When did the first cars appear in Russia? Before answering this question, you need to understand the very concept of what a car is.
What is a car
The word "car" consists of two parts. “Auto” is of Greek origin and means “self”, and “mobile” in Latin means “movement”.
It turns out that a car is a device that can move independently. That is, this design must have its own propulsion mechanism - steam, gas, electric, gasoline, diesel - no matter what, as long as the wheels spin with it. This means that the first car in Russia appeared exactly when the design invented by some craftsman was able to move without the help of horse traction or human muscular efforts.
But nevertheless, the founders of the domestic automotive industry should be considered those Russian "left-handers" who were able to make their structures move without the participation of horses, and it would be unfair not to mention them.
The birth of the domestic automotive industry
The history of the first car in Russia began 1November 1752 in St. Petersburg. There, for the first time, a four-wheeled carriage was shown, which was able to move without the help of horses and other draft animals. It was a steel mechanism, set in motion with the help of a gate of a special design and the muscular efforts of one person. The stroller could carry, in addition to the driver, two more passengers, and at the same time moved at speeds up to 15 km / h. The designer of the car was an ordinary self-taught serf who lived in the Nizhny Novgorod province - Shamshurenkov Leonty Lukyanovich. The mechanism he created, of course, cannot be considered a car, but it was no longer a cart.
Russian designer Ivan Petrovich Kulibin was much closer to our usual vision of a car.
Kulibin's crew
The design invented by Kulibin consisted of a three-wheeled chassis, on which a double passenger seat was installed. The driver himself, standing behind this seat, had to press alternately on two pedals associated with the wheel rotation mechanism. Kulibin's crew is especially noteworthy in that it contained almost all the main structural elements of the cars of the future, and it was he who first used gear changes, a braking device, bearings and a steering wheel in his sidecar.
The appearance of the first car in Russia
In 1830, K. Yankevich, who was a recognized master of fire monitors, together with his assistants assembled the "Bystrokat" - a self-propelled wheeled vehicle with a steam engine. The engine hada device based on the designs of steam power units by I. I. Polzunov, M. E. Cherepanov and P. K. Frolov. Pine charcoal was supposed to be used as fuel, according to the inventor's intention.
The design was a covered wheeled wagon, which provided, in addition to a seat for the driver, also a seat for passengers.
However, the mechanism turned out to be very bulky and difficult to operate. Therefore, the design of the machine was not viable. Nevertheless, it was the first domestic car in Russia, which could really be considered a real self-propelled machine with a steam engine.
The appearance of an engine capable of running on gasoline gave impetus to the further development of automotive technology, since it was it, due to its relatively compact size, that could become the source of the driving force of future cars.
The first cars in Russia with internal combustion engines
According to some historians-researchers, the first car with an internal combustion engine was designed in 1882 in a small town on the Volga. The authors of the machine were engineers Putilov and Khlobov. However, no official documents confirming this fact were ever found. Therefore, it is believed that the very first cars in Russia equipped with liquid fuel engines were imported from abroad.
In 1891, Vasily Navorotsky, who worked as an editor of one of the Odessa newspapers, imported the French Panard-Levassor car into Russia. It turns out that for the first time in our country, residents of Odessa saw a gasoline car.
Progress in the form of gasoline cars reached the capital of the Russian Empire only 4 years later. On August 9, 1895, St. Petersburg saw the first gasoline self-propelled car. A little later, several more of these cars were brought to the capital.
Apparently, the appearance of imported samples on the world market prompted domestic design engineers to act as well.
The first Russian car with internal combustion engines
In 1896, at the Nizhny Novgorod exhibition, a car of a completely domestic assembly, equipped with a gasoline engine, was presented for public viewing. The car was named: "Car Frese and Yakovlev", in honor of its designers - E. A. Yakovlev and P. A. Frese. The Yakovlev plant manufactured the transmission and engine for the car. The undercarriage, wheels and the body itself were produced at the Frese factory. However, it cannot be said that the appearance of the Russian car was solely the merit of Russian engineers.
Western pattern for Russian car
Most likely, Frese and Yakovlev used the experience of the German designer Benz in the manufacture of their car, and his Benz-Victoria car was taken as the standard, which they saw when they visited an exhibition in Chicago in 1893, where he was exhibited, so how constructively and in its appearance the domestic car was very reminiscent of the German model.
True, it is worth paying tribute to Russian engineers, cars do notwas a 100% copy of a foreign colleague. The chassis, body and transmission of the domestic car were significantly improved, which was emphasized in the press of that time, closely following the latest discoveries and inventions.
Documented parameters of the domestic machine, as well as drawings, have not been preserved. All judgments about the car are based on the descriptions and photographs that have survived from that time. Actually, it is not even known for certain how many cars of this series were produced at all. But in any case, these were the first cars in Russia, from which mass production of Russian cars began.
Finish line for first petrol car
The history of the machine assembled by Frese and his companion ended quickly. In 1898, the engineer and industrialist Yakovlev died, which, in fact, was the beginning of the end for the first-born of the domestic automotive industry. The death of a partner forced Frese to buy engines for cars abroad, which, of course, was extremely unprofitable for him. In 1910, he sold all the established production to the Russian-B altic Plant.
Nevertheless, the fact that the first domestically produced cars appeared in Russia thanks to Freza and Yakovlev is forever inscribed in the history of the domestic automotive industry, and RBVZ became the next step in the development of Russian car production.
Russian-B altic Carriage Works (RBVZ)
The first car brand in Russia received the official name "Russo-B alt". Under it, a year before the purchase of the Frese factory, in the summer of 1909,the company produced the first car of its own production.
Cars of this brand have established themselves as durable and very reliable, which was confirmed by the success of cars participating in long-distance runs, car competitions and even international rallies. There is a documented fact that one of the cars, produced in 1910 under the index "S-24", covered 80 thousand km in 4 years of operation without serious breakdowns and repairs. Even the imperial garage in 1913 made an order for two models of cars "K-12" and "S-24".
60% of the vehicle fleet of the Russian army consisted of Russo-B alt vehicles. Moreover, not only cars were purchased from the plant, but also chassis for use on armored cars.
An important fact is that the plant produced almost all parts, components and mechanisms on its own. Only tires, ball bearings, and oil pressure gauges were purchased abroad.
RBVZ produced cars in large series, and within each of them there was almost complete interchangeability in components and parts.
In 1918 the enterprise was nationalized and continued its history as an armored plant.
