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History of Cars
by Antieb Schinell
http://www.fiacar.com
Owning a car is no longer a luxury, but has become more of
a necessity. What with the long distances that one needs to
travel each day, to reach his/her workplace, school, or any
other place. Consequently, a majority of Americans have
more than one car. Now, if you do own an automobile, then
it won't be out of place to learn a bit about its history.
The intent here is just the same.
The credit of inventing the first self-propelled vehicle,
powered by a steam engine, in 1769, goes to the French
engineer Nicolas Joseph Cugnot. It was not a car but a
military tractor used for carrying artillery by the French
Army. In 1770, he built a three-wheeled vehicle with wooden
wheels and ironed tires. It weighed 4.5 tons, and could
carry four passengers. In 1771, Nicolas died in a car
accident and the model of the car was destroyed. A few
years later the English pursued the project and, by 1840,
had built over 40 vehicles, powered by steam engines.
A German named Etienne Lenoir got the first
internal-combustion engine patented in his name, in 1860.
Six years later, a German Gottlieb Daimler built the first
internal-combustion engine car. The weight of this
vehicle's prototype was nearly two tons. And later, the
same Daimler created another that weighed 90 pounds. Few
years down the line saw Karl Benz designing the first
three-wheeled automobile having an internal combustion
engine. It was patented in 1886. The year 1893 marked the
invention of the first four-wheeled automobile, again by
Karl Benz. So, Benz was the first automobile industry.
Numerous industries came into existence in the 19th
century. These industries worked towards building newer and
better devices, like brakes, for improving cars. The first
self-ignition engine was designed by Rudolf Diesel in 1897.
But, fuel was not a problem during this period, as fuel had
already been discovered in 1833, by Eilhard Mitscherlin.
This also points to the fact that by this time hydrocarbon
was already available.
This was a productive period for the automobile industry.
And, the end of the 19th century witnessed a French man
Louis Renault build his first automobile in his parents'
garage. Following in the same tracks, the American Henry
Ford created a self-propelled, four-wheeled automobile. The
year 1903 saw Ford successfully build his own automobile
manufacturing company. And, five years later, Ford built
Ford T, which was an affordable vehicle. In 1913, when Ford
set up a big factory with an assembly line at Highland
Park, the popularity of this car increased manifold, due to
a steep reduction in the car's production cost. And, the
company was able to sell more than 15,000,000 Ford Ts
between 1908 and 1928. After this, many new companies
launched a number of car components and models, like
Volkswagen, Porsche, Peugeot,and Ferrari. The world has
witnessed the manufacture of many cars till date. This
surely was a summary of the history of cars, but quite
informative nonetheless!
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