Karl Benz

Karl Benz (born November 25, 1844, Karlsruhe, Baden [Germany]—died April 4, 1929, Ladenburg, near Mannheim, Germany) was a German mechanical engineer who designed and in 1885 built the world’s first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine.

(Read Henry Ford’s 1926 Britannica essay on mass production.)

During 1860–64 Benz studied at Karlsruhe Polytechnic (later Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. He subsequently worked as a locomotive builder at Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe, followed by various positions as a drafter, a designer, and an engineer at other companies. In 1871 Benz and mechanic August Ritter opened a workshop specializing in sheet-metal work and iron founding (melting iron and pouring it into molds to produce castings). The business struggled, however, and Ritter proved unreliable; Benz’s fiancée, Bertha Ringer, decided to buy Ritter out, leaving the enterprise to Benz.

In 1883 Benz and business partners established Benz & Cie. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik in Mannheim. The company focused its efforts on the manufacture of stationary internal-combustion engines, and Benz soon turned his attention to creating a self-propelled vehicle powered by a gasoline engine. The original Benz car—a three-wheeled vehicle, the Motorwagen (now preserved in Munich)—first ran early in 1885, and its design was patented on January 29, 1886. In August 1888 Bertha took her and Karl’s two sons, Eugen and Richard, some 66 miles (106 km) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, in a Motorwagen, marking the first long-distance drive in an automobile.

Benz & Cie. completed its first four-wheeled automobile in 1893 and produced the first of a series of racing cars in 1899. Benz & Cie. soon became a major automobile producer. In 1906 Benz moved to Ladenburg, where he established C. Benz Söhne with his sons. (The firm’s name reflected Benz’s occasional spelling of his first name as Carl.) In 1926 the Benz company merged with Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, maker of Mercedes-Benz automobiles, a brand soon synonymous with luxury.