29 jan 1886 ano - First Practical Automobiles

Descrição:

One form of technology that saw a major leap in the 1880s was that of transportation. For the past hundred years or so, a number of individuals had experimented on the idea of steam-powered vehicles to be used on roads, rather than horse-drawn carriages. The steam engine however, proved to be expensive and impractical for such a use, so as the internal combustion engine was developed, new ideas on propulsion were devised.

Several inventors could be credited with the invention of the first motorcar, as variations on a petrol-powered vehicle were common in the late 1880s. Certainly by 1890, individuals such as Siegfried Marcus, Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and Wilhelm Maybach had all contributed towards a standardized, four-wheeled vehicle, which was powered by a petrol engine and featured a steering wheel and handbrake.

Over the next hundred years, the motorcar would be improved upon immensely with the rise of car companies like Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, and Škoda springing up across Europe, eventually leading to the motorcar becoming the most widely used form of transport in the world.