cars

History of Cars By Kenny Carroll

Motor car, road vehicle which first appeared in the 19th Century. The steam propelled the first cars, but such vehicles were not a success and the age of the motor car really dates from the introduction of the petrol-driven horseless carriages of Gottfrield Daimler and Karl Benz (1885-86). The internal combustion engine for these cars had been developed earlier by several engineers, most notably by the German, Nickolaus Otto, in 1876. The main components of a motor car, from then till now, are a body or chassis to which are attached all other parts - including the engine or power plant, the transmission system for transferring the drive to the wheels, and the steering, braking and suspension mechanisms for guiding, stopping and supporting the car. A few experts assembled the first cars, but Henry Ford and R. E. Olds in the USA began modern mass-production in the early 1900s. By this means, the cost of a car was drastically reduced, and more people could afford done. In most modern car factories component parts are put together on assembly lines - slow-moving conveyor belts. Each worker usually has a specific task, example fitting doors or crankshafts. Bodies and engines are constructed on separate assembly lines, which converge when the engine is installed. Overhead rail conveyors move heavy components to and along the assembly lines, and lower them into position. At a later stage on the assembly line such items as lamps are fitted, and electrical, braking and control systems are tested. The fully assembled car is road tested before sale.

The automobile was not invented overnight. It took shape from an accumulation of technical advances that resulted in a light and efficient engine. The accepted "fathers of the modern motor car" are two Germans, Karl Benz (1844-1929) and Gottfried Daimler (1834-1900), who built their first petrol-fuelled motor vehicles within a few months of each other (1885-6).

More than a hundred years earlier, the first self-propelled road vehicle had rumbled through the streets of Paris at nearly 5km/h (3mph) when Nicolas Cugnot (1725-1804) demonstrated his steam-driven wagon.

The German Nikolas Otto (1832-91) made the first four-stroke internal-combustion engine in 1876 and in 1885 Daimler had installed a small four-stroke engine in a cycle frame. He drove his first four-wheeled petrol-dr...

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... the advantage somewhat. Diesel engines offer economies in fuel consumption at the expense of a loss in performance; they are particularly suited to frequent stop and start duties, and as a result are widely used in taxis, buses and lorries.

The gas turbine, a completely different kind of engine, was first devised at the beginning of the twentieth century (1900s) and perfected in the 1930s. It usually has a single shaft carrying a series of propeller-like fans divided into two groups, the compressor and the turbine.

In an operating gas turbine air is drawn in the compressor fans and its pressure increased. The compressed air is mixed with fuel and ignition takes place, further increasing temperatures and pressures. The burned mixture leaves the engine through the turbine, driving the blades round. The compressor, which is often driven directly by the turbine, takes up much of the power produced, but enough is left to make the gas turbine exceedingly powerful form of engine. Efficiencies are not high, but the good power-to-weight ratio of a gas turbine makes it suitable for aircraft propulsion. A gas turbine is about three times as powerful as a piston engine of the same weight.