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An Automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. There are many different types of automobiles - steam, electric, and gasoline - as well as countless styles. Most automobiles in use today are propelled by gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel internal combustion engine. However owing to rising air pollution there are Automobiles which run on alternative energy sources like biodiesel, bioalcohol (methanol, ethanol, butanol), chemically stored electricity (batteries and fuel cells), hydrogen, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas, vegetable oil and other biomass sources.
History of the Invention of the Automobile
The Automobile of modern times was not invented in a single day by a single inventor. The history of the automobile reflects an evolution that took place worldwide. There are two inventors who are generally credited with the invention of Automobile. Nicolas Joseph Cugnot is believed to have built the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle. Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile. In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was a military tractor invented by French engineer and mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot (1725 - 1804). Cugnot used a steam engine to power his vehicle, built under his instructions at the Paris Arsenal by mechanic Brezin. It was used by the French Army to haul artillery at a whopping speed of 2 1/2 mph on only three wheels. The vehicle had to stop every ten to fifteen minutes to build up steam power. The steam engine and boiler were separate from the rest of the vehicle and placed in the front (see engraving above). The following year in 1770, Cugnot built a steam-powered tricycle that carried four passengers.
In 1885, German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz designed and built the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. On January 29, 1886, Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435) for a gas-fuelled car. It was a three-wheeler; Benz built his first four-wheeled car in 1891. Benz & Company, the company started by the inventor, became the world's largest manufacturer of automobiles by 1900.
Development in the invention of Automobile
Steam Automobile - In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive which is considered to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle, although it was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and would have been of little practical use. In 1806, François Isaac de Rivaz, a Swiss inventor, designed the first internal combustion engine. It was fuelled by a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen and used it to develop the world's first vehicle, albeit rudimentary, to be powered by such an engine.
Electric Automobile - Between 1832 and 1839, Robert Anderson of Scotland invented the first electric carriage. Electric cars used rechargeable batteries that powered a small electric motor.
Gasoline Automobile - In 1876, Nicolaus August Otto invented an effective gas motor engine. Otto built the first practical four-stroke internal combustion engine called the "Otto Cycle Engine," and as soon as he had completed his engine, he built it into a motorcycle. Otto's contributions were very historically significant, it was his four-stoke engine that was universally adopted for all liquid-fuelled automobiles going forward.
Four-Wheeled Automobile - In, 1885 Daimler-Maybach built an engine which was small, lightweight, fast, used a gasoline-injected carburettor, and had a vertical cylinder. The size, speed, and efficiency of the engine allowed for a revolution in car design. On March 8, 1886, Daimler took a stagecoach and adapted it to hold his engine, thereby designing the world's first four-wheeled automobile. Daimler is considered the first inventor to have invented a practical internal-combustion engine.
Diesel Automobile - In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first Diesel Engine.
Hybrid Automobiles - In 1900, while employed at Lohner Coach Factory, Ferdinand Porsche developed the Mixte.The Mixte used a gasoline engine powering a generator, which in turn powered electric hub motors, with a small battery pack for reliability.Automotive hybrid technology became widespread beginning in the late 1990s. The first mass-produced hybrid vehicle was the Toyota Prius, launched in Japan in 1997, and followed by the Honda Insight, launched in 1999 in the United States and Japan.
PEV - In 2003, Renault began selling the Elect'road, a plug-in series hybrid version of their popular Kangoo, in Europe. It was sold alongside Renault's "Electri'cité" electric-drive Kangoo battery electric van. The Elect'road had a 150 km (93 mi) range using a nickel-cadmium battery pack and a 500 cc (31 cu in), 16 kilowatt liquid-cooled gasoline "range-extender" engine. It powered two high voltage/high output/low volume alternators, each of which supplied up to 5.5 kW at 132 volts at 5000 rpm. The plug-in-electric-vehicles (PEV) are becoming more and more common. The batteries can be plugged in to house (mains) electricity for charging, as well being charged while the engine is running.
Role of Automobile in the improvement of human life
