Automobile

An automobile is a wheeled vehicle that carries its own motor. Different types of automobiles include cars, buses, trucks, and vans, with cars being the most popular by far. Earlier terms for automobile include "horseless carriage" and "motor car." An automobile has seats for the driver and, almost without exception, one or more passengers.

History

:Main article: History of the automobile

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Steam-powered self-propelled vehicles were devised in the late 18th century. The first self-propelled car was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769—it could attain speeds of up to 6 km/h. In 1771 he again designed another steam-driven engine which ran so fast that it rammed into a wall, producing the world?s first car accident.

Related Topics:
18th century - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot - 1771

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In 1807 Francois Isaac de Rivaz designed the first internal combustion engine (sometimes abbreviated "ICE" today). This was subsequently used by him to develop the world?s first vehicle to run on such an engine, one that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to generate energy.

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This spawned the birth of a number of designs based on the internal combustion engine in the early nineteenth century with little or no degree of commercial success. In 1860 thereafter, Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir built the first successful two-stroke gas driven engine. In 1862 he again built an experimental vehicle driven by his gas-engine, which ran at a speed of 3 km/h. These cars became popular and by 1865 could be frequently seen on the roads.

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It is generally claimed that the first automobiles with gasoline-powered internal combustion engines were completed almost simultaneously in 1886 by German inventors working independently: Carl Benz on 3 July 1886 in Mannheim, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Stuttgart (also inventors of the first motor bike) and Austrian inventor Siegfried Marcus in Vienna.

Related Topics:
Internal combustion engine - 1886 - German - Carl Benz - 3 July - Mannheim - Gottlieb Daimler - Wilhelm Maybach - Stuttgart - Austrian - Siegfried Marcus - Vienna

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Meanwhile, notable advances in steam power evolved in Birmingham, England by the Lunar Society. It was here that the term Horsepower was first used. It was in Birmingham also that the first British four wheel petrol-driven automobiles were built in 1895 by Frederick William Lanchester who also patented the disc brake in the city. Electric vehicles were produced by a small number of manufacturers.

Related Topics:
Birmingham - Lunar Society - Horsepower - Petrol - Frederick William Lanchester - Disc brake - Electric vehicle

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Popularity

Cugnot's invention initially saw little application in his native France, and the center of innovation passed to Great Britain, where Richard Trevithick was running a steam-carriage in 1801. Such vehicles were in vogue for a time, and over the next decades such innovations as hand brakes, multi-speed transmissions, and improved speed and steering were developed. Some were commercially successful in providing mass transit, until a backlash against these large speedy vehicles resulted in passing laws that self-propelled vehicles on public roads in the United Kingdom must be preceded by a man on foot waving a red flag and blowing a horn. This effectively killed road auto development in the UK for most of the rest of the 19th century, as inventors and engineers shifted their efforts to improvements in railway locomotives. The red flag law was not repealed until 1896.

Related Topics:
France - Great Britain - Richard Trevithick - 1801 - Steering - Mass transit - Public roads - 19th century - Railway - Locomotive - 1896

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The many varieties of automobile racing collectively constitute one of the most popular categories of sport in the world. Today, the USA has more cars than any other nation.

Related Topics:
Automobile racing - USA

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Innovation

The first automobile patent in the United States was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789; in 1804 Evans demonstrated his first successful self-propelled vehicle, which not only was the first automobile in the USA but was also the first amphibious vehicle, as his steam-powered vehicle was able to travel on wheels on land and via a paddle wheel in the water.

Related Topics:
Patent - United States - Oliver Evans - 1789 - 1804 - Amphibious vehicle - Wheel - Paddle wheel

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On November 5, 1895, George B. Selden was granted a United States patent for a two-stroke automobile engine ({{US patent|549160}}). This patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the USA. A major breakthrough came with the historic drive of Berta Benz in 1888. Steam, electric, and gasoline powered autos competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.

Related Topics:
November 5 - 1895 - George B. Selden - Two-stroke - Berta Benz - 1910s

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The large scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Oldsmobile in 1902, then greatly expanded by Henry Ford in the 1910s. Early automobiles were often referred to as 'horseless carriages', and did not stray far from the design of their predecessor. Through the period from 1900 to the mid 1920s, development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to a huge (hundreds) number of small manufacturers all competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.

Related Topics:
Production-line - Oldsmobile - 1902 - Henry Ford - 1920s - Ignition - Charles Kettering - Cadillac

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By the 1930s, most of the technology used in automobiles had been invented, although it was often re-invented again at a later date and credited to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive was re-introduced by Andre Citroën with the launch of the Traction Avant in 1934, though it appeared several years earlier in road cars made by Alvis and Cord, and in racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897). After 1930, the number of auto manufacturers declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured. Since 1960, the number of manufacturers has remained virtually constant, and innovation slowed. For the most part, "new" automotive technology was a refinement on earlier work, though these refinements were sometimes so extensive as to render the original work nearly unrecognizable. The chief exception to this was electronic engine management, which entered into wide use in the 1960s, when electronic parts became cheap enough to be mass-produced and rugged enough to handle the harsh environment of an automobile. Developed by Bosch, these electronic systems have enabled automobiles to drastically reduce exhaust emissions while increasing efficiency and power.

Related Topics:
1930s - Front-wheel drive - Citroën - Traction Avant - 1934 - Cord - 1897 - 1930 - 1960 - Technology - Engine management - 1960s - Mass-produced - Bosch - Exhaust

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Model changeover and design change

Cars are not merely continually perfected mechanical contrivances; since the 1920s nearly all have been mass-produced to meet a market, so marketing plans and manufacture to meet them have often dominated automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one firm, so that buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. The makes shared parts with one another so that the larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; the LaSalle of the 1930s, sold by Cadillac, used the cheaper mechanical parts made by the Oldsmobile division.

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He also conceived of the notion of the yearly model change-over, which became a three-year cycle. In the second year of the cycle, the superficial appearance of the cars changed incidentally; for the third, major changes took place, e.g., the fender dies for the 1957 Chevrolet had to be modified to produce thin, pointed fins and squarish headlamp housings. In the next cycle, the doors, roof, trunk, and often the suspension would have to be redesigned. Factories and the yearly work schedule had to be specialized to accommodate these changeovers.

Related Topics:
Yearly model change-over - 1957 Chevrolet

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Such a patterns became dominant for the Big Three automakers in the US, though European firms neither amalgamated nor could afford the changeover. After the 1950s, when American firms tackled the technical problems of high-compression V-8 engines, automatic transmissions, and air conditioners, investment shifted to meeting the market for non-technical matters. This was criticized as "planned obsolescence," although by this it was meant that the car would simply be made to go out of style rather than really being technically surpassed. For example, only those few American cars of the 1960s with front-wheel drive or a rear engine had a fully independent rear suspension because the Hotchkiss drive was cheaper, and people were used to it. Such malinvestment left American firms unprepared for the Oil Crisis of the 1970s and the rise of imported luxury cars in the 1980s. Additionally, the advent of the internet brought about a vastly different way to purchase automobiles. Traditional brick and mortar retail establishments have found additional competition from online outfits such as AutoExtra.com.

Related Topics:
Big Three - 1950s - Planned obsolescence - Hotchkiss drive - Oil Crisis - 1970s

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