Gottlieb Daimler Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (German pronunciation: day morning classes. In 1853, Daimler, with Steinbeis’ [ˈɡɔtliːp ˈdaɪmlɐ]; 17 March 1834 – 6 March 1900[1]) assistance, got work at “the factory college”, F. Rollé und was an engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born Schwilque(R&S) in Grafenstaden, so-called because its in Schorndorf (Kingdom of Württemberg, a federal state manager, Friedrich Messmer, had been an instructor at of the German Confederation), in what is now Germany. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.[3] Daimler performed He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and well, and when Rollé und Schwilque began making rail- automobile development. He invented the high-speed way locomotives in 1856, Daimler, then 22, was named petrol engine. foreman.[3] Daimler and his lifelong business partner Wilhelm May- Instead of staying, Daimler took two years at Stuttgart’s bach were two inventors whose goal was to create small, Polytechnic Institute to hone his skills, gaining in-depth high-speed engines to be mounted in any kind of loco- grasp of steam locomotives, as well as “a profound con- motion device. In 1885 they designed a precursor of viction” steam was destined to be superseded.[3] He con- the modern petrol (gasoline) engine which they subse- ceived small, cheap, simple engines for light industrial quently fitted to a two-wheeler, the first internal combus- use, possibly inspired by the newly developed gas engines tion motorcycle and, in the next year, to a stagecoach, and of that era.[3] a boat. Daimler called it the grandfather clock engine In 1861, he resigned from R&S, visiting Paris, then went (Standuhr) because of its resemblance to a large pendu- on to England, working with the country’s top engineer- lum clock. ing firms, becoming knowledgeable with machine tools. In 1890, they founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft He spent from autumn 1861 to summer 1863 in Eng- (DMG, in English—Daimler Motors Corporation). They land, then regarded as “the motherland of technology”,[4] sold their first automobile in 1892. Daimler fell ill and at Beyer, Peacock and Company of Gorton, Manchester. took a break from the business. Upon his return he ex- Beyer was from Saxony.[5] While in London, he visited perienced difficulty with the other stockholders that led the 1862 International Exhibition, where one of the ex- to his resignation in 1893. This was reversed in 1894. hibits was a steam carriage.[3] These carriages did not ev- Maybach resigned at the same time, and also returned. idently inspire him, however, for his wish was to produce In 1900 Daimler died and Wilhelm Maybach quit DMG machine tools and woodworking machinery.[3] in 1907. In 1924, the DMG management signed a long Daimler went to work for Maschinenfabrik Daniel Straub, term co-operation agreement with Karl Benz's Benz & Geislingen an der Steige, where he designed tools, mills, Cie., and in 1926 the two companies merged to become and turbines. In 1863, he joined the Bruderhaus Reut- Daimler-Benz AG, which is now part of Daimler AG. lingen, a Christian Socialist toolmaker, as inspector and later executive.While there, he met Wilhelm Maybach, then a 15-year-old orphan.[6] Thanks to Daimler’s orga- 1 Early life: 1834–1852 nizational skills, the factory managed to show a profit, but he quit in frustration in 1869, joining Maschinenbau Gesellschaft Karlsruhe in July.[6] Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler was the son of a baker named When in 1872 Otto und Langen reorganized as Johannes Däumler (Daimler) and his wife Frederika, Gasmotoren-Fabrik Deutz, management picked Daimler from the town of Schorndorf near Stuttgart, Württem- as factory manager, bypassing even Otto, and Daimler berg. By the age of 13 (1847), he had completed six years joined the company in August, taking Maybach with him of primary studies in Lateinschule and became interested as chief designer.[6] in engineering. The next year, he began an apprenticeship with a carbine maker, Raithel.[2] He graduated in 1852, While Daimler managed to improve production, the passing the craft test with a pair of engraved double- weakness in the Otto’s vertical piston design, coupled barreled pistols.[3] The same year, at eighteen, Daimler to Daimler’s stubborn insistence on atmospheric engines, decided to take up mechanical engineering, abandoning led the company to an impasse.[6] Neither Otto nor Daim- gun smithing,[3] and left his hometown. ler would give way, and when Daimler was offered the choice of founding a Deutz branch in St. Petersburg or re- Signing up at Stuttgart’s School for Advanced Training signing, he resigned to set up shop in Cannstatt (financed in the Industrial Arts, under the tutelage of Ferdinand by savings and shares in Deutz),[7] where he was shortly Steinbeis. Daimler was studious, even taking extra Sun- 1 2 4 THE GRANDFATHER CLOCK ENGINE (1885) joined by Maybach.[6] At Cannstatt, Daimler and the more creative thinking Maybach[6] devised their engine. At Daimler’s insis- tence, it eliminated “the clumsy, complicated slide-valve ignition”,[8] in favor of a hot tube system invented by Leo Funk, since Daimler also distrusted electricity.[8] It took considerable effort and experimentation, but even- tually, the duo perfected a .5 hp (0.37 kW; 0.51 PS) vertical single, which was fitted in the Reitwagen, a purpose-built two-wheeler chassis with two spring-loaded stabilizerss.[8] When this proved the engine capable of Daimler’s summer house (Cannstatt) driving a vehicle, Daimler devised a 1.1 hp (0.82 kW; 1.1 PS) single and ordered a Wimpff und Soehne four- seater phaeton to house it.[8] Daimler’s engine was in- in southern Germany, purchasing a cottage in Cannstatt’s stalled by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen and drove the rear Taubenheimstrasse, with 75,000 goldmarks from the wheels through a dual-ratio belt drive.[8] compensation from Deutz-AG. In the garden, they added a brick extension to the roomy glass-fronted summer house and this became their workshop. Their activities alarmed the neighbors who reported them to the police 2 The Otto four-stroke engine as suspected counterfeiters. The police obtained a key (1876) from the gardener and raided the house in their absence, but found only engines. In 1872 (at age 38), Daimler and Maybach moved to work Daimler and Maybach spent long hours debating how best at the world’s largest manufacturer of stationary engines to fuel Otto’s four-stroke design, and turned to a byprod- at the time, the Deutz-AG-Gasmotorenfabrik in Cologne. uct of petroleum. The main distillates of petroleum at It was half-owned by Nikolaus Otto, who was looking for the time were lubricating oil, kerosene (burned as lamp a new technical director. As directors, both Daimler and fuel), and benzine, which up to then was used mainly as Otto focused on gas-engine development while Maybach a cleaner and was sold in pharmacies. was chief designer. In 1876, Otto invented the four-stroke cycle, also known as the Otto Cycle, a system characterized by four piston 4 The grandfather clock engine strokes (intake, compression, power, and exhaust). Otto (1885) intended that his invention would replace the steam en- gines predominant in those years, even though his en- gine was still primitive and inefficient. Otto’s engine was In late 1885, Daimler and Maybach developed the first of patented in 1877, but the patent was soon challenged and their petrol engines, which featured: overturned. Unbeknownst to Otto, Daimler, and May- bach, in Mannheim during 1878, Karl Benz was concen- • a single horizontal cylinder of 264 cc (16 cu in)[9] trating all his efforts on creating a reliable two-stroke gas (58×100 mm, 2.28×3.94 in)[9] engine based on the same principle. Benz finished his en- gine on 31 December 1878, and was granted a patent for • air cooling his engine in 1879. • large cast iron flywheel Meanwhile, serious personal differences arose between Daimler and Otto, reportedly with Otto being jealous • surface carburetor[10] of Daimler, because of his university background and knowledge. Daimler was fired in 1880, receiving 112,000 • hot tube ignition system (patent 28022) goldmarks in Deutz-AG shares in compensation for the patents of both Daimler and Maybach. Maybach resigned • cam operated exhaust valves, allowing high speed later. operation • 0.5 hp (370 W)[9] 3 Daimler Motors: small, high- • 600 rpm running speed, beating previous engines, speed engines (1882) which typically ran at about 120 to 180 rpm • weight of around 50 kg (110 lb)[9] After leaving Deutz-AG, Daimler and Maybach started to work together. In 1882, they moved back to Stuttgart • height of 76 cm (30 in)[9] 3 In 1885, they created a carburetor which mixed gasoline km/h; 6.9 mph). The boat was called Neckar af- with air allowing its use as fuel. In the same year Daimler ter the river where it was tested. (patent DRP 39- and Maybach assembled a larger version of their engine, 367). This was the world’s first motorboat and boat still relatively compact, but now with a vertical cylinder engines soon would become Daimler’s main prod- of 100 cc displacement and an output of 1 hp at 600 rpm uct for several years. The first customers expressed (patent DRP-28-022: “non-cooled, heat insulated engine fear the petrol engine could explode, so Daimler hid with unregulated hot-tube ignition”). It was baptized the the engine with a ceramic cover and told them it was Standuhr (“grandfather clock”), because Daimler thought “oil-electrical”. it resembled an old pendulum clock. • street-cars and trolleys.