Page 96 - Inventions - A Visual Encyclopedia (DK - Smithsonian)

Cars, cars, cars FAST FACTS

■ ■ The first cars were so unreliable that
people often took a horse with them
The earliest cars, or “horseless carriages,” were just carts when they went driving—just in case
powered by an engine instead of being pulled by a the car broke down!
■ ■ Cruise control enables cars to keep
horse. Many of the first cars used steam engines. The a steady speed automatically. This
big breakthrough came in 1862, when the Belgian technology was created in 1958 by
the American inventor Ralph Teetor.
engineer Étienne Lenoir created a car powered by his
GET MOVING burned gas inside a cylinder to create the power.
newly designed “internal combustion” engine, which

First practical electric vehicle

■ ■ What? Electric car
■ ■ Who? William Ayrton and John Perry
■ ■ Where and when? UK, 1881
The first practical electric car was a
battery-powered tricycle made by the British
engineers William Ayrton and John Perry.
Electric cars are now thought of as cars for First car on sale
Gasoline-engined car the future because they create less pollution.
■ ■ What? Motorwagen
■ ■ What? Hippomobile ■ ■ Who? Karl Benz
■ ■ Who? Étienne Lenoir ■ ■ Where and when? Germany, 1888
■ ■ Where and when? France, 1863 In 1888, the German engineer Karl Benz
Lenoir’s first car from 1862 had three built the first car for sale to the public—
wheels and was powered by burning the Benz Patent Motorwagen. To show
gas, which was ignited repeatedly by people how well the new car worked, his
an electric spark. The next year, Lenoir wife, Bertha, made the first long car trip in
modified his engine and switched to it, traveling 111 miles (180 km). This car
gasoline as a fuel for a new car, which would become a huge success, and Benz
he named the Hippomobile. Smaller rear wheel was soon selling 600 cars a year.

People’s car

■ ■ What? Volkswagen Beetle Model 1300 launched commercially in 1945, and
■ ■ Who? Ferdinand Porsche proved to be the most popular car ever.
■ ■ Where and when? Germany, 1938 By the time production ended in 2003,
21.5 million Beetle cars had been made.
The Volkswagen Beetle was commissioned
as a “people’s car”—an inexpensive vehicle
that was affordable for everyone. It was

Volkswagen
Beetle, 1948

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