Few inventions have had as much impact on modern society as the automobile. It has opened up a world of possibilities for people to live where they want, work in the job of their choice and to visit friends and family without having to take long train rides or bus trips. It also allows families to spend time together, whether it is a trip to the movies with the kids or a late night ice cream run.
It has created new jobs, industries and services such as fuel distribution, vehicle manufacturing, road construction and maintenance, retail sales and service stations. It has changed the way we live and how we think about ourselves and others. It is the reason that some of us feel that if you don’t have an automobile you don’t belong in this country!
The first automobile was invented by a man named Karl Benz in 1885. Although it was clumsy and slow, it incorporated many of the elements that would characterize the modern automobile. It had a tubular framework, mechanical valves, engine cooling and oil and grease cups for lubrication. It was powered by a one-horsepower, one-cylinder gasoline engine that was a refinement of the earlier designs of Lenoir and Otto.
Other inventors contributed individual elements, but it was a combination of the work of several engineers that allowed the automobile to develop into what we have today. This process was accelerated when the automobile was embraced by American business and industry, allowing for the development of mass production techniques that gave birth to the big three: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
The design of an automobile depends on the intended use. Automobiles designed for off-road use need rugged, simple systems that have high resistance to overload and extreme operating conditions. Those designed for highway use need comfort features, passenger capacity and high speed handling and stability.
Today’s automobile is a marvel of engineering and technology. It can run on gasoline, electricity or any combination of the two. The body is usually made of aluminum or steel for lightness and strength. It can be designed in a variety of shapes and sizes, from a small coupe to a large truck. It can be built with either a body and frame or a unit type design where the chassis is integral to the body.
The automobile is the most important tool of our times. It has changed how we think and live, as well as how we are governed. It has restructured entire societies around the power of rapid long-distance movement that it confers on individuals and on the flexible distribution of goods that it makes possible with trucks. At the same time, it encourages sprawl (i.e., straggling low-density urban development), which degrades landscapes and leads to traffic congestion that tends to immobilize the very automobiles that make sprawl possible.