For many years people saw them as more of a burden then anything practical. .
Engine research was geared solely towards railroad cars. Then in 1886 The true first.
automobile arrived, as well as the year credited with the actually invention. In 1885 a .
man by the name of Carl Benz (Spelled with a "K- in other parts of the world) had finally .
brought together all the dreams of those before him. A fully internal-combustion engine, .
3-wheeled, 1/4th hp carriage that could travel up to 10mph on a good day. He was granted .
the German patent late that year for the first practical motorcar. In 1886 he received the .
international patent for his invention and as such 1886 remains the official year for the .
invention. If ever a man depended on the energy of his wife to pull him through, Karl .
Friedrich Benz was that man. Many people agree that to speak about Karl Benz without .
mentioning his wife Bertha Benz is telling only half the story. Benz was a typical .
inventor, grand in his ideas, a wonderful craftsman, but hopeless in business matters. .
Bertha believed in Karl's ability much more than he did and considered him depressed. .
While he was torn by doubts on the direction he should take she had none. He nearly lost .
his little mechanics shop to an associate until Bertha who at the time was his fiancée had .
came along with a dowry prematurely cajoled from her parents. Whenever the little gas .
engine in the tricycle that Karl built failed, fell apart, or just blew up Bertha was there to .
buck him up. When he wanted to give up the quest for the carriage that didn't need horses .
she was the one that kept him going. An aspect that some historian's think should help .
count her as the modern inventor of the motorcar. .
To fund the project she saw to it that the mechanics shop got some jobs. finally .
on Jan 29 1886, Karl registered his patent DRP 37435, for a three-wheeler with a four-.
stroke 0.9 PS engine. DRP 37435 today is jokingly referred to as the official birth .
