Bertha Benz (née
Ringer) (born 3 May 1849 in
PforzheimPforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, married inventor
Karl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, sometimes spelled as Carl, was a German engine designer and automobile engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the petrol-powered automobile and pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz.Other German contemporaries, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm...
on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in
LadenburgLadenburg is a town in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Neckar, 10 km east of Mannheim, and 10 km northwest of Heidelberg.It has an old town from the Late Middle Ages...
). She invested in Benz's business in 1871, enabling him to develop the first patented
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
and in 1888 she was the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance, which brought it world-wide attention.
In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Karl Benz joined August Ritter in launching a mechanical workshop in
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
, also dedicated to supplying construction materials: the
Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop, later renamed,
Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working.
The enterprise's first year was a complete disaster.
Bertha Benz (née
Ringer) (born 3 May 1849 in
PforzheimPforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, married inventor
Karl BenzKarl Friedrich Benz, sometimes spelled as Carl, was a German engine designer and automobile engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the petrol-powered automobile and pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer, Mercedes-Benz.Other German contemporaries, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm...
on 20 July 1872, and died 5 May 1944 in
LadenburgLadenburg is a town in the district of Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Neckar, 10 km east of Mannheim, and 10 km northwest of Heidelberg.It has an old town from the Late Middle Ages...
). She invested in Benz's business in 1871, enabling him to develop the first patented
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
and in 1888 she was the first person to drive an automobile over a long distance, which brought it world-wide attention.
In 1871, at the age of twenty-seven, Karl Benz joined August Ritter in launching a mechanical workshop in
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
, also dedicated to supplying construction materials: the
Iron Foundry and Mechanical Workshop, later renamed,
Factory for Machines for Sheet-metal Working.
The enterprise's first year was a complete disaster. Ritter turned out to be unreliable and local authorities confiscated the business. The difficulty was solved when Benz's fiancée, Bertha Ringer, bought Ritter's share in the company using her dowry and became Benz's business partner.
On July 20, 1872 Karl Benz and Bertha Ringer married, later having five children: Eugen (1873), Richard (1874), Clara (1877), Thilde (1882), and Ellen (1890).
In early 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 MotorwagenThe Karl Benz Patent Motorwagen , built in 1885, is widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor....
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s—from
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
to
PforzheimPforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City...
—becoming the first person to drive an automobile over more than a very short distance. The distance was more than 106 km (60 miles). Distances traveled before this historic trip were short, and merely trials with mechanical assistants.
Although the ostensible 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
marketingMarketing is an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities are informed or persuaded that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others....
his invention adequately—that the automobile would become a financial success once it was shown to be useful to the general public.
On the way, she solved numerous problems. She had to find Ligroin as
fuelFuel is any material that is burned or altered to obtain energy and to heat or to move object. Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion...
s which was available only at
dispensing chemistA dispensing chemist, in British English and Australian English, or pharmacist in North American English is a professional allowed to fulfil prescriptions....
s' shops. A
blacksmithA blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by forging the metal; i.e., by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut. Blacksmiths produce things like wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious...
had to help mend a chain at one point.
Brake liningBrake linings are the consumable surfaces in brake systems, especially drum brakes as those used in vehicles.-Structure and function:Brake linings are composed of a relatively soft but tough and heat-resistant material with a high coefficient of dynamic friction typically mounted to a solid metal...
s needed replacement. Bertha Benz had to use a long, straight
hairpinA hair pin or hairpin is a long device used to hold a person's hair in place.Hairpins made of metal, ivory, bronze, carved wood, etc. were used in ancient Assyria and Egypt for securing decorated hairstyles. Such hairpins suggest, as graves show, that many were luxury objects among the Egyptians...
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 by telegram. 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
gearA gear is a component within a transmission device that transmits rotational torque by applying a force to the teeth of another gear or device. A gear is different from a pulley in that a gear is a round wheel that has linkages that mesh with other gear teeth, allowing force to be fully...
for 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
holidayThe words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents, but usually refer to one of the following activities or events:...
every two years celebrates this historic trip of Bertha Benz and features antique automobiles. In 2008, the
Bertha Benz Memorial RouteThe Bertha Benz Memorial Route is a German tourist and theme route in Baden-Württemberg and member of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. Since its opening in 2008 everybody can follow the tracks of the world's first long distance journey by automobile of the year 1888.- History :In 1886 Dr...
was officially approved as a route of industrial heritage of mankind, because it follows Bertha Benz's tracks of the world's first long-distance journey by automobile in 1888. Now everybody can follow the 194 km of signposted route from
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
via
HeidelbergHeidelberg is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2008, over 145,000 people live within the city's area. Heidelberg is a unitary authority...
to
PforzheimPforzheim is a town of nearly 119,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany at the gate to the Black Forest. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City...
(
Black ForestThe Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres ....
) and back.
External links