Going down history of automobiles

car.
My niece Tanatswa was there and you know how these kids of today are so knowledgeable, with satellite TV and the Internet giving them a head start on everything.
Well, to cut a long story short, all I can tell you is that the nine-year-old had her facts together.
She left us struck with awe as she went on and on about inventions. I can see who will be writing my column in the next nine years when she is 18.
No need to groom her because she has been my understudy for as long as I can remember.
One of these fine days, I will do a test drive with my niece Tanatswa then have her as a guest writer for the week, bet that will be interesting.
In this issue I thought I would share with you research that I did on the very first car to be made and other information pertaining to the history of automobiles.
The designs and the models of the car have come a long way from three-wheeled automobiles to four-wheeled limousine.
Cars (also called automobiles) are motor vehicles that are used primarily to transport people.
The word “automobile” comes from the combination of the French word “auto”, which means self and the Latin word “mobilis”, which means moving.
The term “car” is synonymous with the understanding that the vehicle can seat anywhere between one to eight people and has four wheels.
Ferdinand Verbiest, a Christian missionary in China, invented and built the first car in 1672.
He designed the vehicle as a toy for the Chinese Emperor. It was only a small vehicle, unable to transport people.
It was powered by steam hence we can safely conclude that the first car was made in China.
In 1769, the first self-propelled car was designed and built by French man Nicholas Cugnot. His model was a three-wheeler.
Francois Isaac Rivaz, a Swiss inventor, designed and invented the first internal combustion engine propelled car.
A mixture of hydrogen and oxygen fuelled this car engine. This car was made in 1806. However, his design was not a success.
After him came attempts by Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey and Etienne Lenoir but their car models were also failures.
In 1881, Gustave Trouve not only designed and invented the first car powered by electricity but also demonstrated the functioning of this automobile at an International Exhibition of Electricity in Paris.
Four years later in 1885, Karl Benz designed and built the first car powered by gasoline.
This car was made in Germany. This was the first car ever to be granted a patent in 1886.
The rest is history and the world acknowledged Karl Benz as the “Inventor of the modern automobile”.
In 1896 his design used an internal combustion engine (as most cars do today).
As indicated above internal combustion engine had actually been designed in 1806 by Francois Isaac de Rivaz.
However, Benz was able to modify the design to successfully power a vehicle.
By the early 1900s, gasoline cars started to outsell all other types of motor vehicles.
The market was growing for economical automobiles and the need for industrial production was beckoning.
The first car manufacturers in the world were French: Panhard & Levassor (1889) and Peugeot (1891). These assembled complete motor vehicles for sale as they went beyond inventors of engines who experimented with car designs to test their engines.
Daimler and Benz began as inventors of engines before becoming full car manufacturers and initially made their money by licensing their patents and selling their engines to car manufacturers
There have been dramatic changes in the field of mechanical engineering and today hybrid cars are the latest vogue.
Today, most cars are powered by diesel or gasoline (also called petrol). The burning of these gases is believed to contribute to global warming.
Worldwide, about 1,2 million people are killed every year in car accidents. Also, over 40 million people suffer injuries sustained in accidents.
Alternatives to travelling by cars include taking public transport (buses, trains, trams and more), cycling, walking, skateboarding, horseback riding and rollerskating.
There you have it, till next week be enlightened folks.

l Fact D. Jeke is a motoring enthusiast who has attended auto shows, rallies and has written for various publications in the region for the last decade. She can be contacted via email on [email protected]