Editing Carl Benz (section)

==Benz and Cie. and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen<!--'Benz and Cie.' and 'Benz and Cie' redirect here-->==
{{Main|Benz Patent-Motorwagen}}
[[File:Benz Patent Motorwagen 1886 (Replica).jpg|upright|left|thumb|Replica of the [[Benz Patent-Motorwagen]] built in 1885]]
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" width=250 cellspacing="0" align="right" style="margin: 0 0 1em 1em; text-align:left; border-collapse:collapse; border:1px gray solid; font-size:80%; background:#f9f9f9"
|+ <big>'''1885 [[Benz Patent-Motorwagen]]'''</big>
| style="background:#efefef" align="center" colspan=2 |
[[Image:1885Benz.jpg|250px|1885 Benz Tri-Car]]
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!align=left|Three wheels
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!align=left|Tubular steel frame
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!align=left|Rack and pinion steering, connected to a driver end tiller; wheel chained to front axle
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!align=left|Electric ignition
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!align=left|Differential rear end gears
(mechanically operated inlet valves)
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!align=left|Water-cooled internal combustion engine
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!align=left|Gas or petrol four-stroke horizontally mounted engine
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!align=left|Single cylinder, bore 116&nbsp;mm, stroke 160&nbsp;mm
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!align=left|Patent model: 958 cc, 0.8&nbsp;hp, {{cvt|16|km/h}}
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!align=left|Commercialized model: 1600 cc, {{frac|3|4}} hp, {{cvt|13|km/h}}
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[[File:Benz Patent Motorwagen Engine.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Engine of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen]]
[[File:Karl Benz Führerschein.jpg|thumb|upright|An official license to operate the Benz Patent-Motorwagen on the public roads was issued by Großherzoglich Badisches Bezirksamt on 1 August 1888.]]
Benz's lifelong [[hobby]] brought him to a bicycle repair shop in Mannheim owned by Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. In 1883, the three founded a new company producing industrial machines: '''Benz & Companie Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, usually referred to as '''Benz & Cie.'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> Quickly growing to twenty-five employees, it soon began to produce static [[gas engine]]s as well.

The success of the company gave Benz the opportunity to indulge in his old passion of designing a ''horseless carriage''. Based on his experience with, and fondness for, bicycles, he used similar technology when he created an [[automobile]]. It featured wire wheels (unlike carriages' wooden ones)<ref>[[G.N. Georgano]] ''Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886–1930''. (London: Grange-Universal, 1985)</ref> with a four-stroke engine of his own design between the rear wheels, with a very advanced coil ignition<ref name="Georgano">[[G.N. Georgano]]</ref> and evaporative cooling rather than a radiator.<ref name="Georgano" /> Power was transmitted by means of two [[roller chain]]s to the rear axle. Benz finished his creation in 1885 and named it "''[[Benz Patent-Motorwagen]]''".

The Motorwagen was patented on 29 January 1886 as DRP-37435: "automobile fueled by gas".<ref>[http://home.arcor.de/carsten.popp/DE_00037435_A.pdf DRP's patent No. 37435] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204045616/http://home.arcor.de/carsten.popp/DE_00037435_A.pdf |date=4 February 2012 }} ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]], 561 kB, German) was filed 29 January 1886 and granted 2 November 1886, thus taking effect 29 January.</ref> The 1885 version was difficult to control, leading to a collision with a wall during a public demonstration. The first successful tests on public roads were carried out in the early summer of 1886. Benz first publicly drove the car on 3 July 1886 in [[Mannheim]] at a top speed of 16 km/h (10 mph).<ref name="edn_com" /> The next year Benz created the Motorwagen Model 2, which had several modifications, and in 1889, the definitive Model 3 with wooden wheels was introduced, showing at the Paris Expo the same year.<ref name="Georgano" />

Benz began to sell the vehicle (advertising it as "''Benz Patent-Motorwagen''") in the late summer of 1888, making it the first commercially available automobile in history. The second customer of the Motorwagen was a Parisian bicycle manufacturer<ref name="Georgano" /> [[Emile Roger]], who had already been building Benz engines under license from Benz for several years. Roger added the Benz automobiles (many built in France) to the line he carried in Paris and initially most were sold there.

The early 1888 version of the Motorwagen had only two gears and could not climb hills unaided. This limitation was rectified after [[Bertha Benz]] drove one of the vehicles a great distance and suggested to her husband the addition of a third gear for climbing hills. In the course of this trip she also invented brake pads.