The Conception of The Automobile:

Conception of the Automobile:

Period: Mar 3, 1769 to Mar 3, 2011

The very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot.

Oliver Evans.

Mar 3, 1789

The first U.S. patent for a steam-powered land vehicle was granted to Oliver Evans.

Richard Trevithick

Mar 3, 1801

Richard Trevithick built a road carriage powered by steam. It was the first built in Great Britain.

internal combustion engine

Mar 3, 1807

Francois Isaac de Rivaz of Switzerland invented an internal combustion engine that used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Rivaz designed a car for his engine that was the first internal combustion powered automobile. However, his was a very unsuccessful design.

Samuel Brown

Mar 3, 1823

Samuel Brown invents an internal combustion engine with separate combustion and working cylinders. It is used to power a vehicle.

Robert Anderson

Mar 3, 1832

Between 1832 and 1839 (the exact year is uncertain), Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first crude electric carriage.

“horseless carriage”

Mar 3, 1863

Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir builds a “horseless carriage” that uses an internal combustion engine that can reach speed of 3 mph).

Nicholaus August Otto

Mar 5, 1867

Nicholaus August Otto develops an improved internal combustion engine.

Julius Hock

Mar 5, 1870

Julius Hock builds the first internal combustion engine that runs on liquid gasoline.

modern car engines.

Mar 5, 1877

Nikolaus Otto builds the four-cycle internal combustion engine, the prototype for modern car engines.

George Baldwin

Mar 5, 1879

George Baldwin files for the first U.S. patent for an automobile - well, actually a wagon fitted with an internal combustion engine.

gasoline pump

Mar 5, 1885

The first gasoline pump is installed in Fort Wayne.

Karl Benz

Mar 5, 1885

Karl Benz builds a three-wheel automobile powered by a gasoline engine. the world’s first motorbike uses one of his internal combustion engines to build the world’s first motorbike.

Henry Ford

Mar 5, 1886

Henry Ford builds his first automobile in Michigan.

Gottlieb Daimler

Mar 5, 1887

Gottlieb Daimler uses his internal combustion engine to build a four-wheel vehicle, considered the first modern automobile.

Olds automobile factory starts production

Mar 5, 1901

The Olds automobile factory starts production in Detroit. Ransom E. Olds contracts with outside companies for parts, thus helping to originate mass production techniques. Olds produces 425 cars in its first year of operation, introducing the three-horsepower "curved-dash" Oldsmobile at $650. The car is a success; Olds is selling 5,000 units a year by 1905.

Standard drum brakes are invented

Mar 5, 1902

Standard drum brakes are invented by Louis Renault. His brakes work by using a cam to force apart two hinged shoes. Drum brakes are improved in many ways over the years, but the basic principle remains in cars for the entire 20th century; even with the advent of disk brakes in the 1970s, drum brakes remain the standard for rear wheels.

William Durant forms General Motors

Mar 5, 1908

William Durant forms General Motors. His combination of car producers and auto parts makers eventually becomes the largest corporation in the world.

Electric starter introduced

Mar 5, 1911

Charles Kettering introduces the electric starter. Until this time engines had to be started by hand cranking. Critics believed no one could make an electric starter small enough to fit under a car’s hood yet powerful enough to start the engine. His starters first saw service in 1912 Cadillacs.

First moving assembly line for automobiles developed

Mar 5, 1913

Ford Motor Company develops the first moving assembly line for automobiles. It brings the cars to the workers rather than having workers walk around factories gathering parts and tools and performing tasks. Under the Ford assembly line process, workers perform a single task rather than master whole portions of automobile assembly. The Highland Park, Michigan, plant produces 300,000 cars in 1914. Ford’s process allows it to drop the price of its Model T continually over the next 14 years, transfo

First car body made entirely of steel

Mar 5, 1914

Dodge introduces the first car body made entirely of steel, fabricated by the Budd Company. The Dodge touring car is made in Hamtramck, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

First single foot pedal to operate coupled four-wheel brakes

Mar 10, 1919

The Hispano-Suiza H6B, a French luxury car, demonstrates the first single foot pedal to operate coupled four-wheel brakes. Previously drivers had to apply a hand brake and a foot brake simultaneously.

First American car with four-wheel hydraulic brakes

Mar 10, 1922

The Duesenberg, made in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the first American car with four-wheel hydraulic brakes, replacing ones that relied on the pressure of the driver’s foot alone. Hydraulic brakes use a master cylinder in a hydraulic system to keep pressure evenly applied to each wheel of the car as the driver presses on the brake pedal.

First power steering system

Mar 10, 1926

Francis Wright Davis uses a Pierce-Arrow to introduce the first power steering system. It works by integrating the steering linkage with a hydraulics system.

First modern independent front suspension system

Mar 10, 1931

Mercedes-Benz introduces the first modern independent front suspension system, giving cars a smoother ride and better handling. By making each front wheel virtually independent of the other though attached to a single axle, independent front suspension minimizes the transfer of road shock from one wheel to the other.