Cars

5 Pages 1327 Words

Ford
The Model T greatly contributed to the spread of motorization by introducing various mechanisms for easy driving, such as a planetary gear transmission, as well as a low price owing to mass production that cut costs. A total of 15,007,033 units were built from 1908 to 1927, and the car triggered a revolution in social life-style.


The Model T introduced various features to facilitate driving, and the transmission was integrated with the engine. Its planetary gears -- two forward and one back -- could be shifted without use of a clutch. These mechanisms were also intended to meet mass-production system.






Benz
Various countries claim to be the first to produce a gasoline-powered automobile. Although there is room for argument, Germany's Karl Benz is now accorded this distinction with the threewheeler he produced in 1886. The engine, placed over the rear axle, is a horizontal, fourcycle, single-cylinder type was the first automobile equipped with a differential gear.

The small one-cylinder engine of this vehicle was mounted horizontally behind the seat in a frame developed from the prevailing tricycles. Its 0.9 horsepower was transmitted to the rear wheels via belt and chain, enabling a top speed of about 15km/h. A lever connected to a rack-and-pinion controlled the lone front wheel, which steered the vehicle.

By: William W. Bottorff

Several Itialians recorded designs for wind driven vehicles. The first was Guido da Vigevano in 1335. It was a windmill type drive to gears and thus to wheels. Vaturio designed a similar vehicle which was also never built. Later Leonardo da Vinci designed a clockwork driven tricycle with tiller steering and a differential mechanism between the rear wheels.
A Catholic priest named Father Ferdinand Verbiest has been said to have built a steam powered vehicle for the Chinese Emporer Chien Lung in about 1678. There is no information about the vehicle, only the event. Since Jam...