Great Constructors - Part 1

Some were brilliant inventors, others were exceptionally gifted craftsmen. They designed entire cars or just their key components. One way or another, designers and engineers played one of the most important roles in the development of the automotive industry. We present profiles of the most famous of them.

even the most beautiful, most original car it will fail if it is mechanically unsuccessful. When we buy a car, we first of all pay attention to its design, but we make the final decision after a test drive, when we evaluate how it rides, how does the engine work, Suspension, electronics,. And although the role of stylists in the process of creating a car is extremely important, without the work of engineers responsible for the mechanics and for the entire project, the car would be just a more or less slender metal shell.

, designers and engineers. Names like Benz, Maybach, Renault or Porsche they are known even to automotive amateurs. They are the pioneers that started it all. But let's remember that other equally outstanding engineers often hide in the shadows of these most famous characters. Whether Alfa Romeo cars would be so iconic without engines built by Giuseppe Bussois it possible to imagine a sports Mercedes without Rudolf Uhlenhout, omit the achievements of the famous British "garage workers" or the invention of Bela Barenya? Of course not.

Spark ignition engine Nicolas Otto 1876

O cycle and high compression diesel

The car became a car when the horse-drawn carts were uncoupled and replaced. internal combustion engine (although it must be remembered that the pioneers of the automotive industry also tested gas and electric drives). A breakthrough in the operation of such engines was the invention of a brilliant self-taught Nicholas Otto (1832-1891), who in 1876 with the help of Evgenia Langena, built first four-stroke internal combustion engineThe principle of operation of which (the so-called Otto cycle), which consists in the suction of fuel and air, the compression of the mixture, the start of the ignition and the working cycle, and, finally, the removal of exhaust gases, is still in use and is widely used.

Diesel engine patent

In 1892, another German designer, Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), showed the world an alternative solution - diesel engine design spontaneous combustion. This was largely based on the invention of the Polish designer Jan Nadrovskywho, however, was unable to register his patent due to lack of money. Diesel did so on February 28, 1893, and four years later. first fully operational diesel engine he was ready. Initially, due to its size, it was not suitable for cars, but in 1936 he finally found himself under the hoods of Mercedes cars, and later other cars. Diesel did not enjoy his fame for too long, since in 1913 he died under mysterious circumstances during a sea passage across the English Channel.

pioneer

Patent for the world's first car

On July 3, 1886, on the Ringstrasse in Mannheim, Germany (1844-1929), he presented to the public an extraordinary three-wheeled vehicle with a four-stroke internal combustion engine with a volume of 954 cm3 and a power of 0,9 hp. Patent-Motorvagen No. 1 had electric ignition, and control was carried out by a lever that rotated the front wheel. The bench for the driver and passenger was mounted on a frame of bent steel pipes, and the bumps in the road were damped by springs and leaf springs placed under it. Benz built the first car in history, with money from the dowry of her wife Berta, who, wanting to prove that her husband's construction had potential and was successful, in 1888 courageously won with the third version Patent-Motorvagena 106 km route from Mannheim to Pforzheim.

Carl and Berta Benz with Benz-Victoria from 1894

What Benz didn't know was that at the same time, 100 km away, near Stuttgart, two ingenious designers built another car that could be considered the first car: Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929) i Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900).

Maybach he had a difficult childhood (he lost his parents at the age of 10), but he was lucky with the people he met along the way. The first was the director of the local school, who noticed Maybach's extraordinary technical abilities and provided him with a scholarship. The second one was Gottlieb Daimler, the son of a baker from Schorndorf, who, thanks to his Maybach-like technical skills, he made a quick career in the engineering industry. The two designers first met each other in 1865 when Daimler, who ran a machine factory in Reutilingen, hired the young Maybach. From then until Daimler's untimely death in 1900, they always worked together. Having hired Nikolaus Otto in the company, they finalized it Gas engineand then created their own workshop with the aim of creating small high power gasoline enginewhich he was to replace gas engines. It was successful after a year and the next steps were to build one of the first motorcycles in the world (1885) and automobile (1886). The gentlemen ordered a carriage, to which they added homemade engine. Here's how it was created first diesel four-wheeled vehicle. A year later, this time completely on their own and from scratch, they built another, much more technically advanced car.

The first car from Daimler and Maybach

Maybach also invented nozzle carburetor, belt drive system and innovative engine cooling system. Tue 1890 Daimler transformed the company into Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG). For a long time, it competed with the Benz company, which, after the first successes, followed the blow and in 1894 developed the first mass-produced car - Velo since 1894 (1200 sold), a boxer engine (1896), and in 1909 a unique sports car - Blitzen (Blyskawitz) with a 200 hp engine. with a volume of 21,5 liters, accelerating to almost 227 km / h! In 1926, his company Benz & Cie merged with DMG. The factories of Daimler-Benz AG, most famous for Mercedes cars, were created. By then, Benz was retired, Daimler had died, and Maybach had started his own luxury car company. Interestingly, the latter never had his own car, and he preferred to travel on foot or by tram.

Innovative vehicles they were such innovative inventions that they instantly gained popularity all over the world. On the Seine, the most important developments and innovations originated in the workshops of Panhard & Levassor, the world's first company created exclusively for the production of cars. The name comes from the name of the founders - Rene Panhard i Emil Levassorawho started their automobile business in 1887 by producing a car (more precisely, a carriage) powered by a Daimler license.

Many of the inventions that have shaped modern motorization can be attributed to both men. It is in their cars that a crankshaft is used that connects the engine to the transmission; clutch pedal, shift lever located between the seats, front radiator. But most of all, they invented the design that dominated thereafter for many decades, i.e., a four-wheel, front-engined car driving the rear wheels by means of a manually operated gear train called Panara system.

The Panhard and Levassor engines, built under license from Daimler, were purchased by another capable French engineer. Arman Peugeot and in 1891 he began to install them on cars of his own design, founding the Peugeot company. In 1898 he designed his first car. Louis Renault. To this talented self-taught man, originally working in a small workshop located in a shed located in the garden of his family home in Billancourt, we owe, among other things, a three-speed sliding gear transmission and Drive shaftwhich transfers power from the front engine to the rear wheels.

After success in creating the first vehicle called Voiturette, Louis founded the company Renault Freres (Renault Brothers) on March 30, 1899, together with his brothers Marcel and Fernand. Their joint work was, in particular, the first car with a closed body drum brakes. During World War I, Louis also built one of the first ever Tanks - famous model FT17.

Also in the United States, a number of self-taught engineers and designers tried to build their own cars, but during this pioneering period, most of them used technological innovations in their cars, such as a wheel-shaped steering wheel instead of a tiller. , "H" gear system, accelerator or the first 12-cylinder engine installed in a passenger car (Twin Six from 1916).

Racing Masterpieces

Although the achievements of engineers such as Benz, Levassor, Renault and Peugeot in the field of sports cars were extremely important, it was only Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947), an Italian born in Milan but working in German and then French Alsace, raised them to the level of mechanical and stylistic works of art. Such as luxury carsbecause racing cars and limousines were the specialty of the Bugatti de la maison. Already at the age of 16 he established two motors in a tricycle and he took part in 10 car races, of which he won eight. Bugatti's Greatest Achievements Type 35 Models, Type 41 Piano i Type 57SC Atlantic. The former is one of the most famous racing cars in history, in the second half of the 20s this beautiful classic car won more than 1000 races. Released in seven copies, 41 Royale cost three times more than the most expensive car at that time. Rolls-Royce... On the other side Atlantic is one of the most beautiful and complex cars in automotive history.

Bugatti, along with Alfa Romeo, dominated rallying and racing for a long time. In the 30s they were joined by the growing forces of Auto Union and Mercedes. The latter, thanks to the first "Silver Arrow", that is, the W25 model. However, after a few years, this rider began to lose his edge over competitors. Then the new head of the Mercedes racing department entered the scene. Rudolf Uhlenhout (1906-1989), one of the most prominent designers of racing and sports cars in automotive history. Within a year, he developed the new Silver Arrow (W125), and then, with another change in regulations limiting engine power, the W154. The first model had a 5663-liter engine under the hood, which developed 592 km / h, accelerated to 320 km / h and remained the most powerful. by Grand Prix car to the 80's!

After years of military chaos, Mercedes returned to motorsport thanks to the Uhlenhaut, a masterpiece he created on four studs, i.e. car W196. Armed with many technological innovations (including magnesium alloy body, independent suspension, 8 cylinder, in-line engine with direct injection, desmodromic timing, i.e. one in which the opening and closing of the valves is controlled by camshaft cams) was unrivaled in 1954-55.

But this was not the last word of the ingenious designer. When we ask which car from Stuttgart is the most famous, many will surely say: the 300 1954 SL Gullwing, or perhaps the 300 SLR, which Sterling Moss he called "the greatest racing car ever built". Both cars are built Ulenhauta.

The "gull wing" had to be very light, so the hull frame was made of steel pipes. Since they girdled the entire car, the only solution was to use very original ones. sloped doorI. Uhlenhaut had great racing talent, but the authorities did not allow him to participate in competitions, because it was too risky for the concern - he was irreplaceable. Apparently, however, during test drives, he sometimes “pulled out” better times than the legendary Manuel Fangioand once, late for an important meeting, he drove the famous 300-horsepower "Uhlenhaut Coupé" (road version of the SLR) from Munich to Stuttgart in just one hour, which even today usually takes twice as long. .

Manuel Fangio wins the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix in a Mercedes W196R.

The best of the best

In 1999, a jury of 33 automotive journalists awarded the title of "XNUMXth Century Automotive Engineer". Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951). One can, of course, argue about whether this German designer deserved the highest place on the podium, but his contribution to the development of the automotive industry is undoubtedly huge, as evidenced by dry data - he designed over 300 different cars and received about 1000 automotive patents. We associate the Porsche name primarily with iconic sports car brand and 911, but the famous designer only managed to lay the foundations for the market success of this company, because it was the work of his son Ferry.

Porsche is also the father of success Volkswagen Beetlewhich he designed back in the 30s at the personal request of Hitler. Years later, it turned out that he used the design of another great designer in many ways, Ganza Ledvinkiprepared for the Czech Tatras. His attitude during the war was also morally dubious, as he volunteered to collaborate with the Nazis and used slave labor as forced laborers in the factories he ran.

However, Porsche also had a lot of "clean" designs and inventions. He began his career as a car designer working for Lohner & Co. in Vienna. His first achievements were electric vehicle prototypes - the first of these, known as Semper Vivus, introduced in 1900, was an innovative hybrid - mounted in hubs, with a gasoline engine acting as a power generator. The second was the four-engine car Lohner-Porsche - the world's first all-wheel drive car.

In 1906, Porsche joined Austro-Daimler as head of the design department, where he worked on racing cars. However, he showed his full potential only at Daimler-Benz, for which he created one of the best pre-war sports cars - Mercedes SSK, and in cooperation with Auto Union - in 1932 built for them an innovative P-Wagen racing car, with the engine behind the driver. In 1931, the designer opened a firm signed with his own name. Two years later, in fulfillment of Hitler's wish, he began work on a "car for the people" (Volkswagen in German).

Ferdinand Porsche, another Austro-Hungarian born designer, will take the lead in building such a car. In the archives of Mercedes, diagrams and drawings of a car built on a tubular frame and with boxer enginevery similar to the later Garbus. Their author was a Hungarian, Bela Bareni (1907-1997), and he drew them in the 20s during his studies, five years before Porsche began working on a similar project.

Bela Barenyi discusses with her colleagues the successful Mercedes crash test

Barenyi linked his professional career with Mercedes, but gained experience in the Austrian companies Austro-Daimler, Steyr and Adler. His first job application was rejected by Daimler. In 1939, he appeared for a second interview, during which group board member Wilhelm Haspel asked him what he would like to see improved in the Mercedes-Benz car line at that time. “Actually… everything,” Barenyi replied without hesitation, and a month before the outbreak of World War II, he took over the group’s newly created security department.

Barenyi he did not overestimate his abilities, as he proved to be one of the most prolific and brilliant inventors in history. He registered more than 2,5 thousand. patents (in real terms, there were slightly fewer of them, since in some cases it was the same project registered in different countries), twice as many Thomas Edison. Most of them were developed for Mercedes and concerned safety. One of Barenyi's most important inventions is deformation-resistant passenger compartment i controlled deformation zones (patent 1952, first fully applied to W111 in 1959) and safe destructible steering column (patent 1963, presented in 1976 for the W123 series). It was also the forerunner of crash testing. He helped popularize disc brakes and dual-circuit brake systems. Without a doubt, his inventions saved (and are saving) the lives of millions of people.

Testing the first crush zone

Deformation-resistant passenger compartment

The French equivalent of Ferdinand Porsche was Andre Lefebvre (1894-1964), undoubtedly one of the most talented designers in the history of the automotive industry. Citroen Traction Avant, 2CV, DS, HY These are the cars that built the reputation of the French manufacturer and also some of the most important and interesting cars ever made. He was responsible for their construction. Lefebvre, with the support of an equally outstanding engineer Paula Magesa and outstanding stylist Flaminio Bertonego.

Each of these vehicles was groundbreaking and innovative. Traction Avant (1934) - the first serial front wheel drive car, having a self-supporting one-volume body, independent wheel suspension (designed by Ferdinand Porsche) and hydraulic brakes. 2CV (1949), extremely simple in design, but very versatile, motorized in France, which eventually became a cult and fashionable car. DS it was unique in every way when it entered the market in 1955. It was light years ahead of the competition thanks to its technological advancements, such as the innovative hydro-pneumatic suspension providing unearthly comfort. On the other hand HY shipping box (1947) impressed not only with its appearance (corrugated sheet), but also with its practicality.

Automotive "goddess", or Citroën DS