Home > Science Fact Finder > Cars, Boats, Planes, and Trains - Who Invented The Automobile?

1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

Who invented the automobile?

German inventors Karl Benz (1844-1929) and Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900) are both credited with having invented the first commercially viable, gasoline-powered automobiles. Benz and Daimler worked independently, unaware of each other's efforts. Both built compact, internal-combustion engines (engines containing cylinders within which heat-producing reactions take place) to power their vehicles. Benz constructed his three-wheeler in 1885; it was steered by a tiller (a device similar to the rudder of a boat). Daimler's four-wheeled vehicle was produced in 1887. Both established successful auto-manufacturing companies. In 1926, the two companies merged and began producing cars called Mercedes-Benz.

The idea of self-propelled road transportation, however, originated long before Benz and Daimler. One earlier vehicle was a steam-driven contraption invented by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804), who...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Motor Vehicles
   1. Who invented the automobile?
   2. Who started the first American automobile company?
   3. How many motor vehicles are registered in the United States?
   4. How did Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at Any Speed contribute to the demise of the Corvair automobile?
   5. When did seat belts become mandatory equipment on United States motor vehicles?
   6. How does the automobile safety device, the air bag, work and how well does it prevent injuries?
   7. Where was the first automobile license plate issued?
   8. Is the electric automobile an idea of the last twenty years or so?
   9. Has there ever been a nuclear-powered automobile?
   10. When was the Michelin tire introduced?
   11. How did the term "horsepower" originate?
   12. When was the parking meter introduced?
   13. How does police radar work?
   14. What is the origin of the term "taxicab"?
2. Aircraft
   1. What was the name of the Wright brothers' plane?
   2. Who made the first nonstop transatlantic flight?
   3. When was the first nonstop, unrefueled airplane flight around the world?
   4. What is the difference between an amphibian plane and a seaplane?
   5. Who made the first supersonic flight?
   6. Where is the black box carried on an airplane?
   7. What is avionics?
   8. When was the first full-scale wind tunnel for testing airplanes used?
   9. Who designed the Spruce Goose?
3. Boats And Ships
   1. Why is the right side of a ship called starboard?
   2. What is the world's largest ship?
   3. When was the first hospital ship built?
   4. What is the nautical meaning of the phrase "by and large"?
   5. When were the first nuclear-powered vessels launched?
   6. Why did the Titanic sink?
   7. Which type of wood was used to build Noah's ark?
4. Trains And Trolleys
   1. What was the route of the Orient Express?
   2. When was the first railroad in the United States chartered?
   3. What is the fastest train?
   4. What was the railroad velocipede?
   5. What is the world's longest railway?
   6. How does a cable car, like those in San Francisco, move?
5. Military Vehicles
   1. Where did the military tank get its name?
   2. What is a hummve?
   3. What is the name of the airplane which carried the first atomic bomb?
   4. Who was the "Red Baron"?