before the assembly line, it took 16 hours and lot's of men running around with car parts to construct just one Model T Ford.
After the assembly line was created, it only took men half the time to create the same car.
This worked great, but the jobs were really repetitive, making the workers act like machines.
Today, machines do most of the repetitive work with the humans working alongside them.

Tucker's Dream Impacts Auto Industry

Tucker's dream, which was to create an automobile from scratch in the 1940's, was virtually impossible.
Tucker wanted to create a car based on safety, and attempted to make the safest car on the road.
He sold shares in his company, and he sold more of those than his own automobiles.
In result, only 51 were ever constructed.

Automobile Timeline

• 1901 - The Oldsmobile factory starts production. 

Starting in Detroit, the company makes 425 cars in it's first year, and introduces the first three-horsepower "curved dash" at $650. The car is a success, and the Olds company is selling 5 000 units a year by 1905. I found this really interesting because I think it's astounding how quickly the Oldsmobile company grew and prospered and became successful. I also really like the look of their cars, and had no idea they started as early as 1901.

• 1911 - Electric starter is introduced. 

Charles Kettering introduces the first electric starter. Until then, all motors had to be started by hand, and no one thought an electric starter could ever be made that would be small enough to fit under the hood and strong enough to start an engine. They were first in service in 1912 Cadillacs. I find this interesting because I like how Kettering proved everyone wrong, and how today, just the thought of people being concerned about the electric starter being too big to fit under the hood seems almost funny, considering all of the technological advancements we have made since then.

• 1919 - First single foot pedal to operate coupled four-wheel brakes

A french luxury car, the  Hispano-Suiza H6B, introduces the first single-foot pedal to operate coupled four-wheel brakes. Before this was invented, drivers had to use a foot brake and a hand brake simultaneously. I find this interesting because I can only imagine how dangerous driving a car before this would have been. If you didn't use both brakes at the same time, you wouldn't have come to a complete stop, which would have made accidents a lot more easier to happen.

• 1950's - Cruise control is developed.

Ralph Teeter, who is a blind man, sensed by ear that cars traveled at uneven speeds, which he believed caused accidents. Throughout the 1940's, he developed a mechanism that allowed the driver to keep the car at a steady speed. Although not very popular when it first made it's appearance in the 1950's, cruise control in on at least 70% of cars today. I find this really interesting because I find it amazing how a blind man created something that a lot of people use today, and he got the idea because he could hear the differences in the car's different speeds. I think that's incredible, and a lot of people are thankful for it and probably don't even realize that he was the one who created it.