I mentioned in my last blog that Gottlieb Daimler had a falling out with Otto and agreed to split up and go their separate ways. Daimler moved to Bad Cannstatt ( 'Bad' mean 'hot baths' in Germany ). home of Germany's largest mineral springs spa and the second largest in Europe.
He was actually quite old and having an appetite for a good cigar had developed heart problems so part of his move to Bad Cannstatt was for medical purposes and not just to be closer to Stuttgart. With the split from Otto he had become quite a wealthy man so he bought a huge estate in this small city very close to Stuttgart. The mansion itself was destroyed during the war and the picture below which looks like a park was the actual site of his house ... only the front steps remain.
The fact that he and Maybach were quite wealthy meant that his development of the automobile was driven primarily by their passion to motorize the world rather than for economic reasons per se. He could have quite easily retired, took care of his health and lived the rest of this life quite happily. Instead he and Maybach worked day and night developing their technology ... risking his health. All to fulfill a dream of providing low cost mobility to the locals.
Out on the side of his mansion was a greenhouse and this is where Daimler and Maybach developed the first small high speed petrol engine in 1883. He first mounted it onto a bicycle in 1885 a picture of a replica vehicle is below. The engine on this 'bike' was under the seat of the driver and with the heat coming up it roasted the driver very quickly so obviously was seriously flawed. Needless to say this bike was not meant for any man wishing to have children!!!
So technically the first motorized vehicle was a motorcycle and not a horseless carriage. In 1886 he then mounted it on a horse drawn carriage to create the first motorized four wheel vehicle.... you couldn't really call it an automobile at the time since it was actually a retro fit onto an existing carriage.
This is where he and Carl Benz differed. Benz had independently developed an engine but instead of trying to fit it onto an existing vehicle, Benz built his first vehicle from the engine up. It was a three wheeled vehicle and somewhat unstable. Competition worked and so Maybach and Daimler took the best ideas from Benz and combined them with their own to create what technically could be viewed as the first car. Daimler had figured out how to create a steering system that allowed a vehicle to go around a corner ( quite a challenge at the time since when turning a corner the wheels move at different speeds ) and this gave him a leg up on Benz who had to use a single front wheel. A three wheel design was not very stable relative to a four wheel design but without an advanced steering system Benz was resigned to creating three wheel vehicles.
Daimler could be considered more of an engine development engineer and sold his engine technology around the world ... while Benz could be considered more of a developer of chassis and vehicles. Interestingly they were serious competitors over the years but never met each other.
I also mentioned the Daimler three star concept of developing mobility for land, air and sea. In the pictures below you can see replicas of his land vehicles, his sea vehicles and the zeppelin which were the first motorized air vehicles.
The greenhouse survived over the years and is renovated to house a small display of some of his concepts as well as a mock up of his workbench etc.
Life is good ... enjoy
Auto Guru in Europe
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