On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. In July 1886 the newspapers reported on the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no. 1.

  • Claim

Name

On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. In July 1886 the newspapers reported on the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no. 1.

Types

Claim

Opposing arguments

The first human-carrying electric vehicle with its own power source was tested along a Paris street in April 1881 by French inventor Gustave Trouvé
In 1881, Charles Jeantaud with the help of Camille Alphonse Faure, Gustave oublie and Nicolas Raffard invented the Tilbury, considered to this day to be the first electric car powered by batteries

Sources

Patent Specification No. 37435, Fahrzeug mit Gasmotorenbetrieb (vehicle with gas engine)

Tags

Automobile
Combustion engine

Topics

History of the automobile
History of Technology