“The wheels go round and round
Some go silent some make a loud sound!
It’s not the end but the trip you see!
Which makes you smile and glee!”
Wife took her husband’s new invention without her husband’s knowledge to see her mother!
This lead to the one of the biggest breakthrough in the modern world!
sounds fishy!
read on!
This happened way back in 1888!
So, on 5 August 1888, 39-year-old Bertha drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim with her sons Richard and Eugen, thirteen and fifteen years old respectively, in a ‘Vehicle’, without telling her husband and without permission of the authorities, thus becoming the first person to drive an automobile a significant distance. Now before the Feminists jump on me who is also a strong supporter of women’s rights; let me remind that it was 1888 and the husband’s permission was required for safety reasons primarily!
Following wagon tracks, this pioneering tour covered a one-way distance of about 106 km.
Although the ostensible purpose of the trip was to visit her mother, Bertha had other motives – to prove to her husband, who had failed to adequately consider marketing his invention, that the ‘vehicle’ in which they both had heavily invested would become a financial success once it was shown to be useful to the general public; and to give her husband the confidence that his constructions had a future! So all was good in the marital area!
The account of the trip has been reproduced without much changes!
She left Mannheim around dawn, solving numerous problems along the way. Bertha demonstrated her significant technical capabilities on this journey. With no fuel tank and only a 4.5-litre supply of petrol in the carburetor, she had to find ligroin, the petroleum solvent needed for the ‘vehicle’ to run.
The solvent was only available at apothecary shops, so she stopped in Wiesloch at the city pharmacy to purchase the fuel.
At the time, petrol and other fuels could only be bought from chemists and so this is how the chemist in Wiesloch became the first fuel station in the world!
She cleaned a blocked fuel line with her hat pin and used her garter as insulation material.
A blacksmith had to help mend a chain at one point. When the wooden brakes began to fail, Bertha visited a cobbler to install leather, making the world’s first pair of brake linings.
An evaporative cooling system was employed to cool the engine, making water supply a big worry along the trip.
The trio added water to their supply every time they stopped.
The car’s two gears were not enough to surmount uphill inclines and Eugen and Richard often had to push the vehicle up steep roads!
So it was a complete family effort!
Bertha reached Pforzheim somewhat after dusk, notifying her husband of her successful journey by telegram. She drove back to Mannheim several days later.
The trip was officially forbidden and Bertha risked a penalty. There were no suitable roads and signs, only a few signposts. It was life-threatening because of the fragility of the car and the road conditions. The wagon was three-wheeled, but the paths were driven by four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages, so the dainty front wheel rattled over tufts of grass, sticks and stones!
The trip received a great deal of publicity, as she had sought, and was a key event in the technical development of the automobile. She reported everything that had happened along the way and made important suggestions, such as the introduction of an additional gear for climbing hills and brake linings to improve brake-power. The pioneering couple introduced several improvements after Bertha’s experiences. Her trip demonstrated to the burgeoning automotive industry that test drives were essential to their business!
The full name of Bertha was, Bertha Benz!
I think now you got it!
She was the business partner, investor and wife of automobile inventor Carl Benz! And the ‘vehicle’ she was testing was the Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3!
Next time you drive a car on a long road trip you can think and thank Bertha! And maybe listen to your wife more!
Like how birthday celebrity Yash Chopra used to listen to his wife Pamela Chopra!
Now make sure your vehicle is locked and sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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