The History of Cars

The History of cars By Luke Geisz Today, we do not think much of our cars.

Everyone has them, they’re a common object. They weren’t always like that. Cars used to be only owned by wealthy enthusiasts. They weren’t today’s enclosed, climate controlled, easy to use devices at all.

In fact, they were incredibly hard to use. There was no standard controlling system like today’s gas/brake/clutch pedals, auto transmission, steering wheel, and other controlling devices. Some had a steering wheel, some had a long stick that you turned one direction to go the other called a tiller. There was no power steering, no fuel injection, and no traction control. The first cars had engines the size of the engines found commonly on today’s sport touring motorcycles, ? but produced about the same amount of power as a toy car like this one ? These cars weren’t factory built, they were built in a shed by a man who some would call crazy. These cars weren’t an everyday object; they were a hobby that only crazed gear heads could get into.

They were inventive, clever, intelligent, and most of all, speed crazy.These cars would take YEARS to build, thousands of dollars, many new egg ideas, several ruined tools, and very many injuries. They were VERY basic. They usually had no brakes, Auto transmission? Forget about it. Electric start? Hahaha, you’re joking right? Try a hand crank.

? Many basic components of modern cars that seem very universal; radio, automatic transmission, power steering, brakes, speedometer, rear view mirrors, computer based control systems, all very common on the cars of today, many of these now considered fundamental components did not exist on the first cars.There were many different eras, or periods of time of development of cars. Veteran era, Brass era, Vintage era, Pre-WWII era, Post-war era, and Modern era are all different eras of development. Pre-Veteran Era Before the real development of cars there were ideas, like engines.

many different ideas of engines were around, many looked nothing like today, external combustion was even sometimes used, but it was usually internal combustion, because they are most efficient at capturing all the power of the small explosions that are constantly going on inside the engine.Steam was the most popular power source for trains/cars for most of this time. ? At this time, people used trains or horse drawn carriages for transportation, which to us seems absurd, but to them, it was premium transportation, because their only other option was walking. The discoveries of this period would change automobiles, trains, airplanes, and boats in such radical ways, the inventors had no idea their inventions would become so widely used, even to this day. The only cars of this period were complete experiments, only the ones built in John Doe’s tool shed.

Veteran EraThis was a very inventive era, the first production automobiles were built in this era. The cars weren’t much; they were sometimes referred to as “horseless Carriages” ? as they weren’t much more than just that. A crude engine strapped onto the back of a horse carriage, a way of steering, and a place to sit. People fueled by more speed would continuously worked on these strange machines, to try to make them go faster. ? This era was the first time of “production cars,” or cars that were mass produced in factories and bought only by the wealthy who could afford it.

One of the first production cars was the Benz ? (not Mercedes-Benz, they didn’t join together until later). These cars weren’t considered a transportation device as much as a hobby, like today’s dirt bikes, not for transportation, but for fun, as a hobby. Benz entered in 1888 in Germany, and under license in France, by Emilie Roger. There were numerous others, like the Tricycle ? (not a child’s toy) built by Rudolf Egg, Edward Butler, and Leon Bollee.

This three wheeled creation, built in 1897, had a 650cc engine, which is about equal to today’s street bike engine.It allowed you to go about 45 Km/H, or 28 MPH. The first American automobile company was Duryea motor wagon company, formed by brothers, Charles and Frank Duryea in 1893. But olds motor vehicle Company, owned by Ransom E.

Olds (later known as Oldsmobile) ? came in shortly after and completely cornered the market in America. In 1903, Henry Ford Company would join the game, consisting of three branches: Cadillac, Ford, and Winton. This era is when many inventions were born: 4-Wheel Drive, Overhead Camshaft, internal combustion engine, Gas/Electric hybrids, and many many more.There were many effects of automobiles outside transportation, for example, Petroleum industry grew very much, and improvement in mineral oil. There were also social effects. One example is music, the song”In My Merry Oldsmobile” by Jean Goldkette.

The Brass Era The brass era (or Edwardian era) is called this because of the popularized use of brass in the US, and lasted from about 1905 to about 1914. This era is when car sales shifted off of the enthusiast to the average user. Within the 15 years that make up this era, the various experimental designs and alternate power systems would be marginalized.Although the modern touring car had been invented earlier, it was not until Panhard et Levassor's Systeme Panhard was widely licensed and adopted that recognizable and standardized automobiles were created. This system specified front-engined, rear-wheel drive internal combustion engined cars with a sliding gear transmission. Traditional coach-style vehicles were rapidly abandoned, and buckboard runabouts lost favor with the introduction of tonneaus and other less-expensive touring bodies.

Throughout this era, development of automotive technology was rapid, due in art to hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included the electric ignition system (by dynamotor on the Arnold in 1898, though Robert Bosch, 1903, tends to get the credit), independent suspension (actually conceived by Bollee in 1873), and four-wheel brakes (by the Arrol-Johnston Company of Scotland in 1909). Leaf springs were widely used for suspension, ? though many other systems were still in use, with angle steel taking over from armored wood as the frame material of choice.Transmissions and throttle controls were widely adopted, allowing a variety of cruising speeds, though vehicles generally still had discrete speed settings, rather than the infinitely variable system familiar in cars of later eras. Safety glass also made its debut, patented by John Wood in England in 1905.

(It would not become standard equipment until 1926, on a Rickenbacker. ) The Car That Put the World On Wheels The Legendary Ford Model T was a brass era baby, and was said to have put the world on wheels.It used today’s standard of controls, gas pedal, brake pedal, clutch pedal, and a steering wheel. It had a planetary transmission, 2. 9L In line 4 cylinder, front mounted engine with an overhead cam. That is the same Specs as found in a Chevrolet Colorado Pickup truck, ? yet it only put out 20 BHP, whereas the truck’s engine puts out a whopping 185 BHP.

The model T could Reach 40-45 MPH. The Model T’s engine was first in the world with a detachable head, making service like valve jobs easier. According to Ford Motor Company, the Model T had fuel economy on the order of 13 to 21 mpg.The engine was capable of running on Gasoline, kerosene, or ethanol, although the decreasing cost of gasoline and the later introduction of Prohibition made ethanol an impractical fuel. A flywheel magneto was an electrical generator that produced the high voltage necessary to produce a spark to initiate combustion.

This voltage was distributed by the timer (analogous to a distributor in a modern vehicle) to one of the four trembler coils, one for each cylinder. The coil created a high voltage current directly connected to the spark plug in the cylinder.Ignition timing was adjusted manually by using the spark advance lever mounted on the steering column which rotated the timer. A battery could be used for starting current: at hand-cranking speed, the magneto did not always produce sufficient current (a starting battery was not standard equipment until sometime in 1926, though all T's had a bat position on the coil box switch).

A certain amount of skill and experience was required to find the optimal timing for any speed and load. When electric headlights were introduced in 1915, the magneto was upgraded to supply power for the lights and horn.In keeping with the goal of ultimate reliability and simplicity, the trembler coil and magneto ignition system was retained even after the car became equipped with a generator and battery for electric starting and lighting. Most cars sold after 1919 were equipped with electric starting, which was engaged by a small round button on the floor. Vintage Era This is a Standard car of the era, a 1915 Benz ? The vintage era lasted from the end of World War I (1919), through the Wall Street Crash at the end of 1929.During this period, the front-engined car came to dominate, with closed bodies and standardized controls becoming the norm.

In 1919, 90% of cars sold were open; by 1929, 90% were closed. Development of the internal combustion engine continued at a rapid pace, with multi-valve and overhead camshaft engines produced at the high end, and V8, V12, and even V16 engines conceived for the ultra-rich. Also in 1919, hydraulic brakes were invented by Malcolm Loughead (co-founder of Lockheed); they were adopted by Duesenberg for their 1921 Model A.Three years later, Hermann Rieseler of Vulcan Motor invented the first automatic transmission, which had two-speed planetary transmission, torque converter, and lockup clutch; it never entered production. Pre-WWII Era The pre-war part of the classic era began with the Great Depression in 1930, and ended with the recovery after World War II, commonly placed at 1948. It was in this period that integrated fenders and fully-closed bodies began to dominate sales, with the new saloon/sedan body style even incorporating a trunk or boot at the rear for storage.

The old open-top runabouts, phaetons, and touring cars were phased out by the end of the classic era as wings, running boards, and headlights were gradually integrated with the body of the car. By the 1930s, most of the mechanical technology used in today's automobiles had been invented, although some things were later "re-invented", and credited to someone else. For example, front-wheel drive was re-introduced by Andre Citroen with the launch of the Traction Avant in 1934, though it had appeared several years earlier in road cars made by Alvis and Cord, and in racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897).In the same vein, independent suspension was originally conceived by Amedee Bollee in 1873, but not put in production until appearing on the low-volume Mercedes-Benz 380 in 1933, which prodded American makers to use it more widely. In 1930, the number of auto manufacturers declined sharply as the industry consolidated and matured, thanks in part to the effects of the Great Depression. Post-War Era This is a 1951 Jaguar Mark VII (Saloon) ?Automobile design finally emerged from the shadow of World War II in 1949, the year that in the United States saw the introduction of high-compression V8 engines and modern bodies from General Motors' Oldsmobile and Cadillac brands.

The unibody/strut-suspended 1951 Ford Consul joined the 1948 Morris Minor and 1949 Rover P4 in waking up the automobile market in the United Kingdom. In Italy, Enzo Ferrari was beginning his 250 series, ? just as Lancia introduced the revolutionaryV6-powered Aurelia. Throughout the 1950s, engine power and vehicle speeds rose, designs became more integrated and artful, and cars spread across the world.Alec Issigonis' Mini and Fiat's 500 diminutive cars swept Europe, while the similar kei car class put Japan on wheels for the first time. The legendary Volkswagen Beetle survived Hitler's Germany to shake up the small-car market in the Americas. Ultra luxury, exemplified in America by the Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, reappeared after a long absence, and grand tourers (GT), like the Ferrari Americas, swept across Europe.

The market changed somewhat in the 1960s, as Detroit began to worry about foreign competition, the European makers adopted ever-higher technology, and Japan appeared as a serious car-producing nation.General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford tried radical small cars, like the GM A-bodies, but had little success. Captive imports and badge engineering swept through the US and UK as amalgamated groups like the British Motor Corporation consolidated the market. BMC's revolutionary space-saving Mini, which first appeared in 1959, captured large sales worldwide.

Minis were marketed under the Austin and Morris names, until Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. The trend for corporate consolidation reached Italy as niche makers like Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia were acquired by larger companies.By the end of the decade, the number of automobile marques had been greatly reduced. In America, performance became a prime focus of marketing, exemplified by pony cars and muscle cars. In 1964 the popular Ford Mustang appeared.

? In 1967, Chevrolet released the Camaro to compete with the Mustang. But everything changed in the 1970s as the 1973 oil crisis, automobile emissions control rules, Japanese and European imports, and stagnant innovation wreaked havoc on the American industry.Though somewhat ironically, full-size sedans staged a major comeback in the years between the energy crisis, with makes such as Cadillac and Lincoln staging their best sales years ever in the late 70s. Small performance cars from BMW, Toyota, and Nissan took the place of big-engined cars from America and Italy. On the technology front, the biggest developments of the era were the widespread use of independent suspensions, wider application of fuel injection, and an increasing focus on safety in the design of automobiles.The hottest technologies of the 1960s were NSU's "Wankel engine", the gas turbine, and the turbocharger.

Of these, only the last, pioneered by Motors but popularized by BMW and Saab, was to see widespread use. Mazda had much success with its "Rotary" engine which, however, acquired a reputation as a polluting gas-guzzler. Other Wankel licensees, including Mercedes-Benz and General Motors, never put their designs into production after the 1973 oil crisis. (Mazda's hydrogen-fuelled successor was later to demonstrate potential as an "ultimate eco-car".

)Rover and Chrysler oth produced experimental gas turbine cars to no effect. So as you can see, cars weren’t always these everyday transportation devices, that everyone knew how to use, and were easy to use devices. In fact, I believe that driving in the 40s-60s would be safer than driving today, because not everyone knew how to drive, and it wasn’t easy to learn, or do. So that the crazy 90 year old woman couldn’t just climb behind the wheel and go, she would have tohave a capable driver.

seeing all the changes that happened in these vehicles from the 1900s to now, only makes you wonder, what will cars be like in 60 years?Will they fly? Will they go faster? Will they be even easier to drive? Will they drive themselves? It will be interesting to see, but for now, all we can do is watch, and wait. Works Cited: Model T: the car that put the world on wheels, By Lindsay Brooke Go Like Hell, By A. J. Baime The History of NASCAR, By A. R. Schaefer Nascar special On Speed Channel The History of the Automobile, On Wikipedia.

World History of The Automobile, by Erik Eckermann Drive On! By LJK Setright The Coming of The Automobile, by Henry Norman Pictures From Google Images, On images. google. com