Reitwagen Final

In 1882, the Italian inventor Enrico Bernardi presented to the public a gasoline engine used to power a sewing machine. Two years later, the engine was installed on a children's tricycle. Thus the Motrice Pia was born. In 1881, Lucius Copeland assembled the eponymous "Copeland" mechanism — a two-wheeled Bicycle with a steam engine. Almost twenty years earlier than Daimler, in 1867 and 1869, Louis-Guillem Perrault rolled out the Michaux-Perreaux and Roper, a pair of two-wheeled motorcycles with steam engines on the frame. But the first motorcycle is considered a product of Daimler-Maybach. Why? According to the set of features: — single-track unit; — equipped with two wheels (formally with four, but two side wheels — only for support); — most importantly: with an internal combustion engine. Yes, steam engines appeared earlier, but they turned out to be a dead end. It is the internal combustion engines that have brought modern technology to life. Therefore, what was before the internal combustion engine – simply does not count. Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach met in 1872 at the Otto und Langen Gazmotoren Fabrik Deutz. Gottlieb worked as a technical Director, and Maybach headed the design Bureau. For about ten years, the engineers actively collaborated with each other, until in 1882 they left the factory and opened their own workshop for the production of motors (Daimler was a co-owner of the patent for the production of Otto engines). Joining forces with Maybach, the inventors improved the design of the engine in two years, creating a valve chamber and an ignition system from the incandescent tube. In 1884, the Reitwagen appeared. On November 10, 1885, a demonstration of the new device took place. On the first day of the test (a trip from Kannstadt to Untertorkheim), the seat of the "self-driving riding cart" was repeatedly ignited due to excessive heating of the combustion chamber located directly under the driver, and the total length of the route did not exceed three kilometers. However, the original design has proven its stability and ability to move in space. The design was patented and a year later Daimler assembled his first four-wheel car (almost simultaneously with Benz, who assembled and patented the tricycle in 1887). For several years, the Reitwagen remained in the garage as a test stand, where it burned down in 1903 during the Cannstadt fire, which destroyed the Daimler and Maybach workshops. In 1985, in honor of the centenary of the invention, replicas of the original Reitwagen were created. Replicas differ in layout and individual technical solutions (for example, the number of gears), are not decorative and are on the move. The General characteristics of products include: Engine power: 0.5 horsepower / 600 rpm. Engine capacity: 264 cm3; Fuel capacity: up to 2 liters; Maximum installed speed: 12 km / h; Number of gears: 2 (5 km / h in first gear, 11 km/h in second). Weight: 90 kg.