So, who invented the car?

Germans? Mais Non.

"The automobile as we know it was not invented in a single day by a single inventor. The history of the automobile reflects an evolution that took place worldwide. It is estimated that over 100,000 patents created the modern automobile. However, we can point to the many firsts that occurred along the way. Starting with the first theoretical plans for a motor vehicle that had been drawn up by both Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton.


In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steam engine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2 1/2 mph on only three wheels. The vehicle had to stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power. The steam engine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the front (see engraving above). The following year (1770), Cugnot built a steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers.


In 1771, Cugnot drove one of his road vehicles into a stone wall, making Cugnot the first person to get into a motor vehicle accident. This was the beginning of bad luck for the inventor. After one of Cugnot's patrons died and the other was exiled, the money for Cugnot's road vehicle experiments ended."

BTW the California's tail still looks like VOM.

 

It went 7.5 mph in reverse.

 

Al Gore

Or was that Global Warming and the internet.

 

Da Vinci's drawings/inventions are simply incredible.

Man-Bear-Pig. I'm serial.

 

First use of Dubs too. Mad-tyte Boiler, polished.

 

That line made me think as well. I also dont like when he says America has the best workers in the world. In what respect? Arent there several studies that show how unproductive we spend our time compared to most other industrialized nations?

 

Well, it depends on how you measure productivity. If you measure it by the total number of hours worked, the US is the highest. This is primarily due to the fact that we tend to work more hours than our European counterparts.

However, if you measure it by the hour, then we aren't the first (unless that's changed - not sure that 2008 numbers are out) - but we're near the top (1 or 2).

I'll bet 2008 numbers are even higher for the US as we've lost jobs, but still have a high output. I've seen stats showing that productivity rose, but I can't find the cites.

All aspersions aside - we're still the "best" workers in the world. How you define "best" is debatable, but using productivity, that statement would be true.

 

That would be the first self-propelled automobile (and many doubt whether it ever actually worked); the first "true"/successful motorcar was the Karl Benz Patent Automobile (which was invented in Germany). The Benz was able to travel over 100 miles in its first long distance test, and had many of the same features as modern cars.

...In any case, cars were definitely NOT invented in America.

 

+1

While many inventors before Benz developed self-propelled vehicles, his was the starting point of the development of what we know as a car.
His original car can btw be seen in the Deutsches Museum in Munich for anyone who's interested!

 

All of this is irrelevent...it's which country that can fully exploit the invention that benefits -- that being the U.S. Microsoft never invented Windows, they "stole" it from Apple's MacIntosh, which "stole" it from Xerox. Ford streamlined industrial mass production of the automobile. Four wheels and an engine for self-propulsion, does not what an industry makes. Also, with this new jetpack coming out next year for $100,000, we'll all be able to fly in the sky like when jetpacks were first invented, back in the 40's.

 

Basicaly the car as a massed produced realtively cheap transport device for everyman is a product "invented" in the USA. That is what 99% of cars as we know them are bought and used for today.

 

Karl Benz's created the first automobile in January 1886.

Mercedes-Benz... aka the Germans.

The germans are very good at innovating, and the asians are very good at taking an existing idea and making it better.

 

and cheaper

 

1884 model built by De Dion, Bouton & Trépardoux of France. La Marquise.
Karl was close but no cigar. The museum car is a replica built by the factory, they did a series of them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/automobiles/collectibles/19OLDEST.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

 

I'll have to agree with the President and boxerman on this one as I believe he (the President) was referring to the automoble as an industry.

 

Nice find.

I suppose it's debatable who actually invented the first automobile. But keep in mind, that car is a prototype, not a production vehicle - besides that, it's steam powered.

Very cool though...

 

Steam or walk baby!

 

I am a bit biased, my wife's great great grandfather built a steam powered car. In 1871- Dr. J. W. Carhart, an American, built a working steam car that won a 200-mile race.

We know that Benz and Ford have taken major credit for their contributions. However, as internal combustion is competing with alternative power sources again, the first inventors of the internal combustion car is less relevant.

Here is a good source for the early contributions. http://cardesignersblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/automobile-as-we-know-it-was-not.html