What is the Love Story behind Benz Patent Motor Car? | Stirlingkit

After French Carnot, Alphonse Beau de Rochas and others' research laid a theoretical foundation, German Nikolaus August Otto successfully developed a four-stroke internal combustion engine. And Karl Benz (also called Carl Benz) was also very fascinated by thermodynamics and devoted himself to the research and development of internal combustion engines.

One day, Karl Benz was reading a book while walking on the street. He was deeply attracted by the theory described in the book. Suddenly, a clear female voice shouted: "Look at the car!" It was too late and then quickly, a person riding a bicycle bumped into him, and the two fell to the ground together.

The rider was a young girl with delicate features and a tall figure. She quickly jumped up, and while dusting off her clothes, she said angrily, "Sir, why don't you look at the road when you walk?"

Karl hurriedly helped her up the bicycle and apologized: "I'm so sorry, Miss, I was fascinated by reading."

The girl rolled her eyes at Karl, and picked up the book he had dropped on the floor: "Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, isn't this the work of Mr. Carnot?"

Karl looked surprised: "Huh? Do you know Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot?"

"Of course, Mr. Carnot was the first to suggest the connection between heat and power," replied the girl.

Karl Benz was even more surprised: "I haven't met a girl who is interested in natural science."

The girl smiled contemptuously: "I'm not some ignorant lady! My name is Beretta, who are you?"

"Um, nice to meet you, I'm Karl Benz."

"What a lucky meeting, I'm unlucky." After finishing speaking, Beretta chuckled.

Since then, Beretta has become a frequent visitor in Karl Benz's workshop. This unique girl never cares about the roar of machines, oil splashes and smoke in the workshop. In fact, although Beretta has a cheerful personality and yearns for freedom, she was born in the famous German family of the Ringer family and is a noble daughter. Women's education was not advocated at that time, but due to Beretta's persistence and the enlightenedness of her parents, she not only entered school to study, but also had a lot of experience in natural science. Beretta loves to ride a bike, love to travel, and is interested in all kinds of weird and new things. She never minds the strange eyes of the world, and believes that as long as she sticks to her ideals and puts them into action, nothing is impossible.

When Beretta Ringer met Karl Benz, a mechanical factory designer who had the same hobbies as himself, the two young people who were free and unconstrained hit it off and met each other later. The two stayed in Karl Benz's workshop from morning to night, discussing the endless new scientific knowledge in the world, and designing and creating all kinds of whimsical mechanical inventions.

"You like weird things." Karl put down the tools in his hand and said to Beretta.

Beretta reached out and gently wiped the oil on Karl's cheek: "You are also a weird person."

Karl's throat tightened and his heart pounded wildly.

"That's why I like you." Beretta said and kissed Karl lightly on the mouth, blushed, jumped on the bicycle and ran away.

In an instant, Karl Benz felt that the workshop full of iron and steel machinery seemed to glow with a splendid spring, and the choking fireworks seemed to change into the fragrance of roses.

It doesn't matter who invented the internal combustion engine, I wonder who invented love? Karl Benz fell in love.

Although the young Karl is just an engineer from a poor family, and Beretta is a lady from a famous family, the two are not in the same household, but Beretta is infected by Karl's ideals, and falls in love with this like-minded poor guy. In the end, Beretta convinced his family and married Karl Benz.

"I want to see the whole world, but I can only go to the forest in the suburbs at most by bicycle."

"I'm going to build you a car that can take you to the end of the world."

Bertha Benz in 1883 with her children (from left) Thilde, Clara, Eugen and Richard (source: https://group.mercedes-benz.com/ official website)

Karl Benz walks the talk. To make a car that can run without horses, you first need an engine. Of course, this cannot be an outdated steam engine, so he devoted himself to the research and development of internal combustion engines. Karl Benz received the production license to manufacture Otto four-stroke gas engines. After a year of design and trial production, he optimized the structure of the engine and improved the frequent explosion hazards before. In 1879, he made the first single engine. cylinder gas engine. However, this pioneering invention did not win the favor of investors, and subsequent development was unsustainable. At the critical moment, Beretta sold her jewelry and dowry and gave her husband the most important support. Karl Benz later recalled: "During those troubled times, there was only one person who was always by my side, and she was my wife. She used her courage to prop up the sail of my life again. .”

The reformed Karl Benz began to study how to install the engine on the tricycle. But because of the huge gas tanks that must be equipped, it is simply impractical to load a gas engine into a car. For this Karl Benz wanted to break his head. Until one day he happened to see someone whose clothes were dirty and wanted to wash off the dirt with gasoline. After the gasoline evaporated, a flame was accidentally ignited, causing a deflagration. Although it was a sudden disaster, Karl Benz was greatly inspired: It turns out that the power of oil and gas is so great, so replacing gas with gasoline can reduce the volume and perfectly solve the problem.

The first car by Karl Benz 1886

After several years of working day and night, Karl Benz repeatedly perfected the design plan, and received funding from the Royal Photographer Emil Beeler and others, improved the Otto four-stroke engine, and finally successfully trial-produced a single-cylinder gasoline engine, and manufactured The world's first single-cylinder engine three-wheeled car "Benz Patent-Motorwagen Nr. 1". On January 29, 1886, Karl Benz applied for an automobile invention patent to the German Imperial Patent Office for the three-wheeled automobile he successfully manufactured on September 5, 1885. This day has become the birthday of the car, and Benz is known as the "father of modern cars". This is because the accepted definition of a car excludes all kinds of vehicles powered by steam engines, and Benz was the first person to successfully commercialize gasoline-engined cars.

On July 3, 1886, the first public test of the Mercedes-Benz 1 took place on the streets of Mannheim. The car traveled 1 km at a speed of 15 km/h for the first time on the road. On November 2, the German Patent Office officially approved Karl Benz's automobile patent, the patent certificate number is 37435, which belongs to the category of air and gas power machinery, and the patent name is "gas engine vehicle". Karl Benz's three-wheeled car can take two people. It is equipped with solid rubber tires. A small wheel guides the front and two large wheels at the back. The engine is placed on the frame of the rear wheels. The driver sits in the middle and is controlled by a Steering was controlled by a lever, and the so-called rack and pinion steering was first used, with gears and chains driving the rear axle, equipped with a differential that was quite advanced at the time. The engine is a single-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine made by Benz, with a displacement of 0.93 liters and a power of about 0.8 horsepower. The battery and coil are ignited, and a radiator is installed. The vehicle weighs 254 kg and has a top speed of 16 km/h. However, the car does not have reverse gear. Today the car is housed in the Mercedes-Benz Automobile Museum in Stuttgart.

Recently, Microcosm makes a a scale replica of a single-cylinder four-stroke engine R18 of an 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, 20th century. shop now.

However, the first Benz motor car made by Karl Benz did not immediately bring him honor and applause, but was full of ridicule instead. Due to the immature technology, Benz's car always broke down for various reasons, and was ridiculed as a "smelly monster". Karl Benz, who was hit hard, did not even dare to drive on the street for fear of becoming the world Laughing butt, so the world's first car just lay in the warehouse to collect dust.

"The process of invention is a thousand times better than the result of invention." Karl sighed disheartenedly.

"karl, you have done something that no one in the world has done, don't care about the eyes of those passers-by." Beretta comforted Karl.

Perhaps only Beretta believed in Karl Benz's invention. She decided to support her lover with actions, and personally drove the car made by Karl for an unprecedented long-distance trip. One early morning in August 1888, when Karl was still asleep, Beretta got up quietly and left a note for Karl: "The vacation has begun. Let's go to see grandma." Then wake up the two children. In order not to wake Karl, the mother and son pushed Karl's latest work "Mercedes-Benz 3" far enough from the laboratory before starting it. Beretta mother and son set off from Mannheim to Pforzheim, more than 100 kilometers away, to visit the children's grandmother. At that time, no car in the world had traveled such a long distance.

The mother and son walked forward facing the rising sun, and the east was gradually turning white. People who got up early on both sides of the road heard strange mechanical roars from a distance, and looked out of the windows one after another, staring dumbfounded at this "monster" that was running. The village women working in the farmland saw this strange scene and even knelt down to pray to God. But the good times didn't last long. When passing through the small town of Wiesloch, the car ran out of fuel. At that time, there were no gas stations in the world, but this did not bother the smart Beretta. She knew that pharmacies sold light gasoline, so she knocked on the door of the pharmacy in the town, but it was too early and no one answered.

A scene from the film “Karl and Bertha”, where Bertha and her sons set off on their first car ride

Beretta was looking around anxiously, when suddenly a little girl ran up to her.

"Excuse me, are you a witch?" the girl asked curiously.

"Of course not, girl."

"But you can do magic."

Beretta smiled. She lowered her head and said to the little girl, "This is the magic car that my prince made for me. I need gasoline to awaken its magic power. Do you know where the pharmacist is?"

The little girl pointed out: "He's in the beer hall."

Beretta thanked the little girl, followed the direction she pointed, and found the pharmacist in the beer hall.

"I want 10 liters of light gasoline."

The pharmacist looked up and down at the dusty Beretta: "Ma'am, don't blame me for being talkative. You can't wash off the oil stains on your skirt with light gasoline. You'd better buy a new one."

"I don't buy gas for this, it's for my car."

"God, you want to poison your horse?"

Beretta laughed angrily: "Do you have 10 liters of light gasoline?"

Crowd watches as Bertha Benz gets the car running again (Source: Bertha Benz: The journey that changed everything)

So Beretta bought light gasoline and restarted the car. But the trouble was not over yet, and after driving another 70 kilometers, the road was blocked by a steep slope. After all, the power of the Mercedes-Benz 3 was poor, so Beretta had to let her younger son take the helm, and she and her eldest son pushed behind, and finally pushed the car over the steep slope. A blacksmith in Bruchsal then repaired the chain and she had her brake pads replaced while bailing Roth. Then, the oil circuit of the engine was blocked, and Beretta had an idea to clear it with the hair pin on the hat; the ignition wire was short-circuited, and Beretta used the garter belt as an insulating pad to solve the problem. Along the way, Beretta saved himself from danger with his rich scientific knowledge and ingenuity.

At sunset, the mother and son went through hardships and finally arrived in Pforzheim, a journey of 106 kilometers. The child's grandmother was amazed and caused a sensation in the small town. This is a historic pioneering work. At that time, no car traveled such a long distance in the world. All previous car trips were short-distance experiments. Therefore, Beretta Benz was recognized as the first in the world. car driver. Yes, this is a female driver!

Excited, Beretta immediately sent a telegram to Karl: "The car has passed the test, please apply to participate in the Munich Expo!" Karl Benz could hardly believe his eyes when he received the telegram, and he quickly completed the exhibition procedures. At the Munich Industrial Fair, Karl Benz's car finally shined, and his career has been booming since then. As the most important means of transportation in human history, automobiles have officially entered the stage of history and began to emerge. Mercedes-Benz is still a leader in the automotive industry.

"Karl, you said you would build me a car that could go to the end of the world, and you delivered on your promise."

"Beretta, it's your courage that created a miracle that belongs to the two of us!"

A long journey of love has finally achieved the glorious era of automobiles. Karl Benz later recalled: "During those troubled times, there was only one person who was always by my side, and she was my wife. She used her courage to prop up the sail of my life again. .”

PS: This article is a historical story, so the basic plot conforms to historical facts, and some dialogues are fictitious

source:

wikipedia.org
https://group.mercedes-benz.com/

https://www.denso-am.eu/

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