Interior functions of a vehicle

Tempered Glass

1874

Francois Barthelemy Alfred Royer de la Bastie of Paris, France is credited with first developing a method of tempering glass by quenching almost molten glass in a heated bath of oil or grease. Tempered glass is sometimes known as Bastie glass after de la Bastie. This glass shatters in small round pieces reducing risk of cuts and sharp glass in accedents and is used in all the windows except the windshield.

Stronger Tempered Glass

1877

German Friedrich Siemens developed a different process, sometimes called compressed glass or Siemens glass, producing a tempered glass stronger than the Bastie process by pressing the glass in cool molds.

Supercharger

1878

The first engine supercharger was made by Dugald Clerk. Superchargers compress air that goes into the engine by positive displacement pumps and dynamic compressors. Positive-displacement pumps deliver a nearly fixed volume of air per revolution at all speeds. Dynamic compressors rely on accelerating the air to high speed and then exchanging that velocity for pressure by diffusing or slowing it down. This puts denser air into the engine, denser air means faster car.

Forced Induction

1885

Gottlieb Daimler patented the technique of using a gear-driven pump to force air into an internal combustion engine. This was essential for the creation of the turbocharger.

Drum Brakes

1900

Rather than damaging the wheel like they used to by rubbing wood against it, Wilhelm Maybach decided to attach a drum to the wheel and slow that down. He made rubber push outwards on the drum slowing it down.

Saftey Glass

1903

A French chemist accidentally dropped a beaker covered in nitrate plastic and it broke but not into shattered pieces. This is your windshield, a layer of safety glass, vinyl and another layer of safety glass so that when you windshield breaks, it will not shatter and will stick together relatively well. Your windshield significantly reduces the risk of harm to yourself.

Turbocharger

1905

Alfred Büchi used a compressor driven by exhaust gases to force air into an internal combustion engine to increase power output,

Hydraulic Brakes

1914

Fred Duesenberg originated hydraulic brakes on his racing cars for F1. Brakes used wire from the pedal to the brake but would need constant maintenance and would snap when needed the most. Hydraulic brakes on the other hand rarely rupture and send equal pressure to each brake. Improving durability and safety.

First passenger car with hydraulic brakes

1921

Duesenberg was the first automotive marque to use the technology on a passenger car.

First supercharged passenger cars

1921

first series-produced cars with superchargers were Mercedes 6/25/40 hp and Mercedes 10/40/65 hp.

Radial Tires

1946

Michelin developed the radial tire method of construction. They did this by taking petroleum derived monomers and bonding them to other molecules. Then toughened it through the process of vulcanization (heating while adding materials) specifically zinc which hardened the rubber but turned it white. This white rubber melts easily so they used carbon to make the wheels shed instead of melt but it turned it black. They initially used black treads and white walls. This improved durability and grip.

Synthetic Black Tires

1949

Rather than have just the tread carbon black, they made the entire tire carbon black as well as added more synthetic materials to the combination. The synthetics made it cheaper to make as well as stronger.

Catalytic Converter

1950

Eugene Houdry invented the Catalytic Converter or Cat. Inside a converter there is ceramic, which doesn’t react but gets super hot and stays hot so reactions can happen. Next are rare metals, platinum, palladium, rhodium which react with the emissions. First platinum and palladium take oxygen off of the nitrogen atoms then use them to combine with carbon monoxide to get CO2 as well as oxidizing any unburnt hydrocarbons. This has lowered pollutants in America by over 70%.

Disc Brakes

1951

Disc brakes create more pressure by squeezing instead of pushing, it also cools better due to its improved access to air. Brakes work by converting kinetic energy into heat energy, and the faster brakes cool, the better they will work consecutively.

Airbag

1951

John W. Hetrick Created the airbag. The airbag module is designed to inflate extremely rapidly then quickly deflate during a collision or impact with a surface or a rapid sudden deceleration. This increases safety during accidents by a substantial amount.

Wankel Engine (Rotary Engine)

1957

Felix Wankel creates the Wankel engine which uses the eccentric rotor design which directly converts the pressure energy of gases into rotatory motion. While in the piston-cylinder arrangement, the linear motion of the piston is used to convert into rotatory motion of crankshaft. This engine uses up a lot of oil but has fewer moving parts and takes up less space. With more available space, you can put more engine parts such as turbos into the engine improving power.

Cup Holder

1960

The cup holder was invented due to lack of a holder for your drink during drive throughs which risks spilling liquid in your vehicle and potentially hot liquids. The date of the first cup holder is unknown. The first instance of the modern cup holder was in 1986.

First turbocharged passenger cars

1963

The Chevrolet Corvair Monza and the Oldsmobile Jetfire were the first turbo-powered passenger cars, and made their debut on the US market in 1962/63. Despite maximum technical outlay, however, their poor reliability caused them to disappear quickly from the market.

Parallel Turbocharging

1981

Maserati decided that if you could put one turbocharger on a car’s engine, you could probably give it two. The result was the aptly-named Biturbo. While it wasn’t a particularly good car, it was the first twin-turbocharged passenger car ever sold. The theory was that using two turbos working in parallel with each other would reduce the amount of turbo lag. Which it did but it created a new type of lag. Parallel turbocharging is the simplest form of twin turbocharging and increases power output.

Variable Valve Timing and Electronic Control System or Vtec

1983

Honda creates Vtec. In a regular four-stroke engine, the valves are actuated by lobes on a camshaft. The lobe shape determines timing, lift and duration of each valve. Vtec has two size lobes small and large. The latter doesn’t hit the valves. When at higher speed a signal to lock pins in the two types of lobes and connect them is sent. This causes the larger lobe to push the smaller rather than act separately and increase fuel efficiency at lower speeds and increases power at higher speeds.

Sequential Turbocharging

1986

Porsche creates sequencal turbocharging. A sequential setup involves one turbo spooling up at low RPMs and the other (or both) spooling up at high RPMs, unlike a parallel twin-turbo setup, where the two turbochargers work independently and at the same engine speed. This increases power and reduces lag.