Karl Benz

Biography

Karl Benz was born Karl Friedrich Michael Vaillant in Mühlburg, today part of Karlsruhe, on 25 November 1844. In 1871 he and August Ritter opened an iron foundry and mechanical workshop in Mannheim; his patent for a two-stroke engine was granted on 28 June 1880, and in 1883 he co-founded Benz & Cie. with Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger.

On 29 January 1886 Benz applied for a patent on a three-wheeled carriage driven by his own engine, and on 3 July that year he drove it in public in Mannheim. From the late summer of 1888 the Motorwagen was on sale, which is why it is described as the first commercially available automobile. The four-wheeled Benz Velo followed in 1894 and ran in the Paris–Rouen event; in 1895 Benz built the first truck and the first motor buses with internal combustion engines, and in 1896 he patented the flat engine.

In 1906 he founded a new family firm, C. Benz Sons, with his wife and his son Eugen. His old company kept setting the pace: the Blitzen Benz reached a record 226.91 km/h at Brooklands on 9 November 1909. On 28 June 1926 Benz & Cie. merged with Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, the company behind Mercedes-Benz. Karl Benz died at his home in Ladenburg on 4 April 1929.