Benz Patent-Motorwagen

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen was a three-wheeled automobile designed by Carl Benz and patented in 1886. Its single-cylinder, four-stroke engine drove the rear wheel through a belt and chain.

Four-stroke engine: An internal-combustion engine cycle of intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes. Benz’s single-cylinder engine used this cycle to turn fuel combustion into motion.
German patent 37435: Carl Benz’s 1886 patent for a vehicle powered by a gas engine. This document formally records the design that became the Patent-Motorwagen.
Bertha Benz memorial route: A modern tourist route tracing Bertha Benz’s 1888 journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back. The route follows the journey that tested the Motorwagen in real travel conditions.
Benz & Cie.: The German company founded by Carl Benz that manufactured automobiles and engines. Benz’s early vehicle designs developed into a commercial automobile business.
Daimler Reitwagen: A motorized two-wheeled vehicle built by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885. It preceded the Motorwagen but was a motorcycle-like test vehicle rather than a three-wheeled car.
Internal combustion engine: An engine that produces power by burning fuel inside a working chamber. The Motorwagen’s engine belongs to this broader class of propulsion systems.
Carl Benz: A German engineer and automobile pioneer who developed the Patent-Motorwagen. Benz designed and built the vehicle, then sought to prove its practical use.
Pforzheim: A city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, that Bertha Benz reached during her 1888 automobile journey. Reaching Pforzheim showed the Motorwagen could cover a substantial intercity distance.
Mercedes-Benz: A German automobile manufacturer formed in 1926 through the merger of Benz & Cie. and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft. The Motorwagen is part of the company’s history and is preserved in its collections.
Cugnot steam carriage: A steam-powered road vehicle built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769 for hauling artillery. It was a much earlier self-propelled road vehicle, but used steam rather than a gasoline engine.

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