History of cars

There are many types of transport, but this is a type that is used a lot all across the world.  Many people travel to and from their work or other destinations with a car.

The same as with bikes and all types of transport, cars changed a lot over time.  Lets have a look at the history of the car.

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Cars can be called motor cars, automobiles or the car and they usually have 4 wheels and a engine which makes the car move and it needs a driver to steer the car on the road (with technology that is fast getting better and better, people are now looking into building cars that can drive themselves).

The first automobile that was 'self propelled' were invented by Nicholas Cugnot from France. This was a steam powered vehicle.

In 1807 Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude are believed to have built the world's first internal combustion engine. They called it a Pyréolophore. However, they chose to install it in a boat not a car. That same year a Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz finished his own internal combustion engine and used it to create the world's first internal combustion engine vehicle. 

The first modern car was invented by a German inventor by the name of Carl Benz and the car was called 'The Benz Patent Motorwagen'.  He did not believe that the car was ready for the road and just drove it over very short distances.  His wife wanted to show the public that his car could drive over long distances.  She took their 2 boys and without her husband's knowledge she drove a long distance to show that it can be done.

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This women was full of surprises and did not let anything stop her.  She was truly living out the saying "Behind every successful man stands a successful women.'

Bertha Benz's road trip was a pioneering drive and a key event in the technical development of the car. Covering 106 km (66 miles) each way she did the round trip in two days, solving numerous problems on the way. When the brakes needed repairing she invented brake lining. She used a hatpin to clean a blocked fuel pipe and insulated a wire with a garter. She located fuel at the city pharmacy in Wiesloch (hailed as the first fuel station in the world) and on her return home made other suggestions, such as the need of another gear for climbing hills.

In 1892 a new type of engine was build by Rudolf Diesel and this would lead to the development of the diesel engine in 1897.

Cars were something that most people could not afford, until Henry T Ford produced the first car that was affordable.  More and more people bought cars.  This car was the 'Model T Ford' and most probably the best known car manufactured.

Ford also figured out that if he assign a specific task to a person, they will have a production line than produced cars much faster.

Watch the story of Henry's life and see if you can re-tell it to somebody.

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There are more than 1 billion vehicles on the roads and petrol and diesel are still mostly use as fuel, but people have developed electrical cars, which is much more silent and better for the environment.  It is still a long way to go, since many people cannot get use to this idea, but because of the fact that oil is getting more expensive and more people are aware of pollution to Earth, this is getting noticed.

Hybrid vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles and vehicles using alternative fuels such as natural gas are gaining popularity. 

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