A Brief History Of Cars |
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Scooter Davis
29 December 2012
Just a few years after the American Civil War ended, A German inventor applied for and got a patent for his auto engine. A constant inventor,he had come up with all kinds of contraptions and other concepts that he made. A few of these incidental inventions made the first car engine possible to assemble and actually work.
The inventor's first auto was built in Germany in 1885 and the sales of these cars began about a year later. About twenty five of these cars were sold in the next five years. The four wheeled vehicle was unveiled and marketed as a useful transportaion method.
Because France had a more ready market for cars, and because a Frenchman was able to put them together and get them on the road, more cars were sold in France than the originating Country, Germany. As a demonstration of practical use, Carl Benz had a driver take a long road trip. This would prove the efficacy of auto transport for personal use.
The rush to be first was on. Other auto companies started to follow the pattern and soon there was a competition among companies to make more, sell, more, be bigger, and distribute wider. By 1899 original company had sold about 600 cars.
By this time, other companies were competing for better engines, innovative steering, design, and longer lasting power sources.T he race was on for bigger better smarter, as it still is today.
By the turn of the century economic hardships caused by social and manufacturing pressures including unrest from World War One slowed the manufacture of autombiles and created changes.
In America, there was plenty going on along the same lines as Europe. Inventive people were trying to find a similar method of designing a horseless carriage that would work under it's own steam. A patent as early as 1877 went unused until the rights expired and nothing had been done to build the car. In 1895 the same inventor did receive a patent for a two stroke engine that became the basis for further inventions.This patent slowed the development process and was challenged by other auto inventors until it's overturn in 1911.
Earlier , in 1893, a carriage was rigged with a gasoline engine and used as a prototype for future American automobiles. Diesel was also being born about this time and as a result, three versions of cars went head to head until finally in 1910 the gas powered car won favor among people and has been prevelant over steam and diesel since.
Mass production of cars started in 1920 and changed the marketplace, allowing more and more people to own cars to compliment the middle class way of life. This factory set up still works today to produce hundreds of thousands of cars each year.