✹ Assignment: The History of the Automobile ✹

Carl Benz:

     The automobile has been around for 120 years.


     A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for detailed public disclosure of an invention.


     The title he used to describe the automobile was the Motorwagen, or the patent motorcar.


     His wife drove his invention. The first petrol station is born from this drive.


     The axial pivot steering system helped solve the problem of steering the front two wheel simultaneously.


     The new name when the two automobile companies are merged is Mercedes Benz.


     Benz experienced his dream coming true.

Henry Ford and the Model T

The assembly line changed from suggestions made to Henry Ford by three of his employees by them suggesting make an assembly line where the line moves rather than the workers moving, and you positioned someone who was good at that particular job there to do that all day.

Workers tend to stay longer and be more committed to Ford's company than other companies at that time because his employees treated fairly with a livable wage.

The first Model T cost $1000. It was made for the people of common class.

The Model T’s price dropped to $365. I think it dropped so much because people in the common class could not afford to purchase it eventually, and, since no one was buying it, the price had to be lowered.

This automobile offered transportation whenever you want, wherever you want. You can travel for pleasure and visit relatives without worrying about relatives.

Video Selections

Video One: The Ford Edsel Video

i) The Ford Edsel was made for Henry Ford’s son.

ii) Almost immediately after its release, it was ridiculed for its looks. I found this interesting because you would think people would like a car for the sake of being able to travel, not just because it is pretty.

iii) Ironically, Edsel Ford was “a man of impeccable taste” who designed what is believed to be one of the most beautiful cars in history, the original Mark One Lincoln Continental.

iv) Only three days after its debut, the car was pulled from its lineup because of the extremely negative feedback.

Video Two: The Men Who Built America: The Every Man

i) Henry Ford set out to create a car for the working class, something that was deemed very risky.

ii) The first prototype of the car was built in Ford’s garage and only reached one or two horsepower.

iii) From the beginning, Ford wanted to built an affordable, steady car for the working class.

iv) He believed that working people should be treated fairly; affordable wages and healthy environments. I found this interesting because, from my basic knowledge of cars, they were only affordable for upper class citizens.

Automobile Timeline

1. Cruise Control is Developed: I found this interesting because a blind man was able to tell just by ear the cars drove at uneven speeds. He likely prevented many tragic accidents with his invention.

2. Model T Introduced: I found this interesting because, if you think about it, it hasn’t been that long since the car has been invented, only 115 years or so. It seems like it has been absolutely forever since the invention, and now so many people have cars.

3. Electric Starter Introduced: I found this interesting because of how much effort and planning it must have taken to get a car to start any other way. It is weird to think that cars used to have to be started by anything else to me.

4. First Air Conditioning System Added to Automobiles: I found this interested because I feel like many people and animals would be dead without the addition of the air conditioner. I think I would be one of them. What a blessed invention.