FAMOUS CREATION OF THE DAY THE AUTOMOBILE

It can be safely said that the world

as it is today, would cease to exist if

wasnt for the automobile

. What started out as the latest fad soon

became a must-have for every living being on earth when the possibilities posed by this invention slowly unravelled. This is the story of one of the most used inventions ever created.

DESCRIPTION: The automobile can be defined as a four-wheeled vehicle

which is powered by an internal engine or battery and often used to convey

passengers

and goods

from place to place.

HOW IT WORKS: The major parts of a car are:1) The engine: This is what actually causes the car to move 2) The brake: This is used to slow down the car or stop 3) The steering direction required. . it completely.

wheel: This enables the car to be moved in whatever

4) The gear : This is the part of the car that helps regulate its level of speed. 5) The clutch: This is part of the car that detaches the engine from the gear system. 6) The battery : This is required for the initial start-up of the car.

7) The tyre is placed.

: These are basically the wheels on which the body of the car

The automobile is an intricate piece of work with several parts merging together to form a working whole. The engine can be described as an internal combustion chamber and the energy released from it, is used to propel the car. In the engine, a little bit of fuel is mixed with air and then ignited by a spark plug

which causes an explosion. The explosion results in the emission of several gases, heat and a tremendous amount of energy; this emitted energy pushes

down a piston which in turn rotates a crankshaft which moves the wheels. The gear system takes a hold of the energy released and releases it to the car system as required, for example when a car is first started, it needs a lot of energy to begin moving. Once in motion, it doesnt need a lot of energy to maintain the momentum so in other words, the lower gears release more energy to the car than the higher gears. The brake works by means of a hydraulic fluid ; when the

brake pedal is pressed down, the resulting force is amplified by the fluid and then pressed onto the wheels thus stopping movement by friction. The clutch aids the alternating of speed levels when driving by disconnecting the engine from the gear system or else the engine would burn out. The battery provides the spark plug with an initial electrical charge necessary to begin the spark which ignites the fuel/air; after that the battery goes into rest mode and the spark plug

ignites the mix in a continuous fashion. And this is the basic principle of the automobile.

INVENTORS OF THE AUTOMOBILE: In 1769, the first truly working

model of a moveable vehicle was built by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot of France . His design consisted of a steam engine and a boiler attached to the body of a carriage; the steam compartment however, was too heavy and bulky thus making

the vehicle harder to control than horse-drawn carriages. Electric cars then came into use in most parts of Europe during the 1800s but later gave way to fossil fuelled cars when the latter proved more economical. In 1876, Nicolaus Otto built a four stroke internal combustion engine thus paving the way

for more fuel-efficient cars. In 1885, two German scientists, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, independently began working on a horseless vehicle that

powered itself; Karl Benz finished his design first and was awarded a patent in 1886. Benz continued modifying his design until late summer 1888 when he

officially began selling his automobile to the public. Daimler not to be outdone, partnered with a young, brilliant engineer, William Maybach to form an automobile company called DMG in 1890 and they began selling their cars to the public in 1892. Over in America in the year 1893, the Duryea brothers, who were

bicycle makers by profession, built the first gasoline fuelled car in America. They went on to make 13 of these cars but later stopped production when the majority of the population couldnt afford it. During this time, two American engineers were gearing up to change car manufacturing forever. Ransom

E. Olds began manufacturing affordable automobiles in large scales in 1902 using a production line for assembling the parts; this shortened production

time and boosted output. By 1914, an engineer by the name of Henry Ford improvised the assembly line and successfully shortened production time even further to about 15 minutes. This enabled Ford to sell his cars at a more affordable rate, making the automobile accessible to the general population.

EVOLUTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE: With Henry Fords affordable car

doing extremely well in the market, many small manufacturers jumped on the band

wagon and in so doing, raised the bar in the technicality of the automobile. A lot of developments were made to the automobile to further ease its use like the creation of the electric ignition and the electric self-starter,

both introduced by Charles Kettering of the Cadillac Motor Company. By 1923, almost all Americans owned cars and thus, the excitement of owning a

car for the first time started to wane away fast. Alfred P. Sloan of General Motors then introduced one of the best marketing schemes ever thought up; annual overhaul of the automobile design. So each year, old designs gave way to new designs and customers had to trade up their old models for a new one, a move

made to appeal to the customers ego. The idea worked like a charm and in no time, people got used to the idea of trading up and looked forward with great anticipation to the newer models; this concept is still being practised today.

MORE INTERESTING FACTS OF THE AUTOMOBILE:

1) Most automobiles today still use the four-stroke combustion cycle : The first cycle involves the fuel-air mix being let into the car cylinder by means of an intake valve. The piston present in the cylinder drops down to let the mix enter. The piston then moves upward, thus compressing the fuel-air mix.

A spark plug located at the top of the cylinder sparks and ignites the fuel-air mix, causing an explosion. The energy released from the explosion forces the piston down which in turn moves the crankshaft which turns the wheels. An exhaust valve is opened and the piston is moved back up to expel the released gases.

2) The heat released from the explosion is expelled from the car system by a cooling mechanism. Water is passed through passages around the car cylinders and radiators to cool them down.

3) The suspension system, along with shock absorbers, help keep the car stable

when it passes over most road

surfaces.

Now more than ever, the world is looking to fearless folks to tackle its current issues. If you are one of these people, SYC wants to show you off on a global scale.

ONLINE SOURCES
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Wikipedia: History of the Automobile Wikipedia: Automobile How Stuff Works: How a Car Works Inventor Strategies: Invention of the Automobile Car Part 4 you: Major parts that make up a car University of Michigan Historical Library: Automotive History