How the Automobile Changed History

115 Pages·2015·26.611 MB·English

by  Diane Bailey

ESSENTIAL LIBRARY OF
inventions B
a
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y
How the
Essential
Library
automobile
I
n the 1800s, London had such a sewage problem people called it the “Great Stink.” H
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New York City bought 100,000 tons of ice each year to cool its food. Flammable

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gaslights kept houses bright. But by the 1900s, flush toilets and updated sewers kept E

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cities clean. Refrigeration replaced drippy iceboxes. And electric light bulbs lit the
u
t CHANGED HISTORY
night. From the wheel to the Internet, humankind is constantly innovating easier and
o
m
better ways to live. Read Essential Library of Inventions to learn the history, inventors,
o
and science behind some of the most important inventions ever dreamed up. b
i
l
e by Diane Bailey

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HOW THE automobile CHANGED HISTORY HOW THE printing press CHANGED HISTORY Y
computer refrigerator
HOW THE CHANGED HISTORY HOW THE CHANGED HISTORY
internet toilet
HOW THE CHANGED HISTORY HOW THE CHANGED HISTORY
light bulb wheel
HOW THE CHANGED HISTORY HOW THE CHANGED HISTORY
ESSENTIAL LIBRARY OF
inventions
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How the
automobile
CHANGED HISTORY
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How the
automobile
CHANGED HISTORY
by Diane Bailey
CONTENT CONSULTANT
John Hoard
Associate Research Scientist
University of Michigan
ESSENTIAL LIBRARY OF
inventions
Essential Library
An Imprint of Abdo Publishing | abdopublishing.com
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abdopublishing.com
Published by Abdo Publishing, a division of ABDO, PO Box 398166, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55439. Copyright © 2016 by Abdo Consulting
Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written
permission from the publisher. Essential Library™ is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing.
Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota
052015
092015
Cover Photo: Corbis
Interior Photos: AP Images, 2, 13, 25, 64–65, 84, 88–89; Bettmann/Corbis, 6–7, 40–41, 62; Library of Congress, 10, 18–19, 35; Shutterstock
Images, 15, 17, 82–83, 95; AbleStock.com/Thinkstock, 22–23; Dorling Kindersley/Thinkstock, 27; Grogan Photo Company/Library of
Congress, 30–31; Caufield & Shook/Library of Congress, 37; Bain News Service/Library of Congress, 38; Russell Lee/Library of Congress,
45; Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress, 47; Kevin M. McCarthy/Shutterstock Images, 48; Dennis Hoyne/iStock/Thinkstock, 50;
Everett Collection/Shutterstock Images, 52–53; John Vachon/Library of Congress, 57; Teck Siong Ong/Shutterstock Images, 59; 20th
Century Fox/Photofest, 61; FPG/Getty Images, 66; Transtock/Corbis, 68; Science & Society Picture Library/Contributor/Getty Images, 70;
Paramount Pictures/Photofest, 74 (top); Buena Vista Pictures/Photofest, 74 (bottom); ABC/Photofest, 75 (top); CBS/Photofest, 75 (bottom);
Richard Thornton/Shutterstock Images, 76–77; Katsumi Kasahara/AP Images, 87; Mark Hirsch/Getty Images News/Thinkstock, 91; Joel T./
iStockphoto, 93; Kyod/AP Images, 99
Editor: Megan Anderson
Series Designer: Craig Hinton
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015930957
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bailey, Diane.
How the automobile changed history / Diane Bailey.
p. cm. -- (Essential library of inventions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-62403-781-8
1. Automobiles--History--Juvenile literature. 2. Inventions--Juvenile literature. I. Title.
629.2--dc23
2015930957
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s CHAPTER 1
Road Trip 6
t Timeline 17
CHAPTER 2
The Right Time 18
n
CHAPTER 3
The Birth of an Industry 30
e
CHAPTER 4
The Car Culture 40
t
CHAPTER 5
From Cities to Suburbs 52
n
CHAPTER 6
The Age of Chrome 64
o
CHAPTER 7
The Past Catches Up 76
c
CHAPTER 8
The Road Ahead 88
ESSENTIAL FACTS 100
GLOSSARY 102
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 104
SOURCE NOTES 106
INDEX 110
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 112
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chapter 1
ROAD
trip
O
ne evening in 1878, Karl Benz and his wife, Bertha, decided to
try out the engine Karl had been building. He’d had varying
degrees of success. Sometimes the engine worked. Much of
the time it didn’t. This would be one of the good times. Karl recalled
later, “My heart was pounding. I turned the crank. The engine
started to go ‘put-put-put,’ and the music of the future sounded
with regular rhythm. We both listened to it run for a full hour.”1
Over the next few years, the German inventor perfected his
engine and built a body to go around it. While there had been other
attempts at motorized vehicles over the years, they were really the
6
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Inventor Karl Benz, left, and his assistant
Josef Brecht drive around in the 1885
Benz motorwagen.
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world’s earliest hybrids: a traditional horse buggy with a motor attached.
WHAT SHOULD YOU CALL IT?
But Karl’s was the first true automobile: a vehicle that integrated the
When the “horseless carriage” first
body and the engine into one comprehensive whole.
arrived, people struggled to find a good
name for it. The word automobile was But few people in the late 1800s wanted to buy Karl’s new invention.
derived from the French, taken from auto
His motorized carriage was revolutionary, but it was also strange. No one
for “self” and mobile for “movement.” Car
actually needed an automobile because they already had horses. Not
was a shortened version of carriage. Some
early inventors called their vehicles motor many could afford such a thing even if they wanted it.
wagons, while American pioneer Henry Ford
Karl’s motorwagen, as he called it, received a patent in 1886. Karl
settled on quadricycle for his first
four-wheeled creation. Later, names would eventually be considered one of the primary inventors of the
for styles of cars such as the two-door
modern car. However, in 1886, the future of the automobile looked
coupe and the four-door sedan were also
bleak. Karl might have given up, but Bertha had other ideas.
borrowed from types of buggies.
Bertha Steals a Car
Bertha, who married Karl in 1872, had long been the driving force behind her husband. It was his mechanical and
technical knowledge that led to him patenting critical car parts, including a clutch, water radiator, carburetor, and spark
8
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