Born in 1844, Karl Benz was always fascinated with mechanics. He grew up in poverty, but his mother was dedicated to giving him the best education possible. He was initially interested in locksmithing and following his father’s footsteps as a locomotive engineer, but at the age of 15 he passed the mechanical engineering entrance exam for the University of Karlsruhe and never looked back. You can get a glimpse of his inventions in many places around the world still today and his name is still on a number of products.
What Did Karl Benz Invent?
What most people know Benz for is his work with the internal combustion engine. He’s recognized as the inventor of the first automobile that utilized this type of engine. It was a competitive time in Germany in this field and there were a number of other inventors working on a similar concept, but Benz was awarded the patent because he had submitted his work first. Because of that, all of the other additional patented processes that improved the internal combustion engine are also associated with him.
In 1886, Benz was also granted a patent for his first automobile. His early inventions involved the two-stroke engine, however, because he needed money to fund what his true passions happened to be. During this process of product development, he created a number of additional automobile related inventions.
Spark Plug
In order to get your vehicle started, you need to create a spark that will create combustion. Benz invented the spark plug so that his engine would be able to effectively work.
Battery Ignition
When you turn your key over to start your car, you’re sending an electrical signal from the battery to your vehicle’s starter to begin the combustion process. Benz invented the process that would create sparks from the battery.
Shifting Gears
Many of the early vehicles had just one gear. Benz realized that if people wanted to go faster, they would need to be able to get more power out of their engine. To facilitate this, he not only invented the gear shift that would help create more speed, but also the clutch so that the shifting process could become smooth.
The Water Radiator
Early combustion engines ran hot, so Benz needed a way to cool them down. He did this by running water through the engine block so that the heat would transfer to the cooler water and then would cycle through the radiator to cool the water down again.
Speed Regulation
Instead of driving out of control, Benz realized that the automobile needed a way to effectively control the speed of the engine so the automobile could be effectively controlled. He developed a system that allowed for speeding up or slowing down the combustion process, which is the foundation of the modern speed control systems.
If you look in any vehicle today, you’ll see the influence of Karl Benz. His work was essential to the development of the modern high speed automobile and you’ll still see his name on every Mercedes-Benz on the road today.
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