- Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz (née Ringer) (born
3 May 1849 inPforzheim ,Germany , married inventorKarl Benz on20 July 1872 , and died5 May 1944 inLadenburg ), was the first person to drive anautomobile over a long distance.On
5 August 1888 and without her husband's knowledge, she drove her sons, Richard and Eugen, fourteen and fifteen years old, in one of Benz's newly-constructed "Patent Motorwagen"automobile s—fromMannheim toPforzheim —becoming the first person to drive an automobile over more than a very short distance. The distance was more than 106 km (more than sixty miles). Distances traveled before this historic trip were short, and merely trials with mechanical assistants.Although the primary purpose of the trip was to visit her mother, Bertha Benz also had another motive: to show her brilliant husband—who had failed to consider
marketing his invention adequately—that the automobile would become a financial success once it was shown to be useful to the general public.Underway, she solved numerous problems. She had to find
petrol or similarfuel s which were available—sometimes—only atdispensing chemist s' shops. Ablacksmith had to help with a chain at one point.Brake lining s needed replacement. Bertha Benz had to use a long, straighthairpin to clean a fuel pipe which had become blocked and to insulate a wire with a garter. She left Mannheim around dawn and reached Pforzheim somewhat after dusk, notifying her husband of her successful journey bytelegram . She drove back to Mannheim the next day.Along the way, several people were frightened by the automobile and the novel trip received a great deal of publicity—as she had sought. The drive was very helpful for Karl Benz, as he was able to introduce several improvements after his wife reported everything that had happened along the way—and she made important suggestions, such as the introduction of an additional
gear for greater ease climbing hills.Bertha Benz died at the age of ninety-five in Ladenburg, where the workshop of Karl Benz in Ladenburg had stood after they moved there in 1906.
In Germany, a festive annual
holiday celebrates this historic trip of Bertha Benz and featuresantique automobiles.External links
* [http://www.mbusa.com/heritage/bertha-benz.do Biography: Bertha Benz]
* [http://www.womanmotorist.com/review/mercedes-benz/jb-mercedes-sclass-2001.shtml The famous drive of Bertha Benz]
* [http://www.abcteach.com/free/i/inv_berthabenz_a.pdf The First Road Trip]
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