Wilhelm Maybach is a German entrepreneur and auto designer. As technical director of the Daimler Motors society, he made a significant contribution to the creation of the first modern car. The Maybach car is now one of the best in the world. In this article, we will present a brief biography of the inventor.
Childhood
Wilhelm Maybach was born in Heilbronn (Germany) in 1846. The boy's father was a carpenter. It so happened that upon reaching the age of ten, Wilhelm became an orphan. He was adopted for education in the house of pastor Werner. When Maybach was fifteen, he began to receive a technical education in Reutlingen at an engineering plant. During the day, the boy practiced in the workshop of the factory, and in the evening he took drawing and mathematics lessons at the city school. Also, the future German auto designer began to study English and study three volumes of the textbook "Technical Mechanics", written by Julius Weisbach. The determination and perseverance of the young man were soon noticed.
Work
In 1863, Gottlieb Daimler came to the post of technical director of the Reutlingen plant. There he met Wilhelm. Three years later, Gottlieb moved to the same position at Deutz, which produced stationary internal combustion engines. It was headed by E. Langen and N. A. Otto. In 1869, Daimler remembered a hard-working, talented worker and invited Maybach to his place in Karlsruhe. During the meeting, they discussed the idea of creating a new engine, which was supposed to be more compact and lighter. Langen approved this project, but Otto opposed it. Many years later (in 1907), Deutz will still start building cars - first cars, and then buses, tractors and trucks, but the pioneers of the internal combustion engine will no longer be in the company by that time.
Own business
Not finding understanding with the head of the company, Daimler opened his own company in Bad Cannstadt. Naturally, Gottlieb persuaded Wilhelm to go with him. In 1882 their own company was founded. Maybach was purely technical.
First inventions
In August 1883, Wilhelm Maybach produced a stationary motor of his own design. The engine weighed 40 kilograms and worked exclusively on lighting gas. At the end of the same year, its next version appeared with a power of 1.6 hp. and a volume of 1.4 liters. Along the way, Maybach designed a new ignition system. In those days, in stationary engines, the mixture was ignited with an open flame. Wilhelm invented the incandescent tube,heated red-hot with a torch. And the process was controlled by a special valve in the combustion chamber, which, if necessary, opened or closed. Such a system ensured stable operation even at low speeds.
Striving for excellence
This is what made Wilhelm Maybach different from others. From the beginning of his activity, he sought to modernize any design and used new patents. At the end of 1883, another of his engines was tested - a single-cylinder air-cooled engine, which developed 0.25 hp at 600 rpm. An improved version (246 cubic centimeters and 0.5 hp) was developed a year later. Maybach himself dubbed it "grandfather clock", because the shape of the motor was rather unusual. A few decades later, historians of technology will note that Wilhelm achieved not only a reduction in the weight of the motor. He also gave him an outward grace.
Two-wheeled carriage
Wilhelm soon developed an evaporative carburetor. This was a breakthrough in the field of internal combustion engines, since now liquid fuel could be used instead of lighting gas. And in 1885, a revolutionary event in technology took place - the Maybach engine set in motion a two-wheeled carriage. A motor bike (or, as they say now, a motorcycle) had a pair of miniature wheels on the sides to maintain stability. 0.5 HP engine constantly rotated, and a two-stage belt drive made it possible to reach speeds of up to 6 or 12 kilometers per hour. Maybach founder heldtrials in early November 1885 with his son Carl.
Of course, not everything went smoothly. A year later, Wilhelm improved the motor by increasing the stroke and piston diameter. The engine capacity increased to 1.35 liters, but during testing it constantly overheated. The use of a water cooling device did not correct the situation. Therefore, the invention had to be abandoned.
New engine
Further, Wilhelm began to develop a motor for the world's first four-wheeled car with a volume of 0.462 liters. Since Maybach and Daimler were in a hurry with the release, the engine was installed on a horse-drawn carriage. In March 1887, the first tests were carried out. A month later, a motorboat with this engine appeared on a lake near Bad Cannstadt. Wilhelm carefully collected and systematized the results of all tests, understanding their importance for future experiments.
Building a new car
In 1889, Daimler planned to participate in the World Exhibition in Paris. Wilhelm Maybach, whose quotes and notes about his activities were often published in the media, decided to build a new car for this event. And she impressed everyone! Daimler-Stalradwagen was supplied with the world's first V-twin engine with a camber angle of 17°. At 900 rpm, the motor developed 1.6 hp. And instead of the previous belt drive, the wheels were launched by a gear. In fact, the author has developed a conceptual design. However, it was a commercial success. The construction of the car was carried out by a bicycleNSU plant. Its owners, Emile Levassor and Armand Peugeot, bought the transmission and engine patent. At the same time, under the terms of the contract, they were obliged to produce engines under the Daimler brand.
Gottlieb invested the money received for the patent in the creation of a separate workshop for Maybach. Thanks to this, research was carried out quite actively, and all friction with the company's shareholders against the backdrop of promising developments was smoothed out.
Wilhelm Maybach's New Inventions
In 1893, the hero of this article developed a spray carburetor with a syringe type jet. A year later, Maybach received a patent for hydraulic brakes. And in 1895, his famous two-cylinder in-line Phoenix engine appeared. Initially, at 750 rpm, it developed 2.5 hp. Gradually, the design was improved, and in 1896 the power increased to 5 hp. The performance of the motor made it possible to improve the radiator of a new original design. Three years later, a four-cylinder "Phoenix" with a capacity of 23 hp was released. and a volume of 5900 cm3. The motor was installed on a car commissioned by Emil Jellinek (Ambassador in Nice from the Austro-Hungarian Empire). In March 1899, he won the mountain race with this car. Jellinek performed under the pseudonym "Mercedes" (daughter's name). Soon it will become the brand of the Daimler factory.
Change
In 1900, Gottlieb died, and Wilhelm's situation deteriorated greatly. Maybach, who gave all his best at work and lost some of his he alth, was forced to write to the headfirms petitions for an increase in salary. But they remained unanswered. It is not surprising, because the new management of the company remembered that Wilhelm always took the side of Daimler in disputes with them.
Meanwhile, the process of developing technology continued. In 1902, the Phoenix was replaced by the Simplex, produced under the Mercedes brand. A four-cylinder engine with a volume of 5320 cm33 at 1100 rpm developed a power of 32 hp. Then a Mercedes appeared with a 6550 cm engine 3, and for the then popular Gordon-Bennet races, a car was built with a four-cylinder engine of 60 hp. at 1000 rpm.
Zeppelin
In 1907, Maybach left the company, whose fame rested solely on his performance and talent. After this, the designer was fascinated by the idea of creating motors for the Zeppelin airships known at that time. In 1908, Count Ferdinand attempted to sell the LZ3 and LZ4 models to the government. But the latter failed. The LZ4 engines simply couldn't handle the stress of the crash landing. However, the production of airships did not stop. The main task of the hero of this article was the improvement of engines.
With the support of Count Ferdinand, Wilhelm and his son opened the Maybach Motorenbau company. The firm was effectively run by Carl, with his father becoming the lead consultant. During the 1st World War they sold about 2000 aircraft engines. In 1916 Wilhelm Maybach was awarded a doctorate by the Technical University of Stuttgart.
Maybach cars
In 1919, after the end of the war, the Treaty of Versailles was signed. It banned the production of airships in Germany. Thus, Maybach was forced to return to the creation of gasoline engines for cars, as well as diesel engines for trains and ships of the navy.
The crisis has come in Germany. Many automotive companies, due to lack of funds, could not afford third-party engines and developed their own. Only the Dutch company Spiker agreed to cooperate with Maybach. But the terms of the contract were so unfavorable that Wilhelm rejected it four times. As a result, the inventor decided to start producing his own machines. In 1921, the first Maybach limousines were produced.
Autoconstructor worked almost to old age and did not want to retire for a long time. The German engineer died at the end of 1929 and was buried in the Uff-Kirchhof cemetery next to the Daimler.
Legacy
Wilhelm Maybach, whose biography was presented above, was one of the first to understand that a car is not just a cart with an engine. Vast design experience and engineering talent allowed the German to consider the car as a complex of all its components. Wilhelm believed that it was from this position that it was necessary to approach the design. And now, when evaluating the convenience and functionality of cars named after him (for example, Maybach Exelero), one can see the correctness of the concept of the Germanengineer.
Even during his lifetime, Maybach was called the "king of constructors." And in 1922, the "Society of German Engineers" awarded him the title of "pioneer designer". That's exactly what he was. A year earlier, when the seventy-five-year-old Maybach was no longer working, the first Maybach car was built at the Friedrichshafen plant. At the moment, the line of models of the legendary brand has expanded significantly. The most expensive car is the Maybach Exelero, with a price tag of up to $8 million.
