Chapter 71: The Automobile

Dave Broker (0:05)

On August 12th, 1888, a woman named Bertha set out on a trip to visit her mother. Along with her teenage sons, she made the 65 or so mile journey in a little over 12 hours. She had not told her husband about the trip ahead of time, but she left him a short note on her way out the door in the early morning. That evening, she sent him a telegram, reading, quote, Arrived safely. The automobile works. End quote.

She was born Cecilia Bertha Ringer in the city of Fort Syme in 1849 Educated at a local boarding school, she stood out for her intelligence and fascination with mechanics. However, as a woman, she was prohibited from attending a university. It's a shame because she would have surely shined, and perhaps someday, she'd have launched a legendary career of her own. However, when she was 20, she attended an event at a social club, and met a draftsman employed by a local bridge building company. He had his own dreams of becoming a master mechanic, and, no doubt bonding over their shared passion for machines, the two fell in love. His name was Carl Friedrich Benz.

Bertha's father was a successful carpenter and construction contractor, and with his resources, she helped convince Benz to follow his dreams. She invested in his iron production company, and two years later, they were married. The company failed, but she provided a sufficient dowery for him to start a new venture, pursuing his greatest dream of all, making a practical automobile.

In the years to come, Bertha Benz continued to be a loyal helpmeet to her husband, giving birth to several children, while assisting him with his research and development. Many years and patents later, Carl at last received a patent for his quote, Automobile fueled by gas, in 1886

But though he was a natural engineer, Carl Benz was not a natural business man. He struggled to market and sell his Benz Patent Motorwagen. Frustrated by her husband's timidity, Bertha decided to take matters into her own hands. Though she did not have a driver's license, Carl was just about the only person who did have one. And though it was illegal to operate a horseless carriage on the roads she would use, Bertha departed from their home in Mannheim to her hometown in Pforzheim on that summer day in 1888 Along the way, she employed her own mechanical skills to deal with the car's inevitable breakdowns. She cleverly used a pin from her bonnet to unclog a fuel pipe and her garter to fix the vehicle's ignition. She stopped in the town of Wieslach to buy 10 liters of a petroleum-based cleaning product called Ligroin to refuel. On the journey home, she purchased some strips of leather to fit on the worn-down brakes, effectively inventing the brake pad. And, after making her two sons push the vehicle uphill at times, she came up with an idea for a slower, third-gear shift to help with such inclines. Most importantly, though, her trip instilled new confidence in Carl to believe in his machine. Not only did Bertha's trip make for good publicity, but the family departed on other such trips in the months to come. As a Munich newspaper put it that year, quote, Seldom, if ever, have passers-by in the streets of our city seen a more startling sight on a Saturday afternoon, when a one-horse chase came from the Sendlingerstrasse over the Sendlingertonplatz and down Herzog-Wilhelmstrasse at a good clip without any horse. A gentleman sitting under a surrey top, riding on three wheels, one in front and two behind, speeding on his way toward the center of town. The astonishment was general and widespread. End quote.

Over the next 20 years, the automobile began to gradually spread around the world. And then, through new mass production techniques, it would spread like wildfire, dramatically altering the physical, social, and economic landscapes of our planet like nothing before.

This is The Industrial Revolutions, Chapter 71, The Automobile.

Okay, a little admin to start. First, I normally try to release new chapters the first Monday of the month. But our daughter started preschool recently, and now she's bringing home new illnesses every other week. So, I was super sick the day I was originally scheduled to record this. I'm actually not 100% yet, in case my voice sounds a bit off. I'm still battling clogged sinuses and a sore throat. What's more, this is going to make the podcast schedule for the remainder of the year a little funky. But you can get updates by signing up for the e-newsletter at industrialrevolutionspod.com, or following along on Facebook, Instagram, X, and BlueSky by following at indrefpod. That's at I-N-D-R-E-V-P-O-D.

Second, I do have a quick note for you. There was a clarification about the breakup of Standard Oil, made in the Spotify comments for Chapter 70 Sunder Witt explained that Texaco and Phillips were Texas-based oil companies and thus not descended from Standard Oil, and that you can usually tell the descendants by their blue, white, and red logos. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Marathon. Yes, strictly speaking, that is true. The reason I included Texaco and Phillips is because, over the years, they acquired and merged with firms that were descendants of Standard Oil. The history of the American oil industry is a bit complicated that way, and I didn't really want to get into the weeds with it, but thank you, Sunder Witt, for the helpful clarification.