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carshistory

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16 views

carshistory

Uploaded by

derkuzesta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Etymology

The English word car is believed to originate from Latin carrus/carrum "wheeled vehicle" or
(via Old North French) Middle English carre "two-wheeled cart", both of which in turn derive
from Gaulish karros "chariot".[20][21] It originally referred to any wheeled horse-drawn
vehicle, such as a cart, carriage, or wagon.[22][23]

"Motor car", attested from 1895, is the usual formal term in British English.[2] "Autocar", a
variant likewise attested from 1895 and literally meaning "self-propelled car", is now
considered archaic.[24] "Horseless carriage" is attested from 1895.[25]

"Automobile", a classical compound derived from Ancient Greek autós (αὐτός) "self" and Latin
mobilis "movable", entered English from French and was first adopted by the Automobile
Club of Great Britain in 1897.[26] It fell out of favour in Britain and is now used chiefly in
North America,[27] where the abbreviated form "auto" commonly appears as an adjective in
compound formations like "auto industry" and "auto mechanic".[28][29]

History
Main article: History of the automobile

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Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest)

Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris

Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car


The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the
patent for the concept

Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver

The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car

Stuttgart, a cradle of the car[30][31] with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach working
there at the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and place of the modern day headquarters of
Mercedes-Benz Group and Porsche

In 1649, Hans Hautsch of Nuremberg built a clockwork-driven carriage.[32][33] The first


steam-powered vehicle was designed by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit
mission in China around 1672. It was a 65-centimetre-long (26 in) scale-model toy for the
Kangxi Emperor that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger.[18][34][35] It is not known
with certainty if Verbiest's model was successfully built or run.[35]

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled
mechanical vehicle in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.[36] He also
constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French
National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.[36] His inventions were limited by problems with
water supply and maintaining steam pressure.[36] In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and
demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first
demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam
pressure for long periods and was of little practical use.

The development of external combustion (steam) engines is detailed as part of the history of
the car but often treated separately from the development of true cars. A variety of steam-
powered road vehicles were used during the first part of the 19th century, including steam
cars, steam buses, phaetons, and steam rollers. In the United Kingdom, sentiment against
them led to the Locomotive Acts of 1865.

In 1807, Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude created what was probably the world's first
internal combustion engine (which they called a Pyréolophore), but installed it in a boat on
the river Saone in France.[37] Coincidentally, in 1807, the Swiss inventor François Isaac de
Rivaz designed his own "de Rivaz internal combustion engine", and used it to develop the
world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled
by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried spores of the Lycopodium plant), finely crushed
coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen
and oxygen.[37] Neither design was successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel
Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir,[38] who each built vehicles (usually adapted
carriages or carts) powered by internal combustion engines.[39]

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